Portico Quartet - Black & White Sessions (2009) [Real World]

Wow. It looks great. Thank you!

http://www.bowers-wilkins.com/display.aspx?infid=3550&terid=4059

More info on the tracks

One file plus cue? I thought it is web download.

Impossible to split the big file with the cue sheet. I only get a 10 seconds file No1. What's the problem ?
And......on the B&W website, they talk about 16/44.1 or 24/48 files, but not about 24/44.1........
Very strange !!!!

@staki

Convert the flac file to a wav and then try splitting the file. You may also have to edit the cue sheet file. I managed to get the file split but I don't remember whether or not I had to edit the cue file.

This is just a part of what I found:

Frame 116 found at 0 byte(s) of distance from predicted position. Its audio data has [subframe fixed prediction data read error].
Frame 117 found at 14808 byte(s) of distance from predicted position. Its audio data has [no error].
Frame 173 found at 0 byte(s) of distance from predicted position. Its audio data has [subframe fixed prediction data read error].
Frame 174 found at 13895 byte(s) of distance from predicted position. Its audio data has [no error].
Frame 175 found at 0 byte(s) of distance from predicted position. Its audio data has [subframe fixed prediction data read error].
Frame 176 found at 13748 byte(s) of distance from predicted position. Its audio data has [no error].
Frame 222 found at 0 byte(s) of distance from predicted position. Its audio data has [subframe fixed prediction data read error].
Frame 223 found at 13503 byte(s) of distance from predicted position. Its audio data has [no error].
Frame 224 found at 0 byte(s) of distance from predicted position. Its audio data has [subframe fixed prediction data read error].
Frame 225 found at 12764 byte(s) of distance from predicted position. Its audio data has [no error].
Frame 227 found at 0 byte(s) of distance from predicted position. Its audio data has [subframe fixed prediction data read error].
Frame 228 found at 7233 byte(s) of distance from predicted position. Its audio data has [no error].
........................................................................"

Does it mean anything?

@ jazzfan : I first tried with Medieval Cue Splitter without success. Then I tried with Xrecode II and I finally succeeded ! That's the first cue file which doesn't work with Medieval Cue Splitter.
IMHO this file doesn't come directly from the B&W website in this state, it was certainly adulterated in some way..... ;-)

I had 3 months free subscritpion on B&W website and downloaded quite a few albums in 24bit/48kHz.

HOWEVER - all the albums are always in separate FLAC tracks and there is no CUE file coming with them. So yes, @staki is right - this is not original from B&W.

Thank you, I like this stuff, nice music. I had no problem slpitting the file with XLD on a mac.

@sashokv36 Have you got this album in 24/48 separate tracks?

@metadon

Unfortunately, I only have 4 of the tracks and artwork in PDF and JPG. B&W has very strange download system (via proprietary download manager) and I noticed that not all tracks were actually saved too late - after my subscription had expired. Are you interested in just a part of whole thing?

Thanks, but I would like whole album. I found it on what.cd. My ratio will suffer, but I will download it :)

Here is what I have discovered:
If you open 24.flac file with Foobar2000 you have all 7 separate tracks.

If you have to burn to 16/44 CD with separate tracks, than
1. convert 24.flac file with Free Video to Audio Converter to flac 44.1 (check this buttons)
2. rename new file to Portico.Quartet-Black.&.White.Sessions.flac
3. open Portico.Quartet-Black.&.White.Sessions.cue with Cue splitter to split
That's all, you don't have to edit cue file

@sashokv36 :
The good question is, and it should be asked mgrcin : why are the files from B&W downsampled to 44,1 KHz ? Is it your rip, or did you find this shit on an unspecified site ?

@staki

Of course, I am not mcgrin and cannot speak for him. However, note that these files cannot be ripped anywhere as they do not exist in a CD or DVD format. They can only be downloaded from B&W site as separate FLAC tracks in 24bit/48kHz format. You can go to http://www.bowers-wilkins.com/display.aspx?infid=3550 and check it all for yourself (they even have free trial membership). So it's anyone's guess where the "stuff" that mcgrin posted comes from. Probably, some sort of torrent downloads, as all other frequent posters on this site... which they repost on hotfiles and fileserves of this world to make a few cents out of it.

@sashokv36 :
It's a shame that some people just grab some nasty files anywhere and post them here just to make some cash.
One cannot make confidence any more. Sad......

Foobar2000 splitted the file with problems:


7 out of 7 tracks converted with major problems.

Source: "D:\Music\CD flac\Portico Quartet\Black & White Sessions (2009) [Real World]\Portico.cue" / index: 1
An error occurred while finalizing the encoding process (Unsupported format or corrupted file) : "D:\Music\CD flac\Portico Quartet\Black & White Sessions (2009) [Real World]\Dawn Patrol.flac"
Conversion failed: Unsupported format or corrupted file
Source: "D:\Music\CD flac\Portico Quartet\Black & White Sessions (2009) [Real World]\Portico.cue" / index: 2
An error occurred while finalizing the encoding process (Unsupported format or corrupted file) : "D:\Music\CD flac\Portico Quartet\Black & White Sessions (2009) [Real World]\News From Verona pt.2.flac"
Conversion failed: Unsupported format or corrupted file
Source: "D:\Music\CD flac\Portico Quartet\Black & White Sessions (2009) [Real World]\Portico.cue" / index: 3
An error occurred while finalizing the encoding process (Unsupported format or corrupted file) : "D:\Music\CD flac\Portico Quartet\Black & White Sessions (2009) [Real World]\Untitled.flac"
Conversion failed: Unsupported format or corrupted file
Source: "D:\Music\CD flac\Portico Quartet\Black & White Sessions (2009) [Real World]\Portico.cue" / index: 4
An error occurred while finalizing the encoding process (Unsupported format or corrupted file) : "D:\Music\CD flac\Portico Quartet\Black & White Sessions (2009) [Real World]\The Full Catastrophe.flac"
Conversion failed: Unsupported format or corrupted file
Source: "D:\Music\CD flac\Portico Quartet\Black & White Sessions (2009) [Real World]\Portico.cue" / index: 5
An error occurred while finalizing the encoding process (Unsupported format or corrupted file) : "D:\Music\CD flac\Portico Quartet\Black & White Sessions (2009) [Real World]\Midnite Delite.flac"
Conversion failed: Unsupported format or corrupted file
Source: "D:\Music\CD flac\Portico Quartet\Black & White Sessions (2009) [Real World]\Portico.cue" / index: 6
An error occurred while finalizing the encoding process (Unsupported format or corrupted file) : "D:\Music\CD flac\Portico Quartet\Black & White Sessions (2009) [Real World]\Johnson.flac"
Conversion failed: Unsupported format or corrupted file
Source: "D:\Music\CD flac\Portico Quartet\Black & White Sessions (2009) [Real World]\Portico.cue" / index: 7
An error occurred while finalizing the encoding process (Unsupported format or corrupted file) : "D:\Music\CD flac\Portico Quartet\Black & White Sessions (2009) [Real World]\November.flac"
Conversion failed: Unsupported format or corrupted file

Better late than never to clear up the confusion.
It seems B&W's engineers did encode this at 44.1kHz originally:
"We're very sorry over the confusion regarding the new 24-bit files. They were wrongly encoded at 44.1 khz, rather than the 48 needed for burning to DVD discs."
-- Shaun Marin from B&W, http://blog.bowers-wilkins.com/music/new-music/exclusive-new-portico-quartet-album-for-music-club-members/comment-page-1/