APE as fast as FLAC in Rythmbox Ubuntu

2024-07-08 06:42:21

Hello folks,

One thing got me wondering.

On Windows, I usually use our beloved foobar2000 to playback files. The seeking time in an APE Extra High setting takes some time and APE Insane takes more -- deeming the playback jumping a little frustrating. FLAC does the seeking very fast, from 0 to 8. But this was weird... I tried to play the same APE files in Linux (Rythmbox), and the seek time was as fast as FLAC in that system, with absolutely no lag.

What would it be this due to? Linux libraries? foobar2000 issue?

Thanks.

Re: APE as fast as FLAC in Rythmbox Ubuntu

Reply #1 – 2024-07-08 07:30:33

One explanation is that foobar2000 seeking is sample-accurate. The player seeks to the nearest seekable frame before the requested position and has to decode the data until requested target sample is reached. If Rhythmbox only seeks to the approximate frame without doing any extra decoding it can be faster.

Re: APE as fast as FLAC in Rythmbox Ubuntu

Reply #2 – 2024-07-09 17:49:43

Alternatively, maybe rhythmbox is using a much larger decode buffer, so what you're seeking to has already been decoded to wav. Pure guess, I ditched rhythm box pretty early in my Linux career because 7 years ago it was jank. Maybe try seeking a large file very soon after you start playing it.

Re: APE as fast as FLAC in Rythmbox Ubuntu

Reply #3 – 2024-07-09 19:31:45

For a ± "honest" test, you could measure the time it takes for e.g. ffmpeg to transcode a piece from the middle and discard the result (… -f null /dev/null, IIRC)
then it is virtually guaranteed to not use assistance of any pre-computed data