I tried to use VLC on iOS because making playlists is just much nicer than using YouTube, and noticed that some fields sound “off” when played there.
Coming from a computer science background, it sounds to me like the decoding algorithm struggles to unpack the audio live, resulting in some “drops”, “slowdowns” and “wobbly bits” (this precise terminology I do not owe to my CS education). My iPhone is pretty new, so it’s definitely not a computational power issue. Furthermore, when I play on iOS’s Files app I hear no such distortions.
So it’s either VLC’s algorithms or my own device (unlikely). But this raises to me a larger question: if this issue is indeed widespread, is there any risk of fields being less effective when played through this app? It certainly sounds like the sound delivered is not identical to the original intended sound.
What do you guys use on iOS aside from VLC?
(I feel this effect most on the Teeth Regeneration v2.0 field, if anybody wants to check.)