WMA sound issues on Gigabeat

[shoe]

Hi I've been using a 4g ipod, but due to hardware issues caused by dropping it too many times,  I just got a GigabeatF.   I have tons of wma files and they all play fine on the ipod, but on the Gigabeat, certain albums are full of terrible popping and static (r15335).  These same files play fine with foobar2000, the ipod, and the Gigabeat simulator!  Mp3s play fine by the way.  

Does anyone else have this problem with the Gigabeat?  Maybe I just got a bad one hardware-wise, or maybe wma firmware is still not to the same state for this player as the ipod?  Any ideas, suggestions?  Thanks.

[Chronon]

I don't listen to many WMA files (on my F40), but the only ones I have tried have all played back properly.  

[shoe]

I could email you a sample problem wma file, if you would be willing to check it on your player.  You can PM me your email.

[saratoga]

If they play differently on the Gigabeat, something is wrong with the gigabeat.  No point in sending the files to someone else.

[Mad Cow]

Mine does that too with some WMAs. I have 1 that works fine, but a whole album of ones that pop alot.

[shoe]

If they play differently on the Gigabeat, something is wrong with the gigabeat.  No point in sending the files to someone else.

You mean wrong with this particular one, or with the gigabeat in general?  What kind of problem could it be, do you think?  Otherwise it seems to work perfectly, and I dont have any problems at all with mp3s.  Doesnt really make sense to me...

[misterpink]

I don't have many wmas but I have noticed this on some too. I'm sure it didn't do this a while ago so I'll try installing some old builds to pin point the change that caused it. Of course it could just be that I didn't play any files that did it before. I wonder if its a certain wma version that causes it?

[saratoga]

If they play differently on the Gigabeat, something is wrong with the gigabeat.  No point in sending the files to someone else.

You mean wrong with this particular one, or with the gigabeat in general?  What kind of problem could it be, do you think?  Otherwise it seems to work perfectly, and I dont have any problems at all with mp3s.  Doesnt really make sense to me...

Well, the decoder is the same on both the Gigabeat and Ipod (they're both ARM CPUs), so if one works and the other doesn't I'd assume something is wrong with the Gigabeat.  Could be a bad install of rockbox.

How many files don't decode right?  And do they always have exactly the same problem in the same part of the track?

[saratoga]

Mine does that too with some WMAs. I have 1 that works fine, but a whole album of ones that pop alot.

What player?  And how do they sound in a PC app like foobar?

[shoe]

How many files don't decode right?  And do they always have exactly the same problem in the same part of the track?

It seems to vary by entire album.  I will do some investigation after the kids go to bed tonight, as to how many, and if the sounds are always in the same spots.  

Could it be that the ipod as well as my computer sound card do some kind of hardware filtering that is not done in the gigabeat hardware?  That could explain why the ipod/gigabeat simulator wouldnt show problems in the wma files.

[Llorean]

Why don't you tell us what settings are different from default, or post a paste of your config file's contents?

[Mad Cow]

I'll reset my settings and put on the latest SVN build and try again.

EDIT: Found the problem, turning dithering on makes it crackle and pop.

[shoe]

EDIT: Found the problem, turning dithering on makes it crackle and pop.

You're right!  I didnt realize I had dithering turned on, and that explains the differences.  Thanks a lot, and sorry for not being more diligent, and double checking the settings to begin with.  Now I am completely happy with my new Gigabeat.  

[saratoga]

Dithering will not introduce pops like that.

It sounds like you have clipping, which will often happen with lossy encoded files if they are very loud.  Have you tried replaygain scanning your files or lowering the preamp in audio settings?  

[shoe]

I always get popping when dithering is turned on (all other settings default).  Only on certain albums though (purchased in wma format, I don't know the encoding settings).  I tried enabling replaygain, (all tracks, prevent clipping, pre-amp at -12).  Still loud popping, and it goes away with dithering turned off.  It's not a problem for me though, I could never hear any difference from dithering anyway (on tracks that don't pop that is).