Clicks and pops in ripped music

[sgrizzle]

Every ripped CD has clicks and pops in the music and in between tracks, regardless whether the track is verified as accurate or not. I have a really fast CPU (Sandy Bridge 8 core), ASUS P8P67 motherboard, 4 internal CD/DVD/BD drives, and am ripping to the fastest SSD drive I could find at the time (Kingston HyperX). The drive is dedicated to the music rips. System is Win 7, and I have no other software up when I'm using DBPoweramp. The motherboard does have an integrated audio card, and I have heard they can be problematic, but I can't see how it would have any involvement in the process. Single CD ripping with iTunes works, but it is painfully slow, and I have many to do. I'm convinced that this has to be my system, but I'm a nubie with music ripping, so I don't know where to start looking. Any help would be appreciated!

Slightly off subject, but I have lot o' LPs to convert too, so any suggestions would also be appreciated with that too. Bought a USB turntable some years back, but there was no automatic track naming (is this what the term "tagging" means) at the time, so I gave up. Software the the turntable (Audio Technica) came with isn't compatible with Win 7. Looking for replacement ideas.

Absolutely love DBpoweramp! (If I can get rid of the clicks and pops.) Wish they had a product for LPs too.

Thanks in advance!

Steve

[Spoon]

Re: Clicks and pops in ripped music

You are probably ripping to wave, and ID Tags are written, but your player is not able to read wave files as set out by the standard, instead it tries to play the id tag as audio.

You can either - ask your player manufacturer if it has a fix for the bug

or disable wave tag writing (dBpoweramp Configuration >> Codecs >> Advanced and set wave tagging to none).

[sgrizzle]

Re: Clicks and pops in ripped music

I have been ripping to the "FLAC Encoder Lossless Level 5" format. I took some time to read about the different formats, and all the threads I read recommended it. (Besides, it seems to be the Default setting in DBPoweramp.)

After I rip to FLAC, I use the DBPoweramp Music Converter to convert FLAC to MP3, and then let iTunes convert MP3 to whatever it uses (I think *.m4a, right?) by selecting "Add Folder" in iTunes.

More information about the Players in the PC:
Pioneer BDR-208D
Pioneer BDR-209D
LG BH12LS35
ASUS DRW-24B1ST

I have made your recommended menu/configuration instructions, but does the information above change anything?

[Spoon]

Re: Clicks and pops in ripped music

Try letting your player play mp3 files, they are universal and play everywhere.

[sgrizzle]

Re: Clicks and pops in ripped music

Ok, so after a little troubleshooting, I realized that everything played on this PC has pops and clicks. I tested the ripped music on another platform (an old laptop), and it plays perfectly. So, it is the system, and it is only playback. Could it be the integrated sound card, the codec?

[mville]

Re: Clicks and pops in ripped music

What player (and version) are you using?

[sgrizzle]

Re: Clicks and pops in ripped music

I'm not quite sure what people mean by 'player'. (Refer above to my "newbie" statement) Is that the CD/DVD/BD drive(s), the sound card, the codec, the speakers?
Anyway,the sound card is a Realtek® ALC 889 8-Channel, High Definition Audio CODEC, driver version V6.0.1.6235. It is integrated into the motherboard. I've heard that it can matter, so the OS version is 64 bit Win 7.

The drives are:
Pioneer BDR-208D
Pioneer BDR-209D
LG BH12LS35
ASUS DRW-24B1ST.

I'm not really sure how to get the firmware version for these, but I'll try to figure it out if it is needed.

[mville]

Re: Clicks and pops in ripped music

In which program do you playback the FLAC files and hear the clicks and pops?

[sgrizzle]

Re: Clicks and pops in ripped music

Windows Media Player and iTunes

[mville]

Re: Clicks and pops in ripped music

Windows Media Player and iTunes

Are you sure, FLAC files are not natively supported by iTunes?

[sgrizzle]

Re: Clicks and pops in ripped music

Sorry, yes, after I rip to FLAC, I use the DBPoweramp Music Converter to convert FLAC to MP3, and then let iTunes convert MP3 to whatever it uses (I think *.m4a, right?) by selecting "Add Folder" in iTunes.

Another update: There are clicks and pops in every sound coming out of the PC - even the Windows generated ones, like when a new email arrives. Tested the speakers on a different system (the laptop), and they are good. Also running the music from a network based file server to the subject PC and the laptop I'm using as a comparison unit, so music isn't the problem. It plays perfectly on the laptop from the network source, and not the PC.

What is so common that it could cause every sound out of this PC to have pops and clicks?

[garym]

Re: Clicks and pops in ripped music

you realize that itunes uses mp3 files perfectly OK. It's not a good idea to let itunes convert from mp3 (lossy) to m4a (lossy) again. Particularly when one can add mp3 files (and play them) perfectly OK with itunes. My iphones, ipads, and ipod 160gb classic are full of mp3 files that work perfectly (and display tag info and artwork).

[mville]

Re: Clicks and pops in ripped music

What is so common that it could cause every sound out of this PC to have pops and clicks?

Audio drivers? Which OS, sound card/driver version do you have installed?

... and yes garym is correct. Do not let iTunes convert your mp3 files. FLAC to mp3 using dBpoweramp and then in iTunes just add the mp3 files to your library.

[sgrizzle]

Re: Clicks and pops in ripped music

No, didn't know that about iTunes using MP3. Would prefer to do that, as it allows more flexibility, since nothing else can use iTunes files. Thanks!

Don't know if the sound card has a name, as it is an integrated unit into the motherboard, an ASUS P8P67 Deluxe. The driver is Realtek® ALC 889 8-Channel High Definition Audio CODEC, Realtek Audio Driver V6.0.1.6235 for Windows Vista/7 32bit & 64bit.(WHQL). Win 7, 64 bit OS. (This is the newest Audio Driver they have.) Have been thinking about dropping back to older versions to test them.

Have been on the ASUS web site for support, and don't see any complaints about problems with sound for my motherboard.

I have been thinking about the situation, and have come to the conclusion that it must be the sound card or something to do with it. What else could be so universal to this situation to cause all sounds to have clicks and pops? Really don't want to purchase a new sound card, but not sure what other options there are. Not really eager to go through the 'gauntlet' of trying to get support for a discontinued motherboard from ASUS. Am imagining that dental surgery without something to dull the pain would be preferential to that.

[garym]

Re: Clicks and pops in ripped music

since nothing else can use iTunes files. Thanks!

Actually, that's not correct either. plenty of other players can play m4a files (the AAC files created by itunes). I have a few and play them on foobar2000, squeezeboxes, etc. But for lossy I prefer mp3 anyhow. (do note that older itunes store purchases had digital rights management (DRM) and these files would only play in itunes or on ipods connected with your itunes account.)