http://sourceforge.net/tracker/?func=de ... tid=705132
I'm copying the report here as a feature request, since the forum seems to be much more active than the tracker
Thanks everybody!-----
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: In Jukebox mode, Subsonic closes and opens the sound device between songs, which, under certain setups, causes the first few seconds of each song not to be played.
SETUP: I'm using the latest stable version (4.6) under Windows 7 (x64). I have just upgraded to Java 1.7, although the same thing happened with 1.6. The audio is played over HDMI. The PC is connected to a surround decoder box which is, in turn, connected to the TV.
DESCRIPTION OF THE PROBLEM: In Jukebox mode, Subsonic opens and closes a connection to the sound device for each individual song played, as is evident from the logs ( "Closed line com.sun.media.sound.DirectAudioDevice$DirectSDL@17017b2" ... "Opened line com.sun.media.sound.DirectAudioDevice$DirectSDL@1a8f7ae"). I suspect that this behavior is present since the changes to the encoding framework introduced in 4.6beta1.
Whenever a new connection to the sound device is opened, there is a slight delay because of some kind of format negotiation between the PC and the surround box, first, and between the box and the TV, later. What this means is that, at the beginning of each song, there are a few tenths of silence, followed by a few tenths in which the song is only played through the surround box but not the TV. This causes my setup to 'miss' the first second or so of each played song, which is annoying.
EXPECTED BEHAVIOR / PROPOSED SOLUTION: Subsonic should open a connection to the sound device when the jukebox mode is started, and keep it open until the jukebox mode is stopped. This would do away with the problem, save for the silence at the beginning of the very first song.
As an additional suggestion, add a setup option to include a few tenths of second of silence at the start of jukebox mode, to give more complex audio setups time to properly initialize the sound chain.
SIDE NOTE: Kudos to Sindre and everybody else for Subsonic. I'm absolutely in love with the software, including the Android app, and use it non-stop. Rarely have I ever gotten more bang from my buck
This quirk is rather annoying, but does not detract much from an otherwise stellar user experience.