Sony STR-DN1040 - Stream FLAC instead of MP3???

[SLPopp]

Could a profile for a Sony STR-DN1040 network enabled receiver be created that streams the media as lossless FLAC instead of lossy MP3?

I don't know about the other receivers in the STR lineup, but the STR-DN1040 supports FLAC at 8 kHz-192 kHz, 16 bit & 44.1 kHz-192 kHz, 24 bit.

I have been able to play 44.1 kHz and 48 kHz, 16 bit files native if I disable the transcoding function for the receiver in Mezzmo. I have 500+ CD's that were ripped on a Home Theater PC in a WMA Lossless format and I really don't want to have to re-encode them all. I was hoping Mezzmo would be able to transcode them to FLAC as they are played.

From a music quality point of view, I would think it would be better to use a lossless format as opposed to a lossy format.

Thanks for any reply,

Steve.


P.S. If FLAC has been troublesome in the past then what about WAV???

[Paul]

Hi Steve,

We can certainly create the device profile. Email us a few things:


Turn on logging and restart your Mezzmo server. Connect to Mezzmo from your Sony STR and browse and play a few files. Then, stop your Mezzmo server and exit Mezzmo. Zip up all the logs and email them to us at support [at] conceiva [dot] com.
In your email, also provide the video formats, music formats, photo formats & subtitle formats that the device supports. Include as much information as you can gather (e.g. formats, bitrates, sample rates, channels, etc.)

[SLPopp]

Should I turn the transcoding back on in Mezzmo for the receiver and then play the files (Mezzmo converts WMA Lossless to MP3 and sends MP3 format to receiver)? Or should I leave transcoding for the receiver turned off and play the FLAC files? Or both - different sets of logs of course.

The "Sony STR" profile is the correct profile for this receiver (Sony STR-DN1040 AV Receiver), right???

As far as formats supported that's easy. This receiver only supports audio playback from network, USB & Bluetooth sources. It does not support video or picture playback from network, USB or Bluetooth sources.

The manual says it supports the following formats-
MP3 (MPEG 1 Audio Layer-3):
32 kbps – 320 kbps, VBR

AAC:
16 kbps – 320 kbps, CBR, VBR

WMA9 Standard:
40 kbps – 320 kbps, CBR, VBR

WAV:
8 kHz – 192 kHz, 16 bit PCM

8 kHz – 192 kHz, 24 bit PCM

FLAC:
8 kHz – 192 kHz, 16 bit FLAC
44.1 kHz – 192 kHz, 24 bit FLAC


I am interested in the FLAC support as the source files are WMA Lossless and the FLAC format is also Lossless, WAV would also work if FLAC has proven to be problematic in the past.

I do know the source files are WMA Lossless 44.1 kHz 16 bit.

Thanks again,

Steve

[Paul]

Thanks for the information. Select the 'Sony STR' device profile and turn transcoding on. Turn logging on in Mezzmo and then restart your Mezzmo server. Connect to Mezzmo from your Sony STR and browse and play a few files. Then stop your Mezzmo server and exit Mezzmo. Zip up all the logs and email them to us at support [at] conceiva [dot] com.

[SLPopp]

Three files played, WMA Lossless, MP3 and FLAC.
All files were transcoded to MP3 (or passed through as) by mezzmo and sent to the receiver.

Log files sent.

Thanks,

Steve

[Paul]

Thanks, Steve. We'll get back to you via email shortly with the device profile.

[SLPopp]

Paul,

The new profile works GREAT for the 3 music formats that I have. The WMA Lossless played as FLAC, the MP3 played as MP3 and the FLAC played as FLAC. Thanks again for doing this!!!!

Steve


EDIT - Do you know what parameters the WMA Lossless files are transcoded to FLAC as, or is it the same as the original WMA Lossless file, i.e. WMA Lossless 44.1 kHz 16bit transcoded as 44.1 kHz 16bit FLAC.

The STR-DN1040 does not show bit information for a FLAC file, only that it is playing a FLAC file. It doesn't seem to be having any problems with the WMA Lossless to FLAC transcodes provided by Mezzmo.

[Paul]

Glad that works well, Steve. Your WMA Lossless files will be transcoded to FLAC with matching (or very similar) bitrates & samplerates.

[SLPopp]

Just an update to others that may come across this thread looking for information. After doing more testing with audio quality (perceived or actual) and tweaks to the profile by Paul ( Thank you Very Much!!) the profile for the Sony STR-DN1040 receiver (STR-2013) has been tweaked to transcode WMA Lossless to WAV instead of FLAC. This new profile was first introduced in Mezzmo version 3.3.1.0.

Good news also was despite the manual saying this receiver supports AAC files 16kbps - 320kbps I had no problem playing back 512kbps CBR files native through Mezzmo.

[joibjarna]

Hi Paul,

I am having exacly the same problem, yet I am not figuring out how you managed to get it to work. I can see two different profiles in Mezzmo, one "Sony STR" and one "Sony STR 2013" now wich one is the correct one to use in order to be able to play FLAC files. I have tried both and when using "Sony STR" Flac format is converted to MP3, when I use "Sony STR 2013" it does play FLAC as FLAC, but when trying to play a 32bit - 96kHz FLAC file it does not want to play. I have tried to convert the FLAC file down to 24bit and 16bit, but still nothing. so I could say that for me it is partly working.

Is it possible that I need to change some other settings that are not mentiond in this thred?

[Paul]

Hi joibjarna,

Assuming you have a current Sony STR model, then use the 'Sony STR (2013)' device profile.

Please post the FFmpeg information for one of the FLAC files that does not play. To do this, right-click on the FLAC file in Mezzmo and click 'Get FFmpeg Information'.

[joibjarna]

Hi

thank you for the extreamly quick reply! :) not used to so quick responses on forums.

after a bit more research I can see that it is a 24 bit file.. not 36 as mentioned before. and yes I have the Sony STR-DN104.

But here is the FFmpeg information for the file that does not play, the other files are from the same artist:

ffmpeg version N-50460-g393dcbf Copyright (c) 2000-2013 the FFmpeg developers
built on Jun 27 2013 17:20:20 with gcc 4.6.2 (GCC)
configuration: --enable-memalign-hack --arch=x86_64 --target-os=mingw32 --cross-prefix=x86_64-w64-mingw32- --enable-static --disable-shared --enable-zlib --disable-postproc --prefix=/home/peter/ffmpeg/build/gpl64 --enable-libmp3lame --enable-libx264 --enable-gpl --extra-libs='-lx264 -lpthread' --enable-runtime-cpudetect --extra-cflags=-I/home/peter/cc64/include --extra-ldflags=-L/home/peter/cc64/lib --pkg-config=pkg-config --disable-w32threads --enable-zlib
libavutil 52. 17.103 / 52. 17.103
libavcodec 54. 92.100 / 54. 92.100
libavformat 54. 63.102 / 54. 63.102
libavdevice 54. 3.103 / 54. 3.103
libavfilter 3. 41.100 / 3. 41.100
libswscale 2. 2.100 / 2. 2.100
libswresample 0. 17.102 / 0. 17.102
Input #0, flac, from 'C:\Users\Jói Bjarna\Music\Flac\The xx - xx (2009) [24 bit FLAC] vinyl\01 Intro.flac':
Metadata:
track : 01
ARTIST : The xx
ALBUM : xx
TITLE : Intro
DATE : 2009
GENRE : Pop
Duration: 00:02:03.62, bitrate: 2646 kb/s
Stream #0:0: Audio: flac, 96000 Hz, stereo, s32
At least one output file must be specified

<MEZZMO>: Child process ended with code: 109, ExitCode=1


---> DB Level Info: 0, -99
---> Frame rate:
---> Aspect ratio:

[Paul]

Thanks for the FFMpeg information. This FLAC is 32-bit and it is not supported by your device (according to the Sony STR-DN1040 documentation, only 8 kHz – 192 kHz, 16 bit FLAC and 44.1 kHz – 192 kHz, 24 bit FLAC are supported). I'd suggest you change these files to 16-bit or 24-bit and they should play fine after that.

[rodders]

Im having problems. I can play this on my Sony dn1040 off USB but not via Mezzmo. Dloaded as a 24bit FLAC

I cant make then transcode to MP3 either. Probably just doing something wrong as I'm new to all this server stuff

ffmpeg version N-66094-gbb8b752 Copyright (c) 2000-2014 the FFmpeg developers
built on Sep 4 2014 16:23:51 with gcc 4.8.2 (GCC)
configuration: --enable-memalign-hack --arch=x86_64 --target-os=mingw32 --cross-prefix=x86_64-w64-mingw32- --enable-static --disable-shared --enable-zlib --disable-postproc --prefix=/home/peter/ffmpeg/build/gpl64 --enable-libmp3lame --enable-libx264 --enable-gpl --extra-libs='-lx264 -lpthread' --enable-runtime-cpudetect --extra-cflags=-I/home/peter/cc32/include --extra-ldflags=-L/home/peter/cc64/lib --pkg-config=pkg-config --disable-w32threads --enable-libvpx --enable-libvorbis
libavutil 54. 7.100 / 54. 7.100
libavcodec 56. 1.100 / 56. 1.100
libavformat 56. 4.100 / 56. 4.100
libavdevice 56. 0.100 / 56. 0.100
libavfilter 5. 0.103 / 5. 0.103
libswscale 3. 0.100 / 3. 0.100
libswresample 1. 1.100 / 1. 1.100
Input #0, flac, from 'E:\Audio test\2L-106_stereo_PCM-96k_MAGNIFICAT_04.flac':
Metadata:
ALBUM : MAGNIFICAT
album_artist : Nidarosdomens jentekor & TrondheimSolistene
ARTIST : Nidarosdomens jentekor & TrondheimSolistene
BARCODE : 7041888519621
CATALOGNUMBER : 7041888519621
COMMENT : Generated by Merging Technologies Album Publishing
: Label Code: 2L
COMPOSER : Kim Andre Arnesen
DATE : 2014
disc : 1
ENCODEDBY : Merging Technologies Album Publishing
GENRE : Classical
ISRC : NOMPP1407040
LABEL : 2L
TITLE : Arnesen: MAGNIFICAT 4. Et misericordia
track : 4
TRACKTOTAL : 10
Duration: 00:04:55.21, start: 0.000000, bitrate: 2360 kb/s
Stream #0:0: Audio: flac, 96000 Hz, stereo, s32
At least one output file must be specified

<MEZZMO>: Child process ended with code: 109, ExitCode=1


---> DB Level Info: 0, -99
---> Frame rate:
---> Aspect ratio:
---> Duration: 00:04:55

[rodders]

Playing through tv off mezzo to amp ok. Not sure what's going on with amp

[Paul]

What device profile is assigned to your Sony dn1040? Go to the Media Devices dialog in Mezzmo to see this. It should be using the 'Sony STR (2013)' device profile.