Roon skipping on specific FLAC files during playback (ref#4X2F9X)

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21

Hello @timboeger,

Thank you for the update.

The reason for the skips is that your file is corrupted. Here is the output of the FLAC testing utility:

flac 1.3.2
Copyright (C) 2000-2009  Josh Coalson, 2011-2016  Xiph.Org Foundation
flac comes with ABSOLUTELY NO WARRANTY.  This is free software, and you are
welcome to redistribute it under certain conditions.  Type `flac' for details.

Grace Jones Island Life 05. Love Is The Drug.flac: ERROR, MD5 signature mismatch

And here is the exapmle of the good file:

flac 1.3.2
Copyright (C) 2000-2009  Josh Coalson, 2011-2016  Xiph.Org Foundation
flac comes with ABSOLUTELY NO WARRANTY.  This is free software, and you are
welcome to redistribute it under certain conditions.  Type `flac' for details.

01. Baby, Please Don't Go.flac: ok

An MD5 signature mismatch means that the checksum stored inside the FLAC file does not match the checksum that was calculated when decoding the audio stream.

  • When a FLAC file is created, the encoder computes an MD5 hash of the raw audio data and stores it in the file header.
  • Later, when we test the file with flac -t, the decoder recalculates the MD5 from the audio data and compares it to the stored value.
  • If they do not match, it means that the audio frames have been altered or corrupted — e.g. due to a disk error, a faulty copy, or an incomplete download.

Why it’s a problem

  • Even if the file still plays, the audio samples are not guaranteed to be bit-perfect.
  • Roon (or any player) may encounter skips, clicks, or dropouts when reading the corrupted sections.

How to fix it

Unfortunately, once a FLAC file shows an MD5 mismatch, the audio data itself is damaged. Options are:

  1. Re-rip the track from the original CD or source if possible.
    This guarantees a clean, correct FLAC.
  2. Re-download the file from a trusted source if it was purchased or obtained online.
1 Like
22

Oh. Very interesting. Didn’t know that. That absolutely makes sense. That was an exremely helpful informaiton.
I have this problem on .flac files which I ripped from my CDs and on .flac files which I have bought on 7digital.com. Maybe on files I received from other shops too.(For ripping I use a software called Wavepad from NCH Software - Download Free Software Programs Online. Maybe this is not working correctly every time).
Anyway, after downloading Life is a Drug again the mismatch was gone. Great!!! Thank you for your deep dive into my problem.
One thing I discover a bit differently from what you wrote: the Windows Media Player plays the corrupted file not perfectly correct but interprets the MD5 in another way than Roon. When Roon skips fractions of the file, the Media Player only plays a sort of very small “click” or “crack” or “ssshhh”

23

Hello @timboeger

Thank you for the update. We are glad to hear that we sorted out the issue.

As Roon is designed for bit-perfect playback, we are more sensitive to such corruption

Enjoy your music !

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