Nero AAC Gapless?, Not on Foobar Options

[Donunus]

Then why do tags make a difference in itunes aac gapless behavior

[rpp3po]

AAC uses blocks of 1024, 960, 128, or 120 samples (MP3 576 and 192). When the original file ended inside of such a block (most of the time) you need to record within a tag how many samples of the last block must be discarded to get the original sample count.

All encoders also add a small delay. The exact sample count of this delay needs to be recorded in a second tag so that the decoder can compensate this during playback.

All this works pretty well with most players for ages. Unless of course you are so smart to delete all metadata you don't understand .

The only thing, that can cause gaps despite proper gapless metadata, is when the encoder introduces artifacts at file boundaries. I think Nero AAC and LAME are sometimes affected by this, but not Apple AAC.

This post has been edited by rpp3po: Sep 25 2009, 00:42

[Donunus]

AAC uses blocks of 1024, 960, 128, or 120 samples (MP3 576 and 192). When the original file ended inside of such a block (most of the time) you need to record within a tag how many samples of the last block must be discarded to get the original sample count.

All encoders also add a small delay. The exact sample count of this delay needs to be recorded in a second tag so that the decoder can compensate this during playback.

All this works pretty well with most players for ages. Unless of course you are so smart to delete all metadata you don't understand .

The only thing, that can cause gaps despite proper gapless metadata, is when the encoder introduces artifacts at file boundaries. I think Nero AAC and LAME are sometimes affected by this, but not Apple AAC.

So the question is... How do I make dbpoweramp write this metadata on the tags like itunes in order for nero aac to be gapless? When you say nero aac and lame are SOMETIMES affected lets just say on my end lame is ALWAYS gapless without this extra stuff on the tags while nero is ALWAYS not gapless. If only lame mp3 at v0 was transparent I wouldnt worry about it but I feel even nero at a smaller size (.55) is more extended at the highest frequencies.

[Donunus]

I would use itunes to encode to aac and forget about the whole issue but boy does itunes encode really slow with error correction on. 4.8x on my lappy vs more than 20x using dbpoweramp secure

[rpp3po]

So the question is... How do I make dbpoweramp write this metadata on the tags like itunes in order for nero aac to be gapless?

It does by default. As said, the metadata issue is a non-issue and usually works. If an encoder is inserting artifacts at file boundaries, there's not much you can do.

When you say nero aac and lame are SOMETIMES affected lets just say on my end lame is ALWAYS gapless without this extra stuff on the tags while nero is ALWAYS not gapless.

Without gapless metadata LAME could not be gapless by definition, as it is also using blocks of at least 192 samples. I haven't heard, yet, that Nero would always be not gapless, usually it's reported to be gapless, expect for cases where the encoder adds artifacts.

I would use itunes to encode to aac and forget about the whole issue but boy does itunes encode really slow with error correction on. 4.8x on my lappy vs more than 20x using dbpoweramp secure

Best practice would be to rip to lossless using EAC or dbpoweramp and then convert to Quicktime AAC.

This post has been edited by rpp3po: Sep 25 2009, 01:09

[Donunus]

Ahh my luck So no gapless nero for me. So Itunes it is then for gapless albums or lame v0

[Donunus]

Best practice would be to rip to lossless using EAC or dbpoweramp and then convert to Quicktime AAC.

How do I convert to quicktime aac?

[rpp3po]

If you don't have access to a Mac, rip to ALAC with dbpoweramp and then convert the resulting files with iTunes to AAC. For anything further, the search function is your friend.

This post has been edited by rpp3po: Sep 25 2009, 01:29

[Donunus]

Thanks

[Juan C.]

Hello everyone, I can not encode gaplessly using the Nero AAC encoder and dbpoweramp. Does anybody has the same problem as me? I used EAC and it is gapless with foobar, but with dbpoweramp is not.