Project Render: WIHINWIG

Hey guys, I searched the forums about the render options, but could not put my finger on the right thread if it existed. Quite simply, what I hear is not what I get after the rendering process. I tried rendering with .wav, and also .mp3 option but the rendered file is always shriller and has some distortion when played outside of reaper, but is perfectly fine once re-imported and played back in Reaper. If you guys know what I'm talking about and have the perfect little option that I missed somewhere, care to share your solution?

Bad settings, different audio hardware in use in your media player application? (iTunes for example notoriously has a "sound enhancement" option on by default which actually just messes up otherwise good audio.)

What do your master bus levels look like in Reaper? X's comments above hit on some likely candidates for sure. Try playing a Reaper mix with Media Player / iTunes while using the same audio device you used in Reaper and see if you still hear a difference. And make sure there aren't any "plugins" enabled in the media player like "stereo enhancement".

The interface I'm playing through is the same as when played within Reaper: Firestudio. I'll check the other things you guys mentioned, but I don't put any special sound enhancement on my media players, be they Media Player, Winamp, or Amarok. But I'll check, just in case.

Try playing those files with XMPlay *: through the ASIO output plugin If the files still sound the same,activate the built-in resampler in XMPlay and see if there's any difference in the sound quality. * Some skins if you find the default one ugly:

Click on the I/O button on all your tracks and make sure the Master Send/Parent box is ticked(Does not apply to Master track).Also in your Preferences make sure the in the DEVICE settings the box Allow Projects to override device sample rate is not ticked. See if that helps?