And no, AACGain isn't the answer.... from AACGain readme:

2. AACGain supports files in the mp4/Quicktime file format. These files
usually have a file extension of .mp4 or .m4a. Raw AAC files, or
files encoded with HE-AAC/SBR are not supported.


My brand new Nokia plays
"
Size: 20201472 bytes
Format: AAC
MPEG-2 HE-AAC (Implicitly Signalled)
Sample Rate: 22050 (Output: 44100)
SBR: Present
Channels: 2 Mode: Stereo
Bitrate: 127477
"

file a bit too quiet for my taste in top volume level. How to increase the max volume? The volume fixed file can be damaged in the process, the process doesn't have to reversable.

Thanks,
Juha

To my knowledge there's no way to manipulate the volume of HE-AAC without screwing the SBR part. This has already been discussed in another topic a while ago. Some searching might bring it up.

Besides...

... for what reason do you use HE-AAC in this case? At this bitrate it's unlikely that SBR actually improves quality in any way, it rather decreases it by introducing possible artifacts. That's the reason why Nero AAC automatically switches to LC-AAC at average bitrates above 80 kbit/s. HE-AAC also quickly drains batteries and - as you already know - can't be further processed without re-encoding the result. Lots of disadvantages, but not a single benefit of using it.

I'd just recommend to encode the media meant to be played back by the Nokia to LC-AAC. If you really wanted to encode to HE-AAC, it might be advisable to give Nero AAC -q 0.25 or -q 0.3 a shot. Foobar's converter could also fix the volume issue by applying ReplayGain to the HE-AAC files during encoding, with AlbumGain +6 dB and the Advanced Limiter enabled.

To get maximum volume in the aac files I play on MY cellphone, I do the following:

I use foobar2000 0.9.4.3 to encode the source file to m4a with neroAacEnc.exe while using foo_dsp_winamp.dll and dsp_compwide.dll to increase and levelize the volume.

After that, I use foobar2000 0.8.3's MP4 utilities, or mp4box, to strip off the mp4 wrapper, leaving the .aac file.

The purists won't like this method but it gets the volume up and keeps it up for listening on low powered devices like cell phones. Compwide compresses the dynamic range and widens the stereo effect. The effects are encoded into the file and will be there on whatever device the file is played - a permanent fix that may make the file considered "damaged".

foobar2000: http://www.foobar2000.org/

You can get Winamp DSP Bridge plug-in (foo_dsp_winamp) from a link on this page: http://pelit.koillismaa.fi/plugins/section...n=4&from=20
( http://pelit.koillismaa.fi/plugins/redir.php?id=682 )

You can get dsp_compwide.dll from a link on this page: http://mpesch3.de1.cc/1by1.html
( http://mpesch3.de1.cc/dsp_compwide15.zip )