Playback interrupted by groups of crackles

[Dave P]

Some tracks play fine, but others are marred by little episodes of crackling or popping. I'm running Windows XP SP2, and yes I have found the advice in the faqs. The trouble is that although I can follow the step by step instructions I'm so far out of my depth that I haven't a clue what I'm actually dealing with. In addition I don't have the windows cd, my machine is what I think of as a supported package. Its worked out fine for me so far, but if I have to take it in with "self inflicted wounds" I'm going to have to pay for the fun...
The big question then, is: "Is this a safe procedure for someone like me?"
The second question is this: when I looked at the advanced settings I found that the selected transfer mode was set to "DMA if available" although the current transfer mode was "PIO". Is this significant? I did wonder if perhaps it meant that something wasn't installed - but as I said, I'm in deep water here!

[Spoon]

Re: Playback interrupted by groups of crackles

Playing audio CDs?

[Dave P]

Re: Playback interrupted by groups of crackles

Well I wasn't sure at first that it wasn't general, so I've just checked by finding a cd track that suffered from the problem and ripping it to my hard drive. The crackles occur when playing a cd, but not when playing the ripped version.

[xoas]

Re: Playback interrupted by groups of crackles

The FAQ item you referred to in your first post dealt with a problem a bit different from yours in that the crackles, etc. in the FAQ were occurring with files being played from the hard drive. In your case the issue is the sound quality being found when you play a cd.

Here's a couple of tips from a similar thread (http://forum.dbpoweramp.com/showthread.php?t=5483) which might prove helpful:
a) From Spoon:

Visit Support >> Audio CD Input

there is a link to Nero Drive speed, install it and extend the spin down time

The support site mentionned is here:

http://www.dbpoweramp.com/dmc-support-audio-cd.htm

The Nero link is found in the first item in the FAQ.

The other tip is from Petriburg:

Now, here's another thing which you can do, and is by no means time-consuming. One or both of your drives may be configured to Digital Playback mode (WindowsXP does this by default, it seems). To check this, go to Device Manager, then right click on each drive designator in turn, and open 'Properties', then click the 'Properties' tab in the new properties window, and you will see toward the bottom of this window a tick box enabling Digital Playback. Windows makes a note here that says 'You can use digital instead of analog playback of CD audio.......' and concludes by saying you should disable this function by unticking the box if you are having audio problems. So, UNTICK this box, for both of your drives, and try out your system again. If it works, well and good. If not, nothing lost, and if you want, you can go back and reverse the settings again.
Good luck!

I believe one of these tips should help
Let us know how you make out.
Best wishes,
Bill mikkelsen

[Dave P]

Re: Playback interrupted by groups of crackles

Simplest first - I tried the local solution and reset drive properties to digital disabled. Unfortunately this did not produce the desired result! Ive restored original settings.
Thread 5483 - oh dear. I'm very much afraid that I am having the same problem. I hadn't spotted the relationship to the led on the drive, but when I look - yup!
Ive downloaded and unzipped the Nero file but when I click on the Drive speed icon I just get a message that no CdRom drives have been found. Any idea what silliness I've perpetrated now?

[Dave P]

Re: Playback interrupted by groups of crackles

Really proud of myself - Ive worked through most of the problem with the Nero programme with the help of the CD Speed site - it seems I needed an updated ASPI driver (?) and now it can find the drives. Trouble is although Ive discovered (using CDSpeed) that the spindown time is just over 2 seconds Drivespeed wont allow me to extend it - when I click in the drop down box it just reverts to the original setting, Infinite (-ly small, I presume). Similiarly although it will allow me to add drive speeds the drive doesn't sound any different mechanically when the "new" speed is selected. The Detect function tells me that my read drive is operating at 16X. Is this fast enough? This drive (LG CRD 8512B) doesn't appear to be on any of the CD Speed support lists.
My read/write drive is supported, and as in the other thread, dAP can play cd tracks successfully using it. Its just that the mechanical noise is excessive. I havent had time yet to experiment with slowing this drive down for play only use. It would be a bit of a pain to have to do this every time though... Perhaps the real solution is that I need to upgrade my read drive?