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[kristian]

Greetings,

I have a freshly built music server w/o any superfluous programs or antivirus. Running W7 64-bit, latest MC 14, using WASAPI. Gigabyte ga-ma785 mo-bo, using onboard Realtek ALC889 audio with W7 driver. Temporary setup is 2-ch. computer speakers plugged into audio out. I get one pop at the end of every track immediately before next track from the mobo's audio out, also on headphones out.

This is very uncool--any ideas?  I have the WASAPI settings set--the one for when a pop occurs at the start of a track. No change.
Best,

Kristian

[duclosa]

Hi all!

Just recently bought MC14, after spending a lot of time with MC12.

Here is the setup: old Dell 1505 connected to "Classé CAP-2100" through a "Music Hall DAC2.5" DAC. Speakers are "B&W 803D". Sound files (FLAC) are stored on "QNAP-439 Pro".

When files are played through MC12 (output mode=Direct Sound; Output mode setting=USB audio DAC; DSP studio: nothing enabled), everything is fine.

Enter MC14, now, at stock settings. At the end of each file, there is a loud "POP" sound, about 1 second before the end of each files.

Does not look like a hardware or Windows XP issue, as MC12 or WMP11 do not have the same behavior.

Help?

Thanks.

Alain.

[duclosa]

sorry. Disregard header. POP sound is at the END of each file playback

Alain.

[Matt]

Are you showing a Track Info visualization?  If your system is configured to play sounds on web page navigates, it could play a sound each track change.

You could try switching the between tracks mode in Options > Audio, or try increasing the WASAPI buffering to 1.0 seconds (from 0.5 seconds default).

Also, to test, disable any third party DSPs.

Media Center is unique in that the sound card doesn't get any special notification or even really care that tracks are changing -- output plugins just get a continuous stream of audio.  So it's not common for an audible artifact to be associated with track changes.

[kristian]

Hi,

Thanks for responding. What is Track Info Visualization?

I have all system sounds off, though I think it still makes that click when clicking on webpage links.

To what do I switch the Between Tracks mode in Options-Audio?

Interestingly, the "pop" was originally in the first 2-4 seconds of every new track, but it stopped doing that after I fiddled with the settings and moved to the last 1-2 seconds of every track before switching tracks.

When you say it is not uncommon to get a sound (in my case a real "pop") when changing tracks, does that mean there's nothing really to be done about it? I sure hope not as I love everything about MC, but wouldn't be able to live with that noise at track changes.

Thanks again!


Kristian

[Matt]

Right-click the visualizations area in Playing Now while playing and pick 'Cover Art'.  Does that make a difference?

[kristian]

I'll check tonight-- and set buffering to 1 sec. and make sure internet navigation sound is off--anything else I should check while I'm at it?

Thanks,

Kristian

[kristian]

Hi,

I have nearly the same thing, except I'm using a temporary setup with computer speakers using the analog out--see here: http://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php?topic=56671.0

Perhap repost and join my little thread--I changed just about everything.

Best,

Kristian

[raym]

Try disabling the skip silence option in audio settings. 

I have a similar problem (described on another board, Matt) related to changes between _album_ tracks. The end of each song gets cut off. If I disable this "skip silence" option though, everything's ok but I'd really prefer not to.

This might be related? 

WASAPI, Win7 x64, HDMI via ATI HD4550. 

[kristian]

Hi,

Visualization pane just shows album cover, if it's the lower left corner you're talking about. Changed buffer to 1 sec.-no change. Nothing else is on--play silence, etc.  Everything is off except WASAPI.

It's definitely a problem--super annoying, makes the whole thing useless. Someone else has the same exact problem as posted on the devices forum.

Thanks,

Kristian

[Matt]

Try DirectSound or ASIO output.

Make sure DSPs are disabled.

Make sure you're not changing sample rates between songs (i.e. playing radically different sources)

Double-check the skip silence option.

[kristian]

I'm not using any DSP and play silences. I tried switching output mode, but that didn't make any difference.

I only play 16/44 CDs and never fiddle with upsampling or other bit rates. Though I hope those features work as advertised.

Also, I'm not streaming digital out; I'm temporarily using the mobo's analog out into a pair of computer speakers.

The noise is a very loud "snap" that clearly registers in the little spectrum analyzers at the top of the GUI.

Thanks,

Kristian

[Matt]

I'm not using any DSP and play silences. I tried switching output mode, but that didn't make any difference.

I only play 16/44 CDs and never fiddle with upsampling or other bit rates. Though I hope those features work as advertised.

Also, I'm not streaming digital out; I'm temporarily using the mobo's analog out into a pair of computer speakers.

The noise is a very loud "snap" that clearly registers in the little spectrum analyzers at the top of the GUI.

Thanks,

Kristian

If the snap is in the spectrum analyzers, it means the snap is in the files themselves.  Perhaps you have corrupt files?

Try ripping a few songs with Media Center to APE format and play them.

[duclosa]

Hi all!

I have the same problem with MC14. Sound card disabled, output through USB DAC. I also see the POP in the oscilloscopes on the left and right. It is definitely NOT related to the sound files, as the problem is ABSENT with MC12 and WMP. Laptop is an old Dell 1505 (WinXPSP3) connected through the network to QNAP-439 Pro NAS.

Extremely annoying, it made the whole setup useless

I solved my problem by downgrading to MC12. I've posted to another thread and awaiting ideas..

Alain.

[duclosa]

Hi Kritian

Saw your post! As I said in that post, I solved my problem by downgrading to MC12...

Awaiting ideas and things to check...

alain.

[Matt]

Please rip a CD track or two to APE and test playback.

We need to rule out source file problems.

Also try another soundcard on the system if you have one with the same files.

[kristian]

Matt,

OK; we're coming in for a landing. I've been ripping 2 streams simultaneously with dBpoweramp , AIF for playback, FLAC for archival storage. I switched MC to use the FLAC library--no pops!

I also tried ASIO (wouldn't play) and Directstream--still pops. One clue: The AIF files misstate the track times by 1 sec too much, and the pop happens right at the end of the actual track time as denoted by the CD/track listing. E.g., if a track is 3:00 minutes by track listing, the AIF in playback will go to 3:01 before switching to the next track and pop at 3:00. Where does this additional time come from?

Or, is this not a MC/AIF playback issue, but a dBpoweramp ripping issue? Can ripping add the pop somehow, or is it a MC AIF compatibility issue? Perhap I should just forget about AIF and use FLAC.... 

[JimH]

Matt,

OK; we're coming in for a landing. I've been ripping 2 streams simultaneously with dBpoweramp , AIF for playback, FLAC for archival storage. I switched MC to use the FLAC library--no pops!

I also tried ASIO (wouldn't play) and Directstream--still pops. One clue: The AIF files misstate the track times by 1 sec too much, and the pop happens right at the end of the actual track time as denoted by the CD/track listing. E.g., if a track is 3:00 minutes by track listing, the AIF in playback will go to 3:01 before switching to the next track and pop at 3:00. Where does this additional time come from?

Or, is this not a MC/AIF playback issue, but a dBpoweramp ripping issue? Can ripping add the pop somehow, or is it a MC AIF compatibility issue? Perhap I should just forget about AIF and use FLAC.... 

Rip to FLAC from JRiver Media Center.  It should be fine.

[Matt]

Could you send a small AIFF file with the problem to matt at jriver dot com?

It sounds like the tag is being treated as audio data.  If we have a file, it should be an easy fix.

Also, you might consider using Media Center for ripping.  It has a very good secure ripping mode.

[kristian]

Sure thing. The dBpoweramp creator Spoon says:

"Try removing the ID Tag from the AIFF file (right click on one >> Edit ID Tag).

Tagging is supported officially in AIFF, as Apple write tags also, but that is not to say J River can read files correctly with tags."

I'll try it tonight.

Thanks,

Kristian

[Alex B]

Please send a sample file to Matt anyway.

AIFF tag reading and writing was added to Media Center 14 some months ago (tag writing must be enabled in Plug-in Manager, but tag reading is always on). Back then iTunes and dBpoweramp were used for testing compatibility, but it is possible that something was not noticed.

Since you mentioned ripping, I assume the files are in the standard CD audio format (2-channel/16-bit/44.1). Is that correct? Do the files contain embedded cover art? If yes, are the images in the jpg format?

[kristian]

Please send a sample file to Matt anyway.

. . .

Since you mentioned ripping, I assume the files are in the standard CD audio format (2-channel/16-bit/44.1). Is that correct? Do the files contain embedded cover art? If yes, are the images in the jpg format?

Oh yes, will do--sending some small files tonight. I'm guessing the files contain the cover art--it's what AIF does, right? I don't know in what format--dB downloads most pics automatically, and I get the few it doesn't from discogs.com. I rip only in 16/44.1. I'm a bit of a stickler about originality and not a big believer in too much signal alteration/upsampling.

I suppose I should just get over using AIF--but since MC allows it, why not?

Can you MC fellers try it for yourselves, too? Rip a few discs to AIF, play them back and see.

Thanks,

Kristian

[kristian]

Rip to FLAC from JRiver Media Center.  It should be fine.

I would, except I love dB's outstanding meta data support from 4 different sources (AMG, FreeDB, GD, Musicbrainz). Even with some **really** obscure industrial going back tp the 80's I've had no problems at all with the ripper finding the albums.

Finally, I love the ability to rip several streams at once.

Thanks,

Kristian

[kristian]

To those following this issue,

Note the pops only occurred when playng AIFFs. It appears MC has an issue playing AIFFs in that it plays the ID Tag at the end of the track. Good MC folks are on it; hopefully it's an easy fix.

Kristian

[Matt]

Thanks for the file.

We're working on it now, and hope to have a fix available in a few days.

[GaCrownVic]

Thanks for the file.

We're working on it now, and hope to have a fix available in a few days.

Just upgraded to 14 and I am getting the pops repeatedly as the song plays.  Do you know if this is happening in 15 also? 

[Matt]

Here's more information from Yaobing here at JRiver about the AIFF ticks:

In an AIFF file's COMM chunk, there is a parameter that says how much audio data (number of sample frames) there are in the SSND chunk.  The problem file had it specified wrong (8 bytes more than it should).  The value can also be deduced from the chunk size of SSND chunk.  This is theoretically not the right way (since the chunk size is subject to padding), but in practice is probably OK.  Other applications probably used this second method so they did not show the problem.  We used the first method method - the right method,  because the AIFF specification says the amount of data should always be calculated from the number of sample frames.  Now we use whichever method gives us a smaller value. 

EDIT 1: I am not sure which version of dBpoweramp was used to create the file.

EDIT 2: It does not look like it was the tagging that created the problem.  It was the creation of the aiff file by dBPa.

The fix is already in the Media Center 15 available at the top of this board.  An updated v14 build will also be available with a fix in about a week.