To Flac or not to Flac?

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I sat through and thoroughly enjoyed the What HiFi demo at this years Bristol Show. I was particularly interested in the MP3 and AAIF demo of the Lily Allen song. The AAIF being of course far better in sound quality. I have just bought an AV anp with an MP3 dock. My question is this. If I download music in Flac format then use a converter (bdpoweramp) to convert to AAIF will this give me a better sound than MP3 to AAIF? Sorry if this has been asked before. Any help would be appreciated.
 

The_Lhc

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Oct 16, 2008
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Almost certainly, flac is lossless, so it's the same as CD (or better, depending on where you're downloading the files from).

Depending on the amp it might actually be able to play the flac natively, I noticed Pioneer's higher end amps can.
 

John Duncan

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Converting it to anything won't give you any better sound quality than it was originally - it can only ever be as good as it was to begin with. And as lhc says, many media players will play FLAC natively anyway (including its 24-bit variants, should you have the hardware to decode it), so not sure what the point would be. If you tend towards the iTunes side, then you can use dbPoweramp to convert to Apple lossless, which is sonically equivalent.
 

The_Lhc

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JohnDuncan: And as lhc says,

grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr......

many media players will play FLAC natively anyway (including its 24-bit variants, should you have the hardware to decode it),

Worth noting that the Sonos system CANNOT play 24-bit FLAC, only 16-bit. The output is 24-bits wide but they use the other 8-bits for volume control without degrading the bitstream. Actually I never thought to check if the Pioneer's can handle 24-bit FLAC, that would be handy...
 
A

Anonymous

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Thanks for the replies. I'll try the natively option first, if it does not support it, then will convert. Thanks again.
 

idc

Well-known member
jazzead: My question is this. If I download music in Flac format then use a converter (bdpoweramp) to convert to AAIF will this give me a better sound than MP3 to AAIF? Sorry if this has been asked before. Any help would be appreciated.

Flac to AIFF is lossless to lossless, so no difference. MP3 to AAIF is lossy (lower bit rate) to lossless, so all you have done is make the lossy file larger, you cannot add back what was not there. Hence the answer is yes you will get better sound by sticking to lossless files.
 
A

Anonymous

Guest
I'm still debating with myself whether to convert my CD music (about 400-500 pieces) to Apple lossless or to FLAC, or to WAV (although I have now ruled out that option).

Is there any difference between those 2 lossless formats (that I could hear when played back)?
 

John Duncan

Well-known member
momo72:
I'm still debating with myself whether to convert my CD music (about 400-500 pieces) to Apple lossless or to FLAC, or to WAV (although I have now ruled out that option).

Is there any difference between those 2 lossless formats (that I could hear when played back)?

No, IMO. You ought to be able to convert from one to the other and back again, and end up with exactly the same file you started with. There are some advantages to FLAC in terms of compatibility (though I challenge you to find any at real-world money) and the accuraterip implementation (whereby you can get guaranteed bit-perfect copies by comparing them to other people's rips) seems easier to use on Windows than Mac.

I guess what I'm saying is don't worry about the sonics of each, worry about the usability - if iTunes is your media player of choice, use apple lossless, if not, use FLAC - if you change your mind in the future, you can always convert them (my first point above).
 
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Anonymous

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Lossless is lossless.

Nothing is lossed.

Use a computer or similar with lossless files into a DAC. You won't look back.
 
A

Anonymous

Guest
quick question, you said downloading FLAC...

...where can I download FLAC files from (i mean from a shop BTW!)

I use Play downloads which are 256 or 320kbps MP3s (unprotected of course which I want for the flexibility of playback on devices)

Sorry to threadjack!
:)
 
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Anonymous

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ooh thanks JD (again!)
just gone to the site - very promissing!
 
A

Anonymous

Guest
only problem (certainly as far as Linn goes)..
...its all Classical and Jazz!

why and I surprised....

its the same for SACDs...really beeps me off!
 

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