Cambridge Audio 752 BR USB Issue

I posed this in the Zappa Halloween 77 thread but no answer, so I'll try here:

Plugged the USB stick into my Cambridge Audio 752 BR and it flashed red inside the stick but it's not recognized by the machine which is clearly supposed to support WAV file format. Firmware is up to date. Anyone have a clue? Note I was able to plug it into my Mac laptop and see that on the USB stick there is a PDF file for the booklet and a main folder which contains six folders, one for each show, all individual songs as files within each of the six folders.

 

Hopefully may help a little............


From the User Manual

Files on a connected USB device do not play


If the USB drive is incompatible, or the player encounters errors while
reading the USB drive or flash memory card, the screen displays "Device
Error". In this case please verify that the USB drive is compatible, and try
to unplug the device and re-insert again.


In some cases, an incompatible USB device may cause the 752BD to
stop responding. If this occurs simply turn off the power, remove the USB
device, and turn the player back on.


The file type is incompatible. Check the supported file types.


The drive requires too much power from the USB socket


Otherwise you could try selecting "Movie" instead of "Music" in the players Home Menu screen.

It could also well be that it doesn't like the PDF thing.

 

Tried removing the PDF file from the stick as I though of that too and no go. The stick is not causing errors it's just not showing anything in the machine either music nor movies. These are uncompressed WAV files and these are supposed to be supported on the 752BD. Maybe it is the amount of power it needs, that's the only thing I can think of, I've tried power on and off multiple times. The Beatles apple usb works fine albeit these are FLAC files but one thing I've noticed is there is no little led light on the apple stick and there is on the Zappa. Could the little light require too much power from the unit as to cause it not to read?

 

No idea. The file types are fine. I use an external HDD which has both and the 752 reads them fine.

 

Which brand of USB stick are you using? I’ve used Lexar, Sandisk, Corsair, Kingston, Sony, PNY, Adata and LaCie USB sticks with a variety of Cambridge and Oppo players without problems as long as the media files on the stick weren’t buried too deeply in directories and folders.

Off-brands sometimes haven’t fared too well for me, typically because the off-brand sticks contain flaky controllers chips. Non-branded sticks - e.g., the ones received as novelties with some company’s name printed on them - have rarely worked properly or for very long for me.

Try copying the media files to another stick, preferably one from a major brand. Make sure it’s not a fake. When you copy your files to another stick, don’t place them more than a couple of folders deep. One way or another, you’ll find out if you’ve got a cranky USB port or a flaky stick.

 

It's the USB that comes with box set shaped like a candy bar

Halloween 77 Box Set Celebrates the Historic Concert Run's 40th Anniversary - October 20

 

So, most likely a no-brand bulk purchase USB stick by the producers of the box set. Still, it could be fine. Try it in another player, not your computer.

 

I don't have another player, just the Cambridge Audio and my laptop. I'm going to buy another USB stick and transfer the folder and see.

 

One player is enough, no doubt. Maybe a friend has one? Anyway, extra USB sticks can’t hurt.

BTW, “Shvartze Shabbos” is very funny. Haven’t heard anyone call them that since grade school.

 

What is the file system of the USB stick itself? If it is Mac-formatted, it is possible - even likely - that the Cambridge can't read it, even though the music files themselves are WAVs.

When the USB stick is in the Mac, you can do a Get Info on it and see if it's formatted as MS-DOS, or Mac HFS (or APFS if it's the most recent macOS version). If the latter, the Cambridge might not be able to recognize the stick. If that's the case, go into Disk Utility and reformat it as MS-DOS/FAT - and don't forget to go into the Options and set it as Master Boot Record/MBR (rather than GUID).

That will erase the stick, meaning you'd have to reload the WAV files.

 

It was the candy bar shaped USB, it was formatted MS-DOS FAT but maybe the .pdf file confused it or it's flakey. I bought a SanDisc 32 gig USB stick and put the folder with the six shows on it along with the FLAC folder for the Beatles Apple USB, I didn't want to wind up with a broken stem as many have experienced with the Beatles apple. Both folders are now readable in the Cambridge Audio BR player. The only issue is there is a gap in between each song in the Zappa Halloween shows folder. These are WAV files but shouldn't they play gapless? Is there a way to fix this within the player? I can't seem to find the feature in the menu? These are the only 'files' I own in my music collection so I'm not too versed with the whole file format subtleties.

 

I know later players support gapless if you press the option menu on the remote and enable it. I suspect the older players don't unfortunately.

 

That got me thinking and googling, that my player is only a couple of years old and what so ya know! I know have the gapless feature enabled.

How to enable gapless playback on the Azur 752BD?