Gapless flac playback

Marius · « **on:** 27 May 2011, 04:51 pm »

HI James,

Last reassurance before ordering: please confirm that the BDP_1 plays flac files like on the Chandos USB-sticks http://www.chandos.net/USBCollections.asp gapless. Especially tracks within 1 musical number are of relevance.

Please answer before june 1st....

greets,
Marius

James Tanner · « **Reply #1 on:** 27 May 2011, 05:01 pm »

Hi Marius,

It is possible but we currently do not enable it in Linux. We may in future with software updates.

james

James Tanner · « **Reply #2 on:** 27 May 2011, 09:35 pm »

Hi Marius

That is what my software guy tells me so I will have to experiment. I cant say it has ever come up though so maybe he is mistaken?

James

Marius · « **Reply #3 on:** 27 May 2011, 10:27 pm »

somehow my previous post got lost. I cant find it anymore.

But please James, this has got to be resolved before anything. No matter how good the BDP-1 sounds, if gapless playback of files, in my case the flac files is not supported, the machine is useless for anyone playing recordings where musical pieces consist of several tracks within the piece. almost all of my listening consists of opera's and live recordings where this applies to.
Imagine Isoldes Liebestod at the end of Tristan und Isolde being separated form the musical scene leading up to it. And then a gap. A musical disaster.

"We may in future with software updates" just isn't good enough. And not very much "Bryston Professional".

Hope your software guy is mistaken....

Marius

Quote from: James Tanner on 27 May 2011, 09:35 pm

Hi Marius

That is what my software guy tells me so I will have to experiment. I cant say it has ever come up though so maybe he is mistaken?

James

James Tanner · « **Reply #4 on:** 27 May 2011, 10:50 pm »

Hi Marius,

I will run some tests on Monday but you may be right if its an issue with gapless the BDP-1 would be the wrong choice for you.

james

Marius · « **Reply #5 on:** 27 May 2011, 10:55 pm »

still hoping it not to be true, please let me know, because I have to order on may 31st.....

and seriously: you wouldn't want it to be true, wouldn't you? the BDP-1 isn't a single- track- playing machine I reckon.

anyhow, regards and thanks again,
Marius

Quote from: James Tanner on 27 May 2011, 10:50 pm

Hi Marius,

I will run some tests on Monday but you may be right if its an issue with gapless the BDP-1 would be the wrong choice for you.

james

BrysTony · « **Reply #6 on:** 27 May 2011, 11:52 pm »

Quote from: Marius on 27 May 2011, 10:55 pm

still hoping it not to be true, please let me know, because I have to order on may 31st.....

and seriously: you wouldn't want it to be true, wouldn't you? the BDP-1 isn't a single- track- playing machine I reckon.

anyhow, regards and thanks again,
Marius

Marius,
In response to your concern, I decided to check it out. I don't listen to Opera often and had not until today listened to opera on the BDP-1. I have a 3 CD set of Mozart's "Le Nozze Di Figaro" and I ripped it to files for the BDP-1 using dbPoweramp. Now for the good news: It played beautifully on the BDP-1. It switched track to track in the same Act with absolutely no gaps whatsoever. My test results are

Tony

James Tanner · « **Reply #7 on:** 28 May 2011, 12:43 am »

Thanks Tony

I did not think it would be an issue or we would have run into a problem by now.

Thanks for your help

James

alexone · « **Reply #8 on:** 28 May 2011, 07:47 am »

Marius,

the BDP-1 is a gapless player as far as i can judge it. but to be honest: there are dropouts now and then (i'm using wave)...but i think it is more a problem of the connected hdd. sometimes if i notice a musical 'hiccup' i play the same track from that point again and everything is ok. long story short: use a hdd with its own power supply if the stored music library is around 1tb.

Marius, please understand that dropouts happen RARELY with the BDP-1!!! and IF they appear they affect songs with any length.

hope this helps,

al.

Marius · « **Reply #9 on:** 28 May 2011, 12:16 pm »

Hi Tony,

I understand what you mean, but I am not talking about dropouts. I really am talking about gapless playback, and if you google there is a lot to do about it. Some player do and others don't suffer from it. I should think the bryston to be in the category of equipment that doensn't

Btw I'm playing a usb-stick here, no Hdd. see http://www.chandos.net/USBCollections.asp. when playing separate songs there is no problem having a gap, since the music stops between those track anyway, and nobody notices. When playing music thats takes several tracks in the same musical piece, this is unacceptable.

Again, I need a definite answer in this. I should think Bryston wants its player to be a professional machine, and gapless playback is a prerequisite for that. I can't believe that it was not tested, or didn't come up during testing. (if it was tested and didn't come up that would be the I answer need, but I have to be sure about it)

Bottomline: tracks that are separate tracks play separately, tracks that are "attacca" , and are there just to be able to go to that specific point in the bigger musical piece, need to play gapless-ly. No discussion.

Hope this helps,
Marius

Quote from: alexone on 28 May 2011, 07:47 am

Marius,

the BDP-1 is a gapless player as far as i can judge it. but to be honest: there are dropouts now and then (i'm using wave)...but i think it is more a problem of the connected hdd. sometimes if i notice a musical 'hiccup' i play the same track from that point again and everything is ok. long story short: use a hdd with its own power supply if the stored music library is around 1tb.

Marius, please understand that dropouts happen RARELY with the BDP-1!!! and IF they appear they affect songs with any length.

hope this helps,

al.

BrysTony · « **Reply #10 on:** 28 May 2011, 01:00 pm »

Quote from: Marius on 28 May 2011, 12:16 pm

Hi Tony,

I understand what you mean, but I am not talking about dropouts. I really am talking about gapless playback, and if you google there is a lot to do about it. Some player do and others don't suffer from it. I should think the bryston to be in the category of equipment that doensn't

Btw I'm playing a usb-stick here, no Hdd. see http://www.chandos.net/USBCollections.asp. when playing separate songs there is no problem having a gap, since the music stops between those track anyway, and nobody notices. When playing music thats takes several tracks in the same musical piece, this is unacceptable.

Again, I need a definite answer in this. I should think Bryston wants its player to be a professional machine, and gapless playback is a prerequisite for that. I can't believe that it was not tested, or didn't come up during testing. (if it was tested and didn't come up that would be the I answer need, but I have to be sure about it)

Bottomline: tracks that are separate tracks play separately, tracks that are "attacca" , and are there just to be able to go to that specific point in the bigger musical piece, need to play gapless-ly. No discussion.

Hope this helps,
Marius

Marius,
I did not mention dropouts -- that was in alexone's post. I have been playing my BDP-1 every day for six months and I have never heard a dropout.

I know exactly what you are concerned about and that is why I selected an opera to test. I ripped the CDs to FLAC files and when played there were no gaps between tracks. The only thing that happens is the BDP display changes to the new track name -- the music is continuous -- it does not skip a single note.

If my post is not clear, please feel free to ask questions.

Tony

Marius · « **Reply #11 on:** 28 May 2011, 01:39 pm »

Hi Tony,

Thank you, thank you, and sorry for the mixup in replies and posts...

When James told me yesterday the "softwareguy" told him so, ie BDP-1 does not support it, and maybe future software updates, in fact I was flabbergasted. Bur since you know exactly what I an concerned about, I wonder what James might have been referring to. Was that another mix-up?

Changes to the new track name are of course expected behaviour. No problem there. Still, you mention ripping cd's to flac files. I play factory usb-sticks filled with flac-files. could that be of any relevance?

I phoned my dealer, and hope we can organize a test on monday or tuesday (final chance before may 31st...) but any thought you can spare would be appreciated on that issue.

Thanks again,
Marius

Quote from: BrysTony on 28 May 2011, 01:00 pm

Marius,
I did not mention dropouts -- that was in alexone's post. I have been playing my BDP-1 every day for six months and I have never heard a dropout.

I know exactly what you are concerned about and that is why I selected an opera to test. I ripped the CDs to FLAC files and when played there were no gaps between tracks. The only thing that happens is the BDP display changes to the new track name -- the music is continuous -- it does not skip a single note.

If my post is not clear, please feel free to ask questions.

Tony

Marius · « **Reply #12 on:** 28 May 2011, 01:45 pm »

btw sorry for my typos, keep having trouble overruling my Ipad's spellingchecker....
also, I notice that some of the post are partly missing.....

(moderation?)
and I did not get a notice of Tony's first contribution to this discussion, which explains the mixup on my side.

just to clarify, thanks, getting my hopes up at the moment

Marius

BrysTony · « **Reply #13 on:** 28 May 2011, 02:09 pm »

Quote from: Marius on 28 May 2011, 01:45 pm

btw sorry for my typos, keep having trouble overruling my Ipad's spellingchecker....
also, I notice that some of the post are partly missing..... (moderation?)
and I did not get a notice of Tony's first contribution to this discussion, which explains the mixup on my side.

just to clarify, thanks, getting my hopes up at the moment
Marius

Marius,
No problem at all - mixups happen. My test was CDs ripped using dbPoweramp to FLAC files placed on a USB stick. It worked perfectly. The only way to find out for sure if the Chandos factory provided USB sticks work is to try it but I would be very surprised if there is a problem.
Tony

mpv · « **Reply #14 on:** 29 May 2011, 12:05 pm »

Quote from: alexone on 28 May 2011, 07:47 am

Marius,

the BDP-1 is a gapless player as far as i can judge it. but to be honest: there are dropouts now and then (i'm using wave)...but i think it is more a problem of the connected hdd. sometimes if i notice a musical 'hiccup' i play the same track from that point again and everything is ok. long story short: use a hdd with its own power supply if the stored music library is around 1tb.

Marius, please understand that dropouts happen RARELY with the BDP-1!!! and IF they appear they affect songs with any length.

hope this helps,

al.

1-This has nothing to do with gapless.I had same drop out until I use a Y usb cable (double headed) to connect my hard drive to BDP.

2-I listen to a lot of opera music and BDP play gapless no problem.This is more related to the way you copy the cd.Just set up the copy software to copy gapless and will play all files gapless on BDP-1
cheers

WBimmer · « **Reply #15 on:** 29 May 2011, 03:33 pm »

My experience has been the BDP-1 plays back WAV or FLAC files exactly the same as the CD plays.

I use dBPoweramp to rip my music and I used the online setup guide on their website to configure the settings properly and all works fine.

I have the entire Buddha-Bar collection, which has a blended beat from start to finish and they play as one continous track with no problem at all.

I did have the same thought before I got mine and the problem hasn't materialized. I also haven't had any dropouts or problems at all with it. It's smooth sailing for me.

Hope that helps.

Wayne.

alexone · « **Reply #16 on:** 29 May 2011, 05:45 pm »

Quote from: mpv on 29 May 2011, 12:05 pm

1-This has nothing to do with gapless.I had same drop out until I use a Y usb cable (double headed) to connect my hard drive to BDP.

2-I listen to a lot of opera music and BDP play gapless no problem.This is more related to the way you copy the cd.Just set up the copy software to copy gapless and will play all files gapless on BDP-1
cheers

mpv,

i was trying to say that the dropouts are a problem of the hdd not the BDP

. and yes, it could be that the software that i am using causes failures...
i have lots of tracks which are pretty long (10 minutes and up...) and the BDP plays them without any problem!

al.

skunark · « **Reply #17 on:** 29 May 2011, 07:59 pm »

Quote from: alexone on 29 May 2011, 05:45 pm

mpv,

i was trying to say that the dropouts are a problem of the hdd not the BDP . and yes, it could be that the software that i am using causes failures...
i have lots of tracks which are pretty long (10 minutes and up...) and the BDP plays them without any problem!

al.

I have no problems with dropouts because of the HDD. I use a 750GB Western Digital passport essential (sadly) formatted to fat32. On a different but related topic, I had to send in a WDC that was on warranty and the reconditioned drive had the smartware crap loaded on it. During the process of to disable it, there was an option to adjust the sleep settings. Since I haven't had an issue, I left it alone.

James Tanner · « **Reply #18 on:** 30 May 2011, 11:17 am »

Hi folks

Highly recommend Flac and dbpoweramp with the BDP

James

James Tanner · « **Reply #19 on:** 31 May 2011, 11:22 am »

Hi Marius,

We have tried a few Gapless tests and the BDP-1 seems fine with it as the others above have mentioned but I do not have any of the Chandos USB's to try.

james