Do you ever get a quick static sound right before the track starts on some mp3's? I can't figure out what causes it, but it happens sometimes.

 

I have not had that issue. I have only played 2 discs I made. I will be making more and I will watch for the issue and see if I do get any static.

 

It's strange. I can't narrow down the cause. Some cd's I rip play fine, others have the static. Maybe the bit rate, id tags, not sure.

 

I rip all my mp3s at 160-190 not any lower. I doubt that has anything to do with it but I thought I at least give you some more info.

 

It's certainly on your encoder end. Stay high, never lower then 160, try 192, especially if your sources are original CD's or other HQ tracks.

 

I have six differant self burnered mp3 music CDs in my 6 disk oem head unit and they all play fine

 

Man. That stinks. My buddy has an 07 F-150 that I think I will try out.

 

It's mine. I tried it and the 'bad' tracks play fine on the 07 F-150.

 

That sucks. Maybe you can get it covered by Ford as a defective head unit.

 

Well I found out why the head unit makes the quick static noise on the beginning of some tracks. This is somewhat technical. While ripping the tracks to mp3's, some software inserts a VBR header at the beginning of the track, to let the player know it's a VBR mp3. Well, some not so great players don't know what to do with this info. In the case of our head units, you get a split second static noise. Very annoying. Most good software will allow you to turn off that option, no more noise.

FWIW, I use Exact Audio Copy (EAC) and use the Lame 3.92 codec for compression. No more static!