Converted files sound distorted

[roskilde96]

Hi

I've converted some Flac files to EBU Wav files, using 48 KHz, 256 bits stereo and adding two DSP effects: trim silence at beginning and ending and add Replay Gain (using Normalizing). I've also ripped some music directly from CD to the same EBU format with the same DSP settings.

What I've noticed is that most of the converted files sound as if they are 8 bit or so, because in quieter parts they sound "distorted".

What could cause this problem?

Thanks ...

[Spoon]

Re: Converted files sound distorted

It is a known issue with R12.1, see the 2nd to last message:

http://forum.dbpoweramp.com/showthread.php?t=12018

[roskilde96]

Re: Converted files sound distorted

Thanks!
I'll wait for the new release to reconvert the files.
Do you have any idea if that release is for the next days or will it take a longer time?

Kind regards!

[Spoon]

Re: Converted files sound distorted

About 2 weeks.

[roskilde96]

Re: Converted files sound distorted

Can I "bypass" this problem by first encoding to standard wav files, using the DSP settings "trim silence" and "replay gain" and when that's done, convert these wav files to BWF EBU files?

Thanks!

[Spoon]

Re: Converted files sound distorted

No the problem exists doing the actual dsp effects. I think if you do one effect at once then you would not have the problem (each time converting to wave).

[roskilde96]

Re: Converted files sound distorted

Well, I did some more tests ... The problem seems to be in the BWF file format.
When I take the original file (FLAC) and I convert to BWF (without DSP effects) or I take a normal wav file and I convert to BWF, the result sound distorted. I use 48 KHz, 256 kbps stereo for the BWF file output.
It sounds a bit like a bad reception of a radio channel ...

[Spoon]

Re: Converted files sound distorted

What is the settings of the flac file? bit depth, sample rate, channels?

[roskilde96]

Re: Converted files sound distorted

The Flac is 44,1 KHz, 16 bit, 2 channels (stereo) 1,411 kbps.

But even when I rip directly from an audio cd to BWF, 48 KHz, 256 kbps, stereo, I get the same distorted result.

Using a headphone, I can hear the difference in audio quality even better than through my desktop speakers.

Regards!

[roskilde96]

Re: Converted files sound distorted

In addition to my previous message, I get the same distorted sound when converting to the Dalet format (48 KHz, 256 kbps, stereo).

Maybe a problem with the conversion from 44,1 to 48 KHz?

[LtData]

Re: Converted files sound distorted

If you convert to a 44.1KHz Dalet or BWF file, do they sound correct?

[Spoon]

Re: Converted files sound distorted

Try a DSP effect Resample, and set to 48 KHz

[Spoon]

Re: Converted files sound distorted

Both BWF and Dalet codecs were updated a week or so ago (different from the beta versions), are you sure you are on the latest versions?

BWF is now R5 and Dalet is R3

I have tried a 44khz file 16 bit 2 chan to bwf 48Khz 256khz and stereo and it sounds perfect.

[roskilde96]

Re: Converted files sound distorted

Hi Spoon

I'm using BWF R5 and Dalet R3.
I've zipped some audio samples audio.zip to let you hear what I mean.
There are 3 folders containg files, one with the original wav files 16 bit 44,1 KHz stereo. One with an MP3 example converted with Lame CBR 256 kbps and then a folder containg the BWF files. One of the audio samples is a 1KHz tone.

Maybe you could try to use my original 1KHz wav file and convert it to the BWF file format. (BWF 48 KHz, 256 kbps, stereo).
Could you please let me know if your converted file sound different then mine?

Thanks in advance!

[Spoon]

Re: Converted files sound distorted

The files seem to have no distortion to us, and played ok on our BWF checking programs.

Try this:

Convert the BWF r5 1KHz file to flac (important it is flac as it will not preserve the bwf chunk), then convert to a Wave (pcm uncompressed, everything as source). Play the wave file (say in media player) and see if it is distorted to you. If not then we have to find why your device / program is not liking the file.