Rip to AAC (Nero) is not gapless

[juancdg]

Hello. I'm having a problem, I'm using dbpoweramp to rip cds to m4a format (nero codec) and the files are not gapless. I played the files in winamp or foobar and there is gap between the songs.

I read this thread, about the tags so I ripped with the "Disable Tag Writing" on. Foobar played the files gaplessly while Winamp not.

Has anybody experienced this issue? Any help will be appreciated.

[Spoon]

Re: Rip to AAC (Nero) is not gapless

The ID Tag should not stop the aac from being gapless, try converting an m4a (with and without tag) to wave with dbpoweramp, both files should have the exact same sample count.

[juancdg]

Re: Rip to AAC (Nero) is not gapless

Hello Spoon. As you suggested I ripped two tracks (to check gapless playback), one pair using the tag and the other with tagging disabled. Right clicked both m4a files and converted to wav. Compared both files (with EACs compare wave files) and they are exactly the same, but when I attempt to play the decoded files with Foobar, they aren't gapless.

I tried to rip to lame mp3 and it is gapless with the tags.

Do you need any logs or something? I don't know what is the problem.

[Spoon]

Re: Rip to AAC (Nero) is not gapless

Then the audio is gapless, so the fault is with foobar and the reading ahead (the id tags).

[juancdg]

Re: Rip to AAC (Nero) is not gapless

I decoded the aac files ripped with dBpoweramp with foobar, the tagged ones (which aren't gapless) and the non-tagged ones (which are gapless). Again, I run the "Wav Compare" with EAC and the files were different.

http://img214.imageshack.us/img214/7204/wavcompare1.png

http://img27.imageshack.us/img27/9877/wavcompare2.png

As you can see there is .059 difference between the two files.

When I decoded the files with the right-click "Convert To" option, the tagged and non-tagged m4a files were non-gapless but identical between both.

I have seen some options with the tagging in dbpoweramp, but I don't want to change them, until you can give me an answer, please.

EDIT: Ripped with EAC, files were gapless. Edited with dbpoweramp "Edit ID-Tag" and files were non-gapless. Could you check how dbpoweramp tags the m4a files? For some reason, it does not keep the gapless information.

[Spoon]

Re: Rip to AAC (Nero) is not gapless

Try the latest beta version of the m4a codec from the beta section of this forum, it might help.

[juancdg]

Re: Rip to AAC (Nero) is not gapless

Try the latest beta version of the m4a codec from the beta section of this forum, it might help.

Ok, I'm gonna try it but... where is it?

EDIT: I'll find it: Apple Lossless R9 (24 bit) & m4a Update

[juancdg]

Re: Rip to AAC (Nero) is not gapless

Nope. The same .059 difference between files.

[Spoon]

Re: Rip to AAC (Nero) is not gapless

dbpoweramp configuration >> codecs >> advanced

set the m4a tagging to streaming incompatible

[juancdg]

Re: Rip to AAC (Nero) is not gapless

I tried this option and no luck the same .059 gap. Padding was set to 2kb, and using Itunes tags (the other tags don't work). Release 9 of m4a codec is installed. Do I need to reinstall dbpoweramp?

[juancdg]

Re: Rip to AAC (Nero) is not gapless

Hello Spoon. I've been doing a lot of tests (removing art, using AMG, using freedb, etc) and none of them worked. Please if you could find a solution for this, it will be appreciated.

[Spoon]

Re: Rip to AAC (Nero) is not gapless

I have marked it down as a bug.

[juancdg]

Re: Rip to AAC (Nero) is not gapless

Ok, thanks Spoon.

[jtbse]

Re: Rip to AAC (Nero) is not gapless

Not meaning to hijack the thread, but I'm scratching my head a bit here.

Thinking I must have been out of touch for awhile.

I thought that AAC could never be completely gapless, and that gapless playback depended on some smoke and mirrors from the player in question (e.g. iPod/iTunes, Winamp, Foobar)? Something to do with extra frames needed in the encoded file?? That's why I have always encoded things that I wanted to be truly gapless to Flac.

I also assumed that the "streaming" option in dmc was about the famous mdat data atom that needs to be at the beginning of the file for DAAP fast-start streaming (i.e. didn't think it had anything to do with gapless playback)??

Did I miss out on some development with AAC codecs along the line?? Can someone please educate me?

Thanks

[jul059]

Re: Rip to AAC (Nero) is not gapless

I can confirm that I have the same problem on my machine with the latest version of DbPoweramp. The AAC files are not gapless in foobar2000 or winamp when encoded with dbPoweramp but they are if I encode them in Foobar2000 or with the combination EAC + REACT2 for ripping. Obviously they always are gapless in iTunes.

Is there a way to repair those files that were encoded without the gapless information? I do not wish to re-rip all of my collection...