FLAC files not playing (greyed out) *** FIXED ***

[wavestar]

Hi all

So after a few days GTechniq'ing my new GTS, I finally am getting to play!  I have a couple of niggles which I will put in separate posts.

I have put a bunch of FLAC files on an SD card (also tried on a USB), all ripped with the same settings in Exact Audio Copy, all happily play on several other different devices.  In the PCM half of the songs are greyed out and won't play.  I am baffled why some play and others done.  I've even checked the bitrates to see if over some limit.  Anyone else come across this before?

thanks
wavestar

*** UPDATE: FIX FOUND ***

The problem was caused by erroneous ID3 tags inside the FLAC files (FLAC should only have Vorbis tags), which it appears one of my media servers was putting in behind the scenes.

FIX: use MP3TAG to "REMOVE TAG" (red cross button) from all affected files, then "UNDO" (ctrl-z). This deletes all files but MP3TAG knowing it is a flac file when you undo it only restores Vorbis tags.

Unfortunately the UNDO does not restore albumart, so you have to restore that manually if you use it.

NOTE: also check your settings in MP3TAG to stop it writing ID3 tags altogether

TIP: add the column "TAG" to MP3TAG main view and it lists the tag formats(s) so you can see if there are ID3 tags present e.g. "FLAC (FLAC ID3V2)" or "FLAC (FLAC)"

PS there were a few files that I had to re-encode (flac command line if you input a flac file will just reencode it e.g. flac -6 -V -f song.flac).  maybe a bug in an old version of flac?

wavestar2017-04-30 19:25:30

[Col Lamb]

Have you used MP3Tag to check that the data is their correctly.

I have just looked at some of my FLAC albums and tracks, the highest data rate I have in a free sampler album downloaded from HD Tracks is 4608kbit/s and 96k sampling and these play OK with the Bose in my Macan.

[wavestar]

Evening Col

All my music is meticulously tagged with MP3tag ;-)

Nothing fancy either (album, artist, genre, title, track, year, genre).

cheers

wavestar

[Col Lamb]

Yeah I though they would be.

What is the size of card are you using?

How much is on the card?

How is the card formatted?

SD card, is it a quick card like a class 10, UHS-3 ?

I would take the card out and add another album and a Playlist and re-insert it, this should cause it to re-create the database within the PCM.

[wavestar]

Hi Col

They are 128 GB Sandisk Ultras (I've got 2, tried them both) which I put a selection of about 10 albums on, and as I said also tried my free Porsche USB with the same albums on. So I know it is something to do with the the files themselves not the media.

its very odd. Some albums half the files play, half don't. I am currently studying them carefully to see if I can spot a difference.

There is someone on a German forum said they had the same problem on their 718, but the only reply he had was "convert to MP3"!

wavestar

[Col Lamb]

Persevere.

Flac is better.

What follows is a test I did a few months back and Nuclear Nick and I listened to the results at the Cheshire meet.

Audio Comparison Test
I took one of my FLAC audio files and put it into one of my Audio editing programmes (Adobe Audition for those interested) and converted it into mp3 files with various encoding bitrates, and as a matter of interest I encoded the FLAC as AIFF and WAV to see what file size they produced

Source as a FLAC of file size 85,444kB

MP3 encoding data rate ----- File size in kB
96 ---- 2,264
160 --- 5,435
320 ---- 10,863

As a matter of interest I encoded the source into a WAV file and it was 208,394

Also being fully lossless the AIFF encoding gave a file size 208,394

With another forum member we sat in my Bose equipped Macan and listened to the FLAC and mp3 files.

FLAC was a clear winner with rich tones and a clarity of the brass instruments that the mp3's failed to come near.

MP3 at 320 gave a perfectly listenable file for most music but even at the high data rate there was a lack of clarity in the tonal quality and a slight edge to the brass.

As the MP3 data rate was lowered the audio quality got worst as expected, with the 96 file listenable but not something you would want to do regularly on a £800 Macan extra, you would certainly want the higher quality media files.

Whist it was certainly not to lab standard of testing it was an interesting exercise to actually be able to hear the difference and for me and my old ears I was pleasantly surprised that I could discern as much difference as I did.

[wilko]

I've got 12800 tracks, mostly ripped ALAC, and they play fine on my burm. Still got a few mp3's from music bought online, but mostly 320. This is on 2 128gb Sandisk cards.

[Kasfranks99]

Hi all

So after a few days GTechniq'ing my new GTS, I finally am getting to play! I have a couple of niggles which I will put in separate posts.

I have put a bunch of FLAC files on an SD card (also tried on a USB), all ripped with the same settings in Exact Audio Copy, all happily play on several other different devices. In the PCM half of the songs are greyed out and won't play. I am baffled why some play and others done. I've even checked the bitrates to see if over some limit. Anyone else come across this before?

thanks
wavestar

I have certainly had issues with Flac files not playing on other devices (sonos etc) but this was related to the maximum bitrate or sample rate. Played fine on the PCM so far.

Most of my Car stuff is MP3 320kbps which all work perfectly (including album art at 800x800).

Flac of course if better quality but maybe an idea to just change / check the bitrate or sample rate on one of the tracks you have an issue with and see if that resolves it. (Use Mp3Tag and right click the file and select properties should give you enough info)

You can then make a decision going forward the best format for you to use without too much grief.

I use 128gb Sandisks class 10 Pro extreme SDHC with no problems at all

Kasfranks992017-03-06 17:25:07

[wavestar]

FIXED - see first post!

wavestar