I don't know how to start debugging it, but when I play music using XBMC it sounds a lot better than when using Clementine. I know it is a little subjective, but although I love XBMC great features, Clementine has other qualities, like a better search.
First my setup: my computer has a s/pdif coaxial output which I connect to my old Pioneer receiver. The receiver connects to my pair of speakers.
I'm playing high quality MP3 files.
In Clementine -> Preferences -> General -> Playback I have configured:
- "Choose automatically" for the output plugin of GStreamer audio engine.
- Album replay gain is checked,
- Pre-amp is 0.0db.
- Apply compression to prevent clipping is checked.
XBMC has more configuration options:
- Audio ouput: Optical/Coax
- Speaker configuration: 2.0
- Boost volume level on downmix: checked
- Dolby Digital (AC3) capable receiver: checked
- DTS capable receiver: unchecked
- Audio ouput device: default
- Passthrough output device: iec958
I've changed XBMC configurations from the default. It was "analog audio". The quality improved.
Ubuntu audio settings doesn't give me many options.
I'm using Ubuntu 12.10, with default audio configuration.
How can I improve Clementine quality? References explaining what are all these options are welcome.