Playing lossless music on an old non-airplay Zeppelin

unionfan

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Hi. We have a challenge based around two fixed points... 1) we like our lossless music for full-room sound and 2) we can't afford to replace our old B&W Zeppelin (which still sounds good, if not perfect to our ears). So.... my ipod won't play FLAC and 192 files and the Zeppelin only has integrated ports for ipods. It does have a 3.5mm jack so is there a way I can play lossless music on our Zeppelin please? For example, if I buy a half-decent portable music player with FLAC compatibility and the best 3.5mm jack cable I can find, will we get lossless quality music coming through the speakers?

PS - we don't want to just convert everything to ALAC format as this is lower quality than the FLAC files we have AND our ipods won't play them anyway ;-P
All ideas gratefully received.
KB
 

shipworm-archaism-recede

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What do you use to play your FLAC files now and on what Hi-Fi (no pun intended)? I'm presuming that you want the Zeppelin as an alternate destination?

Also, precisely which model of Zeppelin? I understand some of the Aux ports on them will accept mini-Toslink input?
 
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Vincent Kars

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For example, if I buy a half-decent portable music player with FLAC compatibility and the best 3.5mm jack cable I can find, will we get lossless quality music coming through the speakers?

If it is a half decent player, it will have a half decent DAC so this won't do.

ALAC format as this is lower quality than the FLAC
The big difference between ALAC and FLAC is that both are lossless formats so sound identical.
 

unionfan

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If it is a half decent player, it will have a half decent DAC so this won't do.


The big difference between ALAC and FLAC is that both are lossless formats so sound identical.
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Thanks for your input but I'm not sure you moved us any closer to solution (unless I'm missing something)? My old ipod won't play ALAC or FLAC although I do understand your point about 'cheap' players. I just don't subscribe to the current HiFi industry party line that you have to spend thousands to get any good equipment.... :)
 

unionfan

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What do you use to play your FLAC files now and on what Hi-Fi (no pun intended)? I'm presuming that you want the Zeppelin as an alternate destination?

Also, precisely which model of Zeppelin? I understand some of the Aux ports on them will accept mini-Toslink input?
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Hi and thanks for your reply. We currently listen via the PC and you can definitely hear the difference between MP3 and FLAC files being played. We got rid of all the separates years ago when de-cluttering the number of boxes (something I still regret)! The powered Creative speaker/amp combo is capable of picking up and relaying the superior quality so I'm sure the Zeppelin will. And to that end, I can't find a serial number but believe our Zeppelins is a first generation model with no Airplay functionality. It does have the option to accept the mini-Toslink input through the 3.5mm AUX input socket :).

Our aim is to be able to have a player that can output lossless quality files that the Zeppelin can interpret and play (if this is even possible).
Thanks in advance for your help.
 

shipworm-archaism-recede

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-------------------------
Hi and thanks for your reply. We currently listen via the PC and you can definitely hear the difference between MP3 and FLAC files being played. We got rid of all the separates years ago when de-cluttering the number of boxes (something I still regret)! The powered Creative speaker/amp combo is capable of picking up and relaying the superior quality so I'm sure the Zeppelin will. And to that end, I can't find a serial number but believe our Zeppelins is a first generation model with no Airplay functionality. It does have the option to accept the mini-Toslink input through the 3.5mm AUX input socket :).

Our aim is to be able to have a player that can output lossless quality files that the Zeppelin can interpret and play (if this is even possible).
Thanks in advance for your help.
OK, I get it. You don't mention what software you use. You mention AirPlay, so I presume you have the ability to use it.

I recommend you get a network streamer such as the WiiM Mini and connect it to the Toslink port with a suitable cable. This turns your Zeppelin into an AirPlay destination, but it has other streaming protocol options too. You could probably do this for < £100.

You should be aware that AirPlay transcodes everything to 16-bit/48kHz, so you aren't going to get what people call bit-perfect playback. This shouldn't really concern you. I expect you will notice a similar difference between streaming your lossless files and MP3s on the Zeppelin like you do with the Creative. However, you are unlikely to notice any difference with resolutions higher than 16-bit/44.1kHz even if your ears were sensitive enough and the Zeppelin was of sufficient fidelity.

With this approach, you are relying on the Zeppelin's DAC. There may be marginal gains to be had by putting another DAC between the streamer and the Zeppelin and putting analogue audio into it instead. However, the gain would be slight even if you did notice an improvement. Given that you are trying to keep the cost down, it probably isn't worth it.
 

unionfan

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Thanks that's really useful.... I mentioned Airplay just because it was the main differentiator between older and newer Zeppelin models. I don't want to stream music at all in fact! Insufficient WiFi here in rural France for that. Buying a music player that can output the FLAC files and using the cable you mention will be our slickest (if at all possible) option I think... Sorry to be a pain.
 

shipworm-archaism-recede

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I presume by 'insufficient WiFi' you mean broadband speed and that there is nothing wrong with the air molecules in France that preclude reasonable Wi-Fi speeds within your home. :LOL:

If you have the files on a local device (phone or computer shared drive), the WiiM Home app can stream them to the Mini from there over WiFi.
 

unionfan

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Thanks for clarification. I don't want to stream anything - the Wifi isn't up to it and doing so would just wreck the available bandwidth for guests to our B&B. I will look for some Tos-link cable and a good quality, FLAC enabled player and just plug it in :) . Have a great weekend and thanks again.
 

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