What's The Best FLAC Player?

[RDN]

I've just downloaded the Groundhogs - Split, and it's in FLAC format. I played the tracks using the VLC media player from the VideoLAN Team and every track has a small glitch at the beginning - after about one second there's a little gap, can't be more than a 10th of a second, but it's real.

I don't think my vinyl original has this problem, but can't check as it's still in the UK. It would be highly unlikely if it did.

So maybe the original CD to FLAC ripping caused this, or maybe my 'puter is doing it - maybe it can't read the data quick enough from the hard disk? I've copied the file to my desktop and played it from there, but I can still hear the glitch.

So I want to try another FLAC player.

Any ideas?

[man with no head]

Why not convert to MP3 or WAV?

[Wallalai]

There is a FLAC plugin for Winamp :

Winamp Media Player » Plug-ins

[RDN]

Why not convert to MP3 or WAV?

Excellent idea! I just did that and they sound OK as 256 kbps mp3 files - thanks for the idea.

I also upgraded to the latest VLC player - 0.8.6 - and the problem is still there.

I also checked some other FLAC files - Van Morrison - and they, too, have the same glitch at the beginning, so I'm failry sure it's the VLC player that's got the problem.

[RDN]

There is a FLAC plugin for Winamp :

Winamp Media Player » Plug-ins

Thanks, I know about WinAmp but have never used it. I'm using Windows Media Player for most things and VLC whenever WMP can't play the file - music or video.

[Wallalai]

There is a guide here about how to play FLAC files in Windows Media Player:

The Lossless Audio Blog (The L.A.B) » WMP\MCE Lossless Guide

And more infos: FLAC - Free Lossless Audio Codec including a FAQ

[RDN]

There is a guide here about how to play FLAC files in Windows Media Player:

The Lossless Audio Blog (The L.A.B) » WMP\MCE Lossless Guide

And more infos: FLAC - Free Lossless Audio Codec including a FAQ

Thanks - I just installed ogg codecs from illiminable and WMP is playing the FLAC files OK now. I don't know what's wrong with the VLC player, but it's definitely got a problem.