It really is horrible. It was great in OS version 10. What usually happens now is, movie/video starts playing, and is extremely quiet. It STAYS extremely quiet for about 30 seconds. Then, over a period of about 5-10 seconds, the volume increases, and becomes louder. So, either I miss the first 30 seconds of audio and wait for the sound to increase, or, I turn it up, wait for it to get extremely loud, then turn it back down.
It appears to me, that the original version of "Leveling" acted like a compressor, with fast attack and slow release, which gives instant boost to low audio, and limits loud audio from getting too loud. Exactly what the user would want and expect.
The new OS 11 version acts like an automatic gain rider, with very slow response (30 seconds!) and then slow attack. I suspect they thought this would make it more "transparent" because it takes more time for the software to react and then slowly adjust the volume. But it is not transparent at all, it's extremely noticeable, and it does a poor job at making quiet sounds louder when they are surrounded by louder sounds, something the OS 10 version did extremely well.
But, sadly, I don't expect this will ever get fixed. This was probably a decision made in some meeting somewhere, and with only a few people complaining, they see it as a success. They would probably see it as a success even if 100 people complained, since they see it as too much expense to have to pay someone to change the code. And even then, it would likely just be adjusted, not returned to the full functionality of the OS 10 version. Very typical experience nowadays, sadly. "Upgrade" means the opposite of what it's supposed to mean.
