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VonMagnum · (This post was last modified: 2016-09-06, 07:08 by VonMagnum.)

Does anyone else notice gapless playback issues with some AAC files? I do not seem to have the problem with ALAC or MP3 files, but my external DAC will lose lock on many AAC files between tracks causing me to miss the first note or two of the next song. That is with the Keep Audio Device Active turned on and it does it regardless of "Best" "Fixed" or "Optimized" modes here. The same AAC songs played over Airplay will not have the problem. It happened with 15.2 on my FireTV 4K and today I spent some time setting up a brand new clean install of 16.1 Jarvis and it has the same problem. I've tried both SMB and NFS methods of networking protocols (no difference). I don't have the problem on my home theater system since its receiver locks the signal much faster than this Technics unit.

Is there any other setting I might try? Does anyone else notice a similar issue? I don't recall having noticed this particular problem with my old FireTV Stick that this replaced.

Edit:

I do appear to have problems with ALAC (and possibly MP3) files, after all. It seems some files play without a gap and some don't. It seems consistent with certain files that have the issue in a given format, but it doesn't follow that the same songs will have the problem in a different format (e.g. it might not skip with ALAC if it does with AAC).

I don't have the problem at all downstairs in my home theater room as its receiver locks onto the signal almost instantly so it doesn't miss a note even if I turn the keep audio device "always enabled" to OFF. The Technics SH-AC500D processor simply takes too long to lock onto the signal. Even so, it doesn't explain why it momentarily cuts out between certain tracks and not others. The "always enabled" setting should keep it on no matter what, but it clearly loses it long enough to have to re-lock which causes the delay. Given Airplay has so far never shown this issue, I wonder what it is, exactly.

FernetMenta · 2016-09-06, 16:56

I was about to look into it, then I remembered where you got this warning level from. You insulted me so don't expect to get any help from me.

VonMagnum · 2016-09-08, 08:44

(2016-09-06, 16:56)FernetMenta Wrote: I was about to look into it, then I remembered where you got this warning level from. You insulted me so don't expect to get any help from me.

As I recall the incident, you insulted me and my posts first (and more importantly Ned Scott, someone with a 527 reputation whom you threatened to ban if he said another word even though as near as I could tell he was correct in his comments which then were summarily deleted from the thread). And my "insult" as far as I can tell was a private feedback comment to Ned Scott where I told him I agreed with him and what I thought of you threatening to ban him when he was right since I don't recall ever insulting you in a public forum. Calling my posts "maximum nonsense" in the thread didn't improve my opinion of your actions either. Ah, but insults from developers/moderators don't count on here. I see how it is on here with developers versus users. For example, when I report a bug on here and it gets called "cosmetic pussy shit" by yet another developer because they think it doesn't matter, one doesn't really feel like developers want to know about bugs in the first place.

Why else would a developer jump into a thread to let someone know they won't look into or fix a bug because they don't like who reported it? That sounds pretty darn petty to me, but I don't count since I'm just a regular user. I spent 7 years developing over 34 pinball recreations for Visual Pinball/Visual Pinmame that were among the most popular at the time and I never treated people who reported issues or bugs in my tables with such contempt for simply not being a developer and I didn't really care if someone didn't like me. I still would listen to bug reports because I wanted my tables to be as perfect as they could be.

The bottom line is I took time out of my already miserable day (yeah imagine that, some of us have other problems in life) to point out a bug. I've still got an AppleTV here to play music (it along with the newer models have been playing gapless music without any problems since 2007!) If you or anyone else doesn't care if it glitches sometimes, so be it. No one is making you do a single thing with this program. If you want to ban me for "talking back" go right ahead. Frankly, I've got better things to do and more problems to worry about in my life than what some developer on the other side of the planet thinks about me for simply trying to help with a bug report. Guten Abend.

FernetMenta · 2016-09-08, 10:06

(2016-09-08, 08:44)VonMagnum Wrote: As I recall the incident, you insulted me and my posts first (and more importantly Ned Scott, someone with a 527 reputation

Ned Scott was banned from the team because of his repeating bad behaviour. His reputation points on the forum do not reflect this. I admitted that he could keep his account on the forum and continue on the wiki.

BTW: what you called "private" feedback was visible to the public. I can't read PM messages.

VonMagnum · 2016-09-09, 01:18

(2016-09-08, 10:06)FernetMenta Wrote:
(2016-09-08, 08:44)VonMagnum Wrote: As I recall the incident, you insulted me and my posts first (and more importantly Ned Scott, someone with a 527 reputation

Ned Scott was banned from the team because of his repeating bad behaviour. His reputation points on the forum do not reflect this. I admitted that he could keep his account on the forum and continue on the wiki.

BTW: what you called "private" feedback was visible to the public. I can't read PM messages.

I wasn't aware it was visible. Sorry for that. I mostly meant to support him, although I wasn't happy with your behavior in that thread at the time. I've moved on, however and if you want to hold a grudge, that's your choice.

VonMagnum · (This post was last modified: 2016-09-18, 01:26 by VonMagnum.)

(I realize FernetMenta isn't interested, but just in case anyone else does, I'll share my latest tests)

After more extensive testing, the problem exists for all file formats, not just AAC, although a different format can make it not happen for a given song/album. The audio device is dropped between certain songs briefly for reasons unknown. It's not noticeable on a fast DAC/receiver, but the Technics SH-AC500D surround processor loses lock between various songs despite the "keep audio device alive" setting 100% of the time. Otherwise, the Technics has a signal. It only drops it between certain songs and the next one. An audible "click" is also heard on some tracks a few seconds before the next song plays if it's quiet enough to hear it as the song is ending. This click does not occur if "play next song automatically" is not selected in the preference file. The problem occurs in both 15.2 and 16.1.

Dolby Digital audio will be played un-decoded (noise) for the first second or thereabouts on the Technics unit if the "Keep Audio Device Alive" option is turned on as it cannot instantly find a lock on the signal and switch modes. This even happens on my Yamaha receiver in my home theater room if that option is turned on. Turning that option off gets rid of this problem for both locations and the Panasonic is fast enough locking the signal that it doesn't miss the first note of a song even with it turned off so it's not really an issue there as long as it's turned off.

If KODI checked for a change in signal itself (which it apparently already does if you're not using passthrough as it then decodes the formats itself) and offered an option to turn the audio device off momentarily when it switches from stereo to Dolby Digital and/or DTS on passthrough mode, the noise issue might be avoided in that case with the Keep Audio Device Alive option turned on.