Anybody from empeg could confirm that this header is required by the decoder for proper time display?

You don't need anyone to confirm it, it is definitely a confirmed problem already. It's in their software release notes for the player software, and has been for several versions:

It appears that Audio Catalyst will produce files with incorrect VBR headers if Real Player 7 is also installed. It is not possible to fast forward or rewind such files, the time display will not update and the player will not remember where it was in the track if powered off. Apparently the latest version of MP3 Tag Studio can repair these files although we have not tested it.

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Tony Fabris