Strange Distortion with FLAC files and SqueezeBox2 6.2.X

[agentsmith]

OK this is a really freaky problem. After 6.2.X, I encountered very nasty distortion only on one particular album (Bach/Zimmerman Solo Cello ECM).

The distortion is extremely nasty, I had to run to switch my amp off, I thought my amp was blown out/

Strange thing is this:

1. Only on this album
2. Only on FLAC (convert back to WAV OK)
3. Only on SB2 (PC play OK)
4. Only with 6.2.X and 6.5 (6.1.1 OK)
5. When happened the volume level seemed to have shot up

This is a strange problem and it does not make any sense. Has anyone heard of similar problem? I have subimt my bug report (link below)

http://bugs.slimdevices.com/show_bug.cgi?id=2651

[radish]

Sounds like a replaygain problem? The versions you mentioned are the first with RG support, and you mentioned the volume going up. Maybe the file has a bad RG tag or something? Nasty bug to be sure though...

[agentsmith]

Sounds like a replaygain problem? The versions you mentioned are the first with RG support, and you mentioned the volume going up. Maybe the file has a bad RG tag or something? Nasty bug to be sure though...

That is an interesting observation. I have to check it out when I get home. Although I have no idea how to set RG tags.

I am not familiar with how replaygain works, does it process in firmware or server side?

Reason I asked that is I tried running 6.2 server with 6.1 firmware and the problem went away.

But if the faulty FLAC files had level set too high, shouldn't it just be louder, but not distorted even when my amp is set at low volume?

Anyhow thanks for the insights, now I know where to look.

[radish]

I believe the RG processing is in the firmware, certainly I expect it would be for native types. For transcoded types maybe it reads it in the server? Not sure on that.

The volume adjustment would be done digitally, and if it were a huge increase you'd get severe clipping, resulting in distortion.

metaflac (or something like winamp) will let you see if there are gain tags in the file.

[agentsmith]

I believe the RG processing is in the firmware, certainly I expect it would be for native types. For transcoded types maybe it reads it in the server? Not sure on that.

The volume adjustment would be done digitally, and if it were a huge increase you'd get severe clipping, resulting in distortion.

metaflac (or something like winamp) will let you see if there are gain tags in the file.

Thanks Radish, I reinstalled 6.22 and turned off Replay Gain, sure enough no more problems.

So I think somehow the way 6.2 handles Replay Gain is screwing up sound quality. I think I wont be using it for quite a while yet.

[radish]

It would be really useful if you could file a bug at bugs.slimdevices.com, along with your observations and ideally an example of a file (or the metaflac output from the file) which causes problems. That will help ensure it gets fixed in the future.

[agentsmith]

It would be really useful if you could file a bug at bugs.slimdevices.com, along with your observations and ideally an example of a file (or the metaflac output from the file) which causes problems. That will help ensure it gets fixed in the future.

I did open a bug report. Not a lot of responses so far though

http://bugs.slimdevices.com/show_bug.cgi?id=2651

[dean]

There were some requests for additional information about your files.

Help us help you.

On Dec 4, 2005, at 7:36 AM, agentsmith wrote:

>
> radish Wrote:
>> It would be really useful if you could file a bug at
>> bugs.slimdevices.com, along with your observations and ideally an
>> example of a file (or the metaflac output from the file) which causes
>> problems. That will help ensure it gets fixed in the future.
>
> I did open a bug report. Not a lot of responses so far though
>
> http://bugs.slimdevices.com/show_bug.cgi?id=2651
>
>
> --
> agentsmith
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
> --
> agentsmith's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?
> userid=1838
> View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=18647
>
>

[agentsmith]

There were some requests for additional information about your files.

Help us help you.

On Dec 4, 2005, at 7:36 AM, agentsmith wrote:

>
> radish Wrote:
>> It would be really useful if you could file a bug at
>> bugs.slimdevices.com, along with your observations and ideally an
>> example of a file (or the metaflac output from the file) which causes
>> problems. That will help ensure it gets fixed in the future.
>
> I did open a bug report. Not a lot of responses so far though
>
> http://bugs.slimdevices.com/show_bug.cgi?id=2651
>
>
> --
> agentsmith
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
> --
> agentsmith's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?
> userid=1838
> View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=18647
>
>

Sorry I did not revisit this thread or the bug thread as I have found an interim solution to keep my old firmware.

I am at work so will have to find the file tonight.

BTW, how do I upload?