flac recording does not play back

[pollitt]

A recorded flac file (from vinyl) does not have any sound when played back in Media Monkey which plays any other flac file.

[Paul Sanders (AlpineSoft)]

It works for me.  Did you record (or save your tracks) at 20 bits per sample?  Not all players can play these files.  Also, what version of Media Monkey do you have there please?  I have version 3.2.0.1294.  I had to set the output plugin to waveOut before it would play anything.

[Update] The latest version of Media Monkey (3.2.4.1304) behaves in the same way.  It can't play 20 bit FLAC files - it just crashes.

[pollitt]

Thanks Paul for yur quik reply.  I also discovered last night that it was due to setting the bit rate at 20.  As soon as I recorded at 16 bits  it played fine.  My version is 3.2.2.1300 gold.

[Paul Sanders (AlpineSoft)]

OK, thanks.  I will raise a bug report over at MM.

[enkaytee]

I'm finding similar issues with 20 bit flac recordings but in different media players. Neither Cog (v0.07), nor the latest version of VLC (1.17 64 bit) can cope with them...

[Paul Sanders (AlpineSoft)]

I did report this to Ventis (the Media Monkey people) and they tell me that MM can play these files if you use the DirectSound output plugin.  I cannot verify this for myself because this plugin doesn't work on my system.

In general, it seems like player support for 20 bit FLAC files is very limited.  The only player I have found so far that works is WinAmp, which is Windows-only of course.  It seems that this format is only useful as a recording format.  Tracks need to be saved at 24 bit - VinylStudio will do the conversion for you if you set the FLAC File Options accordingly when saving your tracks.  Or save tracks to a different file format altogether.

PS: On the Macintosh, AyreWave will play these files.