What firmware version is on your device?
What SBS version are you running?
Have you tried this with ALL 3rd party addon's disabled?
What audio OUT is effected by this?
A bit more detail is needed please.

r7227, but it also effected the previous one.

Latest SBS 7.4 nightlies (last few up until the latest)

Effects analogue (phono) out - have not tested digital (cant sorry) or headphone.

The only 3rd party plug-in i am currently running is BBC iPlayer (although it was not a feed provide by this plugin).

More info the the above thread.

I am unable to replicate this error.

(In reply to comment #3)
> I am unable to replicate this error.

Well it can take a period of prolonged use, and does not always happen, try playing an internet radio stream for a couple of hours or so.

(In reply to comment #4)
> Well it can take a period of prolonged use, and does not always happen, try
> playing an internet radio stream for a couple of hours or so.

What format?  WMA, MP3, AAC...how about a URL that can reliably reproduce the bug.

Not trying to be snarky about this bug, just trying to get all the facts so we can properly address the core issue.

(In reply to comment #5)
> (In reply to comment #4)
> > Well it can take a period of prolonged use, and does not always happen, try
> > playing an internet radio stream for a couple of hours or so.
> 
> What format?  WMA, MP3, AAC...how about a URL that can reliably reproduce the
> bug.
> 
> Not trying to be snarky about this bug, just trying to get all the facts so we
> can properly address the core issue.

Happened on this feed for me - http://bbc.co.uk/radio/listen/live/r4.asx

Tracking data: 
File Format: Windows Media
Bitrate: 48kbps CBR
URL: mms://wmlive.bbc.net.uk/wms/bbc_ami/radio4/radio4_bb_live_int_eq1_sl0?BBC-UID=04fa872c84b513b6205a8c58512adc661b2da8f18010f134548f34a6e8909e6a&SSO2-UID= 

20090825.0700

(In reply to comment #7)
> Tracking data: 
> File Format: Windows Media
> Bitrate: 48kbps CBR
> URL:
> mms://wmlive.bbc.net.uk/wms/bbc_ami/radio4/radio4_bb_live_int_eq1_sl0?BBC-UID=04fa872c84b513b6205a8c58512adc661b2da8f18010f134548f34a6e8909e6a&SSO2-UID= 
> 
> 20090825.0700

That may well be a different feed, just remembered non-uk get a lower bitrate from the BBC.

what bit rate is your feed at?

(In reply to comment #9)
> what bit rate is your feed at?

128kbps WMA

I was getting the loud pops and songs restarting a lot on Saturday and Sunday
with 7.4-28243. Monday morning I installed 28249 and had the same issues--the
songs restarting and rebuffering happening on all my players and not just Fab4,
but only Fab4 was making the popping sounds. 

Later on Monday, I rolled back to Friday's build 7.4-28235, and since then I
have listened to at least 6 hours of music on Fab4 without a single issue. No
pops, no songs restarting, no rebuffering.

Fab4 firmware is 7227.
I didn't try disabling plugins when it was happening.
Audio out is analog RCA.

It was always local MP3 files for me. The popping wouldn't start until after it
had been playing for a couple hours nonstop, except after I installed 28249 the
popping started almost right away. If a song was popping very badly, I could
restart it from the beginning and sometimes it would not do the popping the
second time through.

Tracking Data:
Radioio ambient stream in 128k mp3:
http://streampoint.radioio.com/streams/111

Radioio ambient stream in 128k wma:
http://streampoint.radioio.com/streams/114

Using RCA outs (analog)and headphone out (forgive me for not wanting to experiment using my TP's digital ins), FW 7259, SC 28065.  I also get said popping noise.  A single abrupt impulse. It does not interrupt the audio (as in rebuffering).  Does not come out of the internal speaker.  I get it when playing back 24/96 FLAC files, 44.1/16 wav files and higher rate MP3's, but not ones (MP3's) that are lower down the chain (I'm still trying to work out whether that's 160 or 128k as a trouble marker).  As for feeds, the aforementioned http://bbc.co.uk/radio/listen/live/r4.asx causes it for me, as does http://opml.radiotime.com/Tune.ashx?id=s31188&partnerId=16  ...all other feeds that I tried seemed O.K.  If you need more info, pls. let me know.

Is anyone experiencing this bug using player sync?

Last night I thought I would try syncing the Fab4 after a full day of flawless playback with 7.4-28235. As soon as I did, the popping started along with audio cutting out, songs restarting, and rebuffering messages. I removed the Fab4 from the sync group and the problems stayed. I tried rebooting the player several times but the problems continued. Then I tried skipping ahead and back in the playlist and finally it started playing normal again. 

Then I went to the bedroom and my Boom was not making a popping noise, but it was doing all the other crazy stuff--volume cutting in and out, stopping, rebuffering. I put up with that for about an hour and it was still doing it when I went to sleep. 

First thing I did this morning was update to Version: 7.4 - r28276 and both players have been fine so far.

I wonder if the syncing somehow triggers this unstable state, and then it takes a while to get out of it?

I haven't tried to sync Fab4 in quite some time.  Definintely well before the popping started, so for me, I'm not sure that's the culprit.  I'll update nightlies and try it out tonight.  Shall report later.

Alan: your thoughts?

OK, I finally have been able to replicate this on my Fab4, when playing 'high' bit rate content.

I.E. WMA Lossless (44.1-16 / 14Kbps / WMA 9.2) or MP4 Lossless (44.1-16 / 14Kbps / ALAC).

Not when playing 128kbit or even 192kbit content (yet others have, so I'll continue to investigate that).  It sounds like the decoder in SC is causing errors.

I've hardly been using fab4 lately, concentrating on Baby. Note that fab4 should support WMA Pro natively (I think it does already but no optimization work has been done on the codec yet). It should also support ALAC natively - not sure of the status. In these cases it will not be SC-side transcoding that is implicated.

Updated this morning and i was hearing it straight away with a 128kbps WMA internet radio feed.

I think i have found a way to reproduce it - i max out my net connection (not hard) with my laptop, and the fab4 then obviously begins re-buffering the internet radio station. After audio resumes it start popping ever 5 seconds or so.

I was getting this popping as well, listening to the Indie Now Rhapsody channel.

Also, may be important, I was synced with 2 SBRs at the time.

I'm getting this on FW 7375. "Popping" every 5-10 seconds. All files are FLAC (various resolutions). Totally repeatable for me here. Reboot/power disconnect and factory reset+FW upgrade made no difference. This is on XP sp3/7.4 - r28379.

Via the DIGITAL output! Same files play perfectly via Boom. Digital lock is held through the "pop" so it seems to be a corruption of the bitstream?

Same thing with BBC iPlayer...
I'm 99.99% certain this is related to "memory" somehow as the pop timing/periodicity varies with resolution of the source.

Alan, I had reduced the alsa buffer time on fab4 recently. I wonder if that broke this (it should be fine 20ms seems to be working ok on baby). You could try editing SqueezeboxFab4Meta and increasing the buffer time to 30ms or 40ms.

This would not explain any link with sync.

Richard (et al) - the "pops" appear for me regardless of whether the Touch is synced to anything or not. Syncing/un-syncing makes no difference.

Regards
Phil

I have tried all the way up to 100ms. Above 60ms it seems better but still happens some times. I have also tried changing alsaPlaybackPeriodCount to 3. This seems to help but again, it is not foolproof.

I particularly seem to able to provoke this when synced with a Baby, as well as a TP and Boom. When just with the TP and Boom I don't seem to get it, but I suspect that that is just an artefact of the specific resyncs that occur.

FW 7397 appears to have fixed this for me. Whatever changed between 7367 and 7397 is definitely the answer to my "popping" noises.

I cannot recreate them either any more. Richard, I'll mark this as fixed.