[anthonycarbajal]

Anthony here.

Many months ago, I wiped all of the mp3 format tracks from my iPod (Nano 3rd gen), and replaced as much of them as I could find in the ALAC format. I did so by way of CD rips, both into FLAC first and directly into ALAC through iTunes. I have gotten sick of an issue that may or may not have already been plaguing others. On some passages and smaller segments, occasionally 1 to 2 second increments, THERE IS AN UNBEARABLE NOISE. In the beginning of Slipknot's "Surfacing", the high pitched guitar squeals that are panned all the way into the right channel are lined with static and cracking. In Rage Against the Machine's "Killing in the Name", the static accompanies the exact line 'Killing in the name of', which is panned all the way into the left channel. In Christina Perri's "Ocean Way Sessions" album, her high vocal notes sound slightly muffled, as if a piece of cardboard was suddenly placed between her and the microphone. Is this that 'clipping' term I've heard so much about? This is definitely not a CD issue, as all of my physical albums have sounded fine. Nor is it my headphones (ATH M50s), because they reproduce no crackle or muffling with MP3 or FLAC files. My amplifier (Fiio E11) is not to blame either, as it has always been absolutely noiseless. I can only conclude that this is an ALAC error. This has happened to both tracks ripped directly into iTunes and converted from FLAC. Is there any way to convert to ALAC from CDs or FLAC without the incessant static sounds? Is my iPod the issue? Is the 'Any Audio Converter' software that I also use not adequate? Thank you in advance.

 

[brunk]

Anthony here.

Many months ago, I wiped all of the mp3 format tracks from my iPod (Nano 3rd gen), and replaced as much of them as I could find in the ALAC format. I did so by way of CD rips, both into FLAC first and directly into ALAC through iTunes. I have gotten sick of an issue that may or may not have already been plaguing others. On some passages and smaller segments, occasionally 1 to 2 second increments, THERE IS AN UNBEARABLE NOISE. In the beginning of Slipknot's "Surfacing", the high pitched guitar squeals that are panned all the way into the right channel are lined with static and cracking. In Rage Against the Machine's "Killing in the Name", the static accompanies the exact line 'Killing in the name of', which is panned all the way into the left channel. In Christina Perri's "Ocean Way Sessions" album, her high vocal notes sound slightly muffled, as if a piece of cardboard was suddenly placed between her and the microphone. Is this that 'clipping' term I've heard so much about? This is definitely not a CD issue, as all of my physical albums have sounded fine. Nor is it my headphones (ATH M50s), because they reproduce no crackle or muffling with MP3 or FLAC files. My amplifier (Fiio E11) is not to blame either, as it has always been absolutely noiseless. I can only conclude that this is an ALAC error. This has happened to both tracks ripped directly into iTunes and converted from FLAC. Is there any way to convert to ALAC from CDs or FLAC without the incessant static sounds? Is my iPod the issue? Is the 'Any Audio Converter' software that I also use not adequate? Thank you in advance.

1) Make sure iTunes is up to date
2) Try ripping CD to ALAC from iTunes itself, instead of converting FLAC to ALAC.
3) Don't do anything CPU intensive during the ripping process.
4) If all else fails, use program 'dbpoweramp' and have it verify the encoding of each track when converting from FLAC to ALAC.
5) If that fails, you most likely have a hardware issue with your computer.
 
Good luck! 

 

[skamp]

Can you upload a problematic ALAC file somewhere?

 

[MH01]

Can you try on another computer?