Have you had this issue with your Synology NAS?

I'm just curious why converting FLAC to WAV should be better than not transcoding FLAC and playing it natively. I don't transcode anything that I stream to my ND5. I have a combination of AIFF, ALAC, and FLAC.

I had a problem after a firmware upgrade to my Synology - all of a sudden everything was playing at 16 bit 44k whatever it should have been. I had to turn all transcoding off in the Synology to get back to where I wanted to be. Like RaceTripper, though, I'm not sure I see the point of switching to FLAC to WAV, though I know there are people here who say WAV sounds better. I have to admit I haven't spent hours comparing.

I made the same mistake in upgrading - the latest firmware will not transcode HiDef FLAC to HiDef WAV.

From various posts in oyher fora, Synology do seem to be aware  of teh issue - but presumably this is a minor 'bug' for the majority of their customers, which is not deemed in need of redressing

I now Rip straight to WAV and convert all HiDef FLAC downloads to HiDef WAV ... dare I say because I noticed a difference in sound when I compared the  two file types (on my previous NDX)

Apologies if I did not clarify this in my original post: I am using the earlier version firmware. I never upgraded as several posted on this forum that the newer firmware does not support high res. 

Nonetheless, only some high res albums play (unless FLAC to WAV transcoding is disabled).

Hi Madrid

i have a Synology 212j running DSM3.2. I transcode from Flac to Wav to my NDX, but ive never experienced the problem you describe. Not much help to you i know.

+1 

I was also curious myself for the reasons why WAV sounds better than FLAC when streamed to my Uniti.  But it does, really.  WAV sounds more open and better resolved in comparison. I use UPnP and not SPDIF/PCM, though.

The only thing I can think of is that unpacking a FLAC file inside Naim introduce minor data loss in the process.  And how do we know if the unpacked data stream entering internal DAC from the streamer section is bit-perfect, then?

WAV is not compressed.

I think FLAC and WAV should sound more equal if they are delivered to a Naim box as PCM than if using UPnP.

(my best guess)

Bobby

I have no idea why, technically speaking, WAV should sound any different than FLAC.  But it does sound slightly better -  to my woolen ears.  A bit more "analogue", a bit more presence.

Now if only one could always have both high res and WAV simultaneously...

Well, I can't hear a difference between FLAC and AIFF, and AIFF isn't compressed, so I don't see how converting FLAC to WAV is going to improve anything for me.

Do you use UPnP or SPDIF input?

Bobby

Hi Madrid

Just for information, I run a ds213+ with latest 4.1 firmware and experience no issues with any files, wether redbook cd or hi res. I don't use the transcode option as I have ripped all music to aiff and everything plays perfectly. Sorry if this does not help you but just so you know that 4.1 works superbly. 

ATB, Anton

+1 

i use a Naim DAC though, i do not use UPnP or Naim streaming. 

I am using UPnP. I will try upgrading to v 4.1.