4 Channel FLAC/wav

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Mallette
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Joined: Tue Apr 25, 2017 1:35 pm

4 Channel FLAC/wav

Post by Mallette »

It's a bit hard to tell if MM handles these from what I've seen searching the forum. I have been experimenting with 4 channel surround now for nearly a decade and have a mike plan now that provides better surround from acoustic sources than any "encoding" means I've heard. I head an NPO, the Regional Music Heritage Center in Texarkana, so accurate recording of both music and spatial information is important to me.

The world needs a software player than can deal with these as simply "dual stereo," which they are. It appears that JRiver processes such files through Dolby...no good. I have a bit of programming background but hardly an expert in matters of audio, but I am at a loss as to why such support is so hard to come by. A properly made surround recording is truly amazing, and even more compelling than stereo was over mono. I've made one outside recording where a helicopter flew overhead and the height and vector were as clearly reproduced as if it were ATMOS. And, with a lot less hassle and expense.

So, how does MM handle such files?

Dave
MMFrLife
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Re: 4 Channel FLAC/wav

Post by MMFrLife »

I don't have a surround system currently, but I'm guessing they would play ok.
I played the quad.flac "test" (spoken) file here and the stereo split sounded ok in 2 channel.

You can download the free version (portable mode) and try playing one.
Although, you may require some sort of "special" handling that goes beyond simple playback?
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Mallette
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Re: 4 Channel FLAC/wav

Post by Mallette »

Thanks for the response. I saw a "portable" mode when I installed, but didn't use it as I really didn't know what it meant.

As to "special handling," that's specifically what I DON'T want. Over the years, I've mastered in Dolby and in DVD-Audio and the processing really seems to damage the imaging. What I want is to simply play the 4 channels just as 2 channel is played. Audacity does this, and does it just fine. But most folks don't have Audacity and I am looking for a good player, like MM, that will do the same thing but also act as the default player. The vast majority of the remaining audiophiles remain pure 2 channel for music as their experience with surround has been poor...and it is. The finest stereo is general from acoustic recordings made without a mixer and with two mikes placed "where your ears want to be." I do the same thing, but with four coincident mikes.
MMFrLife
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Re: 4 Channel FLAC/wav

Post by MMFrLife »

Mallette wrote:Thanks for the response. I saw a "portable" mode when I installed, but didn't use it as I really didn't know what it meant.
See here
It's the kind of thing that is especially great if you are into regular installs but just need to test something real quick without all the full install drama. :wink:
MM user since 2003 (lifetime lic. 2012) "Trying to imagine life without music gives me a headache"
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Please take a moment to read the bottom of the linked page to support the one and only - ZvezdanD! (the "originator" since 2006).
MMW 4.1.31.1919; 5.0.4.2690 || back it up...frequently!
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captain paranoia
Posts: 73
Joined: Wed Jul 07, 2010 1:41 pm

Re: 4 Channel FLAC/wav

Post by captain paranoia »

In order to play a 4-channel, dual stereo recording, you will also need a four-channel, dual stereo DAC.

Whilst sound cards do support things like 7.1 surround sound, and so would seem to have more than enough DACs to support the required four channels, I'm not sure exactly what data stream they are fed with; are they fed an 8-channel raw audio stream, or are they fed a multiplex-encoded coposite data stream, which the DSP DAC then decodes?

I've never looked into PC sound cards, so I don't know the answer...
EESS
Posts: 20
Joined: Tue Aug 10, 2010 5:33 am

Re: 4 Channel FLAC/wav, JRiver MC tagging

Post by EESS »

Hello,

I use Mediamonkey 4.1.23 on Windows 7. From acoustical reasons I am very much interested in multichannel audio. The equipment is available, a Pioneer universal player and an Yamaha AV- Receiver. I use HDMI to connect my music audiothek from a laptop to the Receiver so multichannel could be played. But Mediamonkey seems not to be able to play more then stereo.

Now I make trials with JRiver Mediacenter which can play DSD music and multichannel. It would be fine to play all these music types on one system. Probably I can find multichannel music on Qobuz or even a way to rip my SACD's.

My biggest concern is an information loss regarding my individual tags stored in the files which are transferred only partial from MM to JR MC. The worst is that ratings of flac files made in MM do not appear in JR. In opposite ratings made in JR result in "0" in MM.
This only for flac. mp3 rating is equivalent, only integer figures in JR compared with half values between 0 and 5 in MM. In one mask I have seen that in MM the real values are integers between 0 and 100 which are divided to 5 stars.

So it would be nice to hear about a way (or player) which is somewhat compatible with Mediamonkey but able to play DSD and Multichannel files. The other question is if it is possible to modify the tag definitions in JRiver oder Mediamonkey regarding ratings.
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