Glitch In Compressed wav files

[bob1941]

I've been using dBpowerAMP Music Converter & Ripper for several years now. With the old versions when I ripped and compressed to 24kBits, 12,000Hz, Stereo @ 4 kBs, I always got a glitch (skip) in the resulting music files upon playback. The skip occurred in only one place or several places throughout the compressed song files. When I compressed to most other wav file settings, I didn't notice the skip.

To try to correct the problem, I downloaded a newer version, but met with the same glitch. Today I unistalled my previous version and downloaded Version 11 to see if that would cure my problem. It did not. I still get the skip in my compressed files, BUT NOW I also get the glitch (skip) on ALL compressed wav files rather than just on the 24kBits, 12,000Hz, Stereo @ 4 kBs compressed files. Today I did a test and found the skip always occurred at about the 34 sec mark on the WMP play meter for all 5 song files I ripped to wav. When I tried ripping with the converter rather than the Input ripper, the skip occurred throughout the song file.

Can anyone tell me what's causing this glitch and how to get rid of it. It's driving me up a wall. I do not have the problem with Total Recorder, but I'd hate to have to use Total Recorder for every file I want to compress off of a CD. It's much slower. Besides, I've grown fond of my dBpoweramp products. Thanks for your assistance.

[ChristinaS]

Re: Glitch In Compressed wav files

While I don't have a ready answer to your question, I have a question of my own. Why are you compressing to compressed wav? Why not .wma ? You'll find the quality much higher at low bitrates.

[bob1941]

Re: Glitch In Compressed wav files

Thanks for the response, Christina. I'm looking forward to some sort of reason/fix for the glitch. I don't recall the problem being as widespread with earlier versions.

As a music administrator, I post compressed music files on an alumni web site. Space is limited on the site and as you know, music files are voluminous. The site host is pretty archaic and handles some types of music files better than others. Even midis cause some problems now and then. So far, I've found compressed wav files to be the best fit on the site. However, I'm interested in knowing more about why you recommend WMA files. Are they generally smaller files? I guess if they are larger files, it stands to reason they would be higher quality than compressed wavs.

As you might expect, I'm interested in audio files which offer the best combination of quality with the smallest profile.

[ChristinaS]

Re: Glitch In Compressed wav files

Well, it is my opinion and that of others in my position (webmasters who use music on their sites) that .wma files are excellent for web streaming, especially at the low bitrates. I use them on my web pages that require audio streaming. At low bitrates, the file is vey small. If 128kbps 44.1KHz stereo results in file sizes of about 1MB/minute, then 32kbps will yeld a file of 250Kb/minute. Going even lower, to 20kbps at 22KHz stereo, you'll almost halve it again. If you don't mind mono, then it's half again the size, at all bitrates.


Moreover, Windows Media Player, which just about everybody has, will play these files perfectly.

Ultimately it may be just a matter of personal taste. I like .wma files. I like the space I save using those as opposed to .mp3 for instance, to achieve the same audio quality. I am interested on getting the fastest streaming as possible,e spcially for dial-up connections, with least amount of distortion. This to me does it better than all other types.

You'll of course have to experiment to see the best settings., and this depends on the type of audio content you have.

[neilthecellist]

Re: Glitch In Compressed wav files

i thought .ogg was best for web streaming....are you sure that .wma is better?

[LtData]

Re: Glitch In Compressed wav files

i thought .ogg was best for web streaming....are you sure that .wma is better?

But can everyone get an ogg stream? Not likely.

[ChristinaS]

Re: Glitch In Compressed wav files

i thought .ogg was best for web streaming....are you sure that .wma is better?

Do you really think people have .ogg players? Everybody running Windows, in any version, has or should have Windows Media Player.

Windows media file can be embedded in a web page - windows media player will just play them automatically. You can do the same with .mp3, but the quality may be worse at the same bitrate as .wma. You can't do this with .ogg at all.

[Spoons]

Re: Glitch In Compressed wav files

i would have to agree with christina, as wma is widely known and accepted format. and since wma introduction to lossless i now only use wma. i used to be an avid ogg user but settled for wma for it's convenience.
as a rule of thumb i just use VBR Q10 or higher depending what i want.

[ChristinaS]

Re: Glitch In Compressed wav files

i would have to agree with christina, as wma is widely known and accepted format. and since wma introduction to lossless i now only use wma. i used to be an avid ogg user but settled for wma for it's convenience.
as a rule of thumb i just use VBR Q10 or higher depending what i want.

That woudl result in the best possible audio file, but it's also very large. Bob1941 wants maximum compression for stremaing on the web, and presumably an optimal audio quality. A low bitrate of about 32 or 22 under CBR is what's in order, to be comparable in size with those compressed .wav files he's used to making, but resulting in better audio quality.

Of course, the original question concerned why the compressed .wav files are so poor. Could using Professional Frequency during conversions solve this?

Also if the compressed .wav is obtained direclty through ripping, I'd say it's best to first get a standard ucompressed PCM .wav (16-bit, 44.1KHz, stereo) and then convert this one to a compressed format.

LOL! I hope I'm not repeating msyelf or others, as I've not gone back to re-read the thread! :D

[neilthecellist]

Re: Glitch In Compressed wav files

Q10 is very very very very very large. For any format.

Also, people need to be more educated about Ogg Vorbis. I go to school, and only the NERDs know what it is. None of the regular guys and girls (ESPECIALLY girls for some reason, not trying to be sexist) know what Ogg Vorbis is and what the benefits of file size are. They're all stooped up in the mp3 codec. I was first introduced to the Ogg Vorbis codec in 7th grade when Unreal Tournament 2003 came out..... I realized then that the audio was so good, but when I looked at the size of the UT2003 demo, it was only around 100-200 megabytes, so I'm like, "It can't be WAV format." I explored the directory, and POOF! My introduction to Ogg.

Then I got Winamp.....LOL!

I still think Ogg is good for streaming. Just put on the website, "You need Winamp to play these files. Click here"

[ChristinaS]

Re: Glitch In Compressed wav files

Q10 is very very very very very large. For any format.

Also, people need to be more educated about Ogg Vorbis. I go to school, and only the NERDs know what it is. None of the regular guys and girls (ESPECIALLY girls for some reason, not trying to be sexist) know what Ogg Vorbis is and what the benefits of file size are. They're all stooped up in the mp3 codec. I was first introduced to the Ogg Vorbis codec in 7th grade when Unreal Tournament 2003 came out..... I realized then that the audio was so good, but when I looked at the size of the UT2003 demo, it was only around 100-200 megabytes, so I'm like, "It can't be WAV format." I explored the directory, and POOF! My introduction to Ogg.

Then I got Winamp.....LOL!

I still think Ogg is good for streaming. Just put on the website, "You need Winamp to play these files. Click here"

Neil, have you ever visited a web site where you just simply hear music as you're visiting? And it's not done by Flash? There's no question of Click here! The purpose is not to download stuff, it's part of the design, like colors and images. The audio is then embedded into the web page. It has to be playable by the default player. It should not require downloading and installing a special player. For the longest time I did not even have Winamp. I have WMP and Real Player and Quicktime, and they each play their native formats by default. Of course I also have dAP but that's not for the web. Since WMP is native to Windows, ideally all embedded web audio should be in WMP's native format, or at least something that WMP can play without a hitch, with no plugins required.

[Spoons]

Re: Glitch In Compressed wav files

Q10 is not large at all. i don't know what your comparing it too.

yes for streaming 32kb or 64kb. i will do a test but i think it would need to be converted to wav first from the cd then to wav/mp3 compressed.

but i think bob is doing voice recordings? 24kBits, 12,000Hz, Stereo @ 4 kBs must sound awfull if it's music?

[ChristinaS]

Re: Glitch In Compressed wav files

You're right, Razgo, I had a hard time looking for Q10, but I did find it, under WMA Professional. It's a very small file, indeed, about on par with 32kbps 2-pass CBR. It sounds about the same too - a little on the gurgly side, or slightly metallic. The trouble may be the VBR part - not sure if older versions of WMP can play that of if they can play that optimally.

[Spoons]

Re: Glitch In Compressed wav files

the one i use isn't the one under "professional". i don't normally venture in that section as it's usually for 24bitrates conversions.

but just under normal wma 9.1 you will see VBR Q10 setting. the sound quality is quite surprising. but usually ends up around 64kbps which maybe too large for streaming? the quality is good though as VBR always is.

[ChristinaS]

Re: Glitch In Compressed wav files

the one i use isn't the one under "professional". i don't normally venture in that section as it's usually for 24bitrates conversions.

but just under normal wma 9.1 you will see VBR Q10 setting. the sound quality is quite surprising. but usually ends up around 64kbps which maybe too large for streaming? the quality is good though as VBR always is.

OK, my Windows Media selections are scattered all over the place. First of all I have Windows Media Audio V9 appearing twice in the top box. (If one of them may be 9.1, I can't see that since the text is cut off at 9 as nothing more fits beyond that in the little window).

Then for each one I have 5 codecs appearing:
1) Windows Media Audio 9 Voice
2) Windows Media Audio 9 Professional
3) Windows Media Audio 9 Lossless
4) ACELP.NET
5) Windows Media Audio 9

For any codec I get different subselections depending on whether CBR or VBR is selected, and 2 pass or not.

This is very confusing. I end up finding what I want quite eventually, but sort of by accident. It's like going through a maze where you often seem to visit the same spot coming from different directions, but the neighbours aren't always the same.

I wonder if there's something wrong in my installation. The WMA options seem to have multiplied and duplicated themselves, but not entirely. Maybe because I'm running W2K and I once tried installing the 9.1 set which ended up not working (but maybe only partially). Am I confused? Oh, yeah :D

What's needed here is a simpler, more streamlined selection anyway, in proper tabular fashion.

The Professional version you are referring to appears in both sets of codecs, but not with the same subselections. Some are indeed hi-fi, but the lo-fi Q10 was found in one of them. :confused: