Metadata issues with Flac on Sonos

[hcull]

I recently purchased dbpoweramp to rip my CD collection and add it to my NAS to stream through Sonos. In 2021, I used the free trial version of dbpoweramp to do this. I ripped 100 or so CDs to FLAC - all these play perfectly well through Sonos. Last week, I purchased the full-fledged version of dbpoweramp to do some more rips to FLAC. None of the newly-ripped CDs will play through Sonos.

I did a test, and if I rip to WAV, the files play on Sonos. I don't want to use WAV though, cause it takes up so much more space.

I've come to the conclusion (after troubleshooting and seeking with Sonos) that the pay version of dbpoweramp provides more metadata to the FLAC files than the trial version of dbpoweramp, and the additional metadata is causing Sonos playback issues. So, I'm wondering if there's a way to limit the metadata on the pay version to align with the trial version so I can still rip to FLAC.

Could anyone help me with this?

[garym]

I've come to the conclusion (after troubleshooting and seeking with Sonos) that the pay version of dbpoweramp provides more metadata to the FLAC files than the trial version of dbpoweramp, and the additional metadata is causing Sonos playback issues. So, I'm wondering if there's a way to limit the metadata on the pay version to align with the trial version so I can still rip to FLAC.

This is not correct; trial and paid version provide exact same metadata. So the problem lies elsewhere. Do keep in mind that in dbpoweramp settings you can select exactly which metadata items you want to include in your files. You should do that in any case, as you likely don't want all the metadata tag fields.

[Spoon]

You would have to see what is causing the issue, likely the Album art has to be below a certain size (perhaps KB), really in this day and age Sonos should not have this issue, it is not the 1990s.

[Dat Ei]

Sonos is a PITA, especially if you look at the latest developement of their software. I don't know any other software / app that has more than 5 mio. downloads, nearly 200k reviews and a overall rating of 1.2 stars.

Dat Ei

[Spoon]

That is bad, and considering that sonos is just about audio, and they have been in the game for so long, no excuse.

[BrodyBoy]

I recently purchased dbpoweramp to rip my CD collection and add it to my NAS to stream through Sonos. In 2021, I used the free trial version of dbpoweramp to do this. I ripped 100 or so CDs to FLAC - all these play perfectly well through Sonos. Last week, I purchased the full-fledged version of dbpoweramp to do some more rips to FLAC. None of the newly-ripped CDs will play through Sonos.

I’ve used Sonos for ages, and there are only two things that have ever caused playback-related problems for me.

(1) Very large cover art can be really slow to load, though the audio file itself plays just fine. So I try to keep art under ~500kB. My files have a ton of metadata and that’s never caused any problems for my Sonos players.

(2) Sonos has resolution limits. This can vary depending on the generation of players you have, but generally, you are limited to 2ch, 16bit, and up to 48kHz. My first guess with your playback issue is that you ripped at a higher bit rate (like 24bit) and/or a higher resolution (96kHz or 192kHz). If you discover this is the case, you can use Music Converter to convert those newly-ripped files to 16bit, 44.1kHz. And for future rips, make sure CD Ripper is set to those parameters.

[hcull]

I’ve used Sonos for ages, and there are only two things that have ever caused playback-related problems for me.

(1) Very large cover art can be really slow to load, though the audio file itself plays just fine. So I try to keep art under ~500kB. My files have a ton of metadata and that’s never caused any problems for my Sonos players.

(2) Sonos has resolution limits. This can vary depending on the generation of players you have, but generally, you are limited to 2ch, 16bit, and up to 48kHz. My first guess with your playback issue is that you ripped at a higher bit rate (like 24bit) and/or a higher resolution (96kHz or 192kHz). If you discover this is the case, you can use Music Converter to convert those newly-ripped files to 16bit, 44.1kHz. And for future rips, make sure CD Ripper is set to those parameters.

Thanks for all your responses! Some things to note...I'm ripping within resolution limits but still no luck. Album cover art is not loading slowly. I have a call scheduled with Sonos next week to do a screen share and see if they can help me locate the issue.

[garym]

Thanks for all your responses! Some things to note...I'm ripping within resolution limits but still no luck. Album cover art is not loading slowly. I have a call scheduled with Sonos next week to do a screen share and see if they can help me locate the issue.

Good luck. I suspect they will simply blame dbpoweramp with no actual evidence or reasoning. I hope I’m wrong for your sake.

[BrodyBoy]

Yeah, I’ll second that…Sonos will probably ask you about things like surge protectors, lol.

If you’d like to give it one more shot here, before or after your exchange with Sonos, perhaps posting the info (metadata, audio parameters) from an offending file could help someone provide some insight.