Why do so many of my old mp3s sound like crap (ie. distorted) under Linux?

[Miths/3K]

I'v been wondering why some of my lower quality mp3s (128-160 kbps), as well as some 256 kbps mp3s encoded with bladeenc under Windows, sound distorted and "flat" (different from the natural loss of sound quality caused by compression) when played under Linux (Mandrake 8 and a SB PCI 128 sound card with the ensonic driver).
I didn't have this problem under Windows, or at least only in rare cases, and to a much less degree.

I have a NAD amplifier and Snell loudspeakers, so I'm not suffering from a case of bad computer speakers.

I've done some listening "tests" and found that there are no sound problems when playing cd's from my cdrom drive, or when playing high quality mp3s encoded with Lame under Linux.

Does anyone else have similar problems?

(note: I've tried turning down the master and pcm volume - it helps a little, but not enough.)

[Droo]

I never had problems with my PCI128 (es1370 driver) on Debian, but you may want to try installing ALSA drivers if you haven't done so. Made a world of difference on my new machine.

ALSA (http://www.alsa-project.org)

[Strike]

Mine sound fine on that card too, and my speakers aren't even that good :)

[killerasp]

i myself dont have any problems with sound quality. it might be that you are using early drivers for your sound card. if you can, compile new ones and they should sound better. i have a sb live and it sounds as good as windows.,

[Strike]

Make sure your gain settings are done right, I guess.

Make sure the output from XMMS or whatever program is not too high, that the mixer volume is also not too high, and that your speakers provide the range of volumes you want. That is, crank your speakers all the way and then adjust the mixer and XMMS (or whatever) volumes to the loudest you would want them to play, and then adjust the volume using speaker volume ONLY from that point on.

[Qbasic_ Microsquash]

I have no solution, but I think I noticed he was hinting towards a software related problem. There may be a problem with the fact that the troublesome files were encoded in winblows, while the good one's were encoded in Linux. That's just my little interpretation of the problem. You might try playing a Linux-encoded mp3 under winboat, and seeing if there is the same problem. Or test your theory and encode mp3's from both OS's and test play them in both as well. If there is a difference, I suggest re-encoding all of your MP3's in Linux! (Unless they are downloaded)