Verizon FiOS TV → WABC audio in VHO7 is Terrible

WABC now seems louder than before, but the sound quality still seems messed up.

Here in Mercer County I'm still not hearing ANY degradation whatsoever on WABC 7 or 507. I checked on various boxes and TV's and it's all good (stereo, DD 5.1, whatever). Furthermore, because of my central NJ location which gives me the capability of easily making direct comparisons between WABC and the Philadelphia ABC affiliate on adjacent channels 6 and 506, I can state with 100% confidence that there is NO appreciable audio quality difference between the two. In fact, if anything, the audio on WPVI is sometimes a hair lower.

The mystery continues...

It's the opposite, here in VHO8. ABC's sound requires that I raise the volume level 3 - 5 dB when tuned to the ABC affiliate in the PHL area. This is when I use the optical (SPDIF) output from the STB into the receiver. If I use the analog audio (I have the RCA audio plugs connected as well), it is about the same as the other stations. However, ABC's audio has never been anything to write home about...

So, was this ever resolved?

I don't think so. I think the audio got a bit louder than what it was, it seems to be the same level as most other channels now, but the audio quality is still bad. It's hard to describe, almost like they have their hand over the microphone when they are speaking. I spoke to someone in engineering at WABC about a week ago and told him about it, I gave him my phone number if he needed more information, and I directed him to this thread because he wanted to see how widespread the problem was, but maybe all he did was raise the volume. It's unbelievable how such a popular channel with millions of dollars got like this to begin with. You would think they would have the best engineers on hand. I'm not going to keep after him. If any of you who have a better understanding of audio issues would like to contact him, let me know and I will give you his name and number.

I usually watch the WABC news at 5pm or 6pm and I really don't notice any issue with the audio. At least not to the extent that it would bother me. Maybe I have bad ears.