New Receiver Won't Decode 4 Channel Flac Files in Foobar Bit Perfect Mode

[Boggmeister]

I listen to my digital music via and HP desktop through and HDMI connection to a Yamaha Aventage A880 receiver. I use Foobar 2000 in the bit perfect mode (WSAPI) so all of the decoding is done by the receiver. When I try to play a quadraphonic flac file that contains four channels only, the receiver will not properly decode it. It defaults to the stereo mode. A quad file that contains 6 channels (5.1) with the center and LFE channels empty will play fine. My previous receiver, an Onkyo, did not have this issue. In order to play a 4 channel only flac file I have to change the foobar output to a windows default device and let the PC do the decoding.

I am assuming the Yamaha does not recognize a 4 channel only flac file as a valid surround format. I would love to be able to leave the system in bit perfect mode and be able to listen to any flac file.

Has anybody else experienced this issue?

 

[winopener]

Happened several times, you're not alone.
Best solution is to add a silent C and LFE to a quad file so you can have any compatibility issue solved.

Here's a way to do it quickly

https://www.quadraphonicquad.com/fo...-edwin-starrs-war-would-you.29607/post-536884

 

[Boggmeister]

The link appears to be broken. I get a page that says you don’t have permission.

 

[winopener]

Using Sox, in order to add silent c+lfe: sox quad.wav 51.wav remix 1 2 0 0 3 4

where quad.wav: your 4 channel file
51.wav: the resulting 6 channel file
1 2 0 0 3 4: the matrix order of the channels.

The Sox way, since it is based on a Command-line tool, make it easy to do a BIG batch of files and since it is just re-writing the same file it is very fast.

 

[Boggmeister]

@winopener - Thank You !! I downloaded MMH and gave it a try. It's exactly what I needed and was very fast. I have a large collection of Quad files in various stages of disrepair. I'll take my new found tool and convert and clean up the lot.

I joined this board ten years ago but have rarely frequented it. I'm going to spend some more time here now. Thanks again.