Compression Level in FLAC

That a poster here mentioned it. No one said it was Linn's position. I never thought a difference would be related to PS load and it wouldn't be the only source of an increased noise floor if there. I also know that things exist in this universe that can't be explained. Doesn't mean you can make stuff up but if someone perceives a difference, I won't argue it's existence. If a difference isn't heard that also doesn't mean it wont exist for the next fellow. Hard to qualify a negative. Perceptions on quality or level of differences are inter related to setup and associated kit so preference may be argued but that a difference is heard should be taken at face value.

It would be equally hard to measure prat, hard to measure soundstage, depth, etc Sometimes it makes me think buying even a lowly naimuniti is an insane act, if the theory that all digital source should sound the same and below human perception.... It goes on and on. So I give up. I am converting everything to flac and hoping that the convenience of it would outweigh the trouble of wav. I believe whatever the difference, it will not be apparent to the low end gear and escape my ear.... In the process, I found quite a few of my old CDs that were stashed away inside boxes for a decade without playing actually turned unreadable/or unreadable for a few tracks, making the point of playing them via cd or harddisk a moot point. Backing up every track on harddisk is important no matter what. A dead disc will never have better SQ than a file that survives the RAID and backup another decade later......

Even a lowly NaimUniti?  Shame mine feels anything but ....





The silliness of all this pseudo science is that just like Goldman said about Hollywood ..."nobody knows anything " - yes we have claim and counter claim we have hitech shenanigans and sophisticated buzz words but in the end this is not a branch of astrophysics where proof and counter proof by peer review has established which cosmological theories are correct - come to think of it that doesn't work in physics either.  ... Big Bang Theory anyone?







if you like flac rip to flac - if you change your mind rip it to wav - nothing lost















I'm waiting for the Naim UnityCollider - should I rip to Quark or Higg Boson?















Prof Tog Von Tog

Rockingdov, indeed I have tried a similar set up, and the squeezebox definintely gives different performances between wave andFLAC at different compression levels. In fact far more so than other devices I have tried and I put down to compromises in the squeezebox decoder.  I only use it now for lower nitrate compressed Internet radio which it does rather well, even with the Linn 320kbps Internet radio addresses.

Simon

Gents, FLAC and Wave are identical in rendering uncompressed PCM.  Flac and wave files are containers. The audio has to be converted to PCM for *both* formats. Therefore any sonic differences are from side affects of the decoding processing assuming no faulty algorithms and a corruption of the PCM.  There is no need for magic or pseudo science, vast swathes of the telecommunication and broadcast industry would fall apart it it weren't so.

Further I would say that if playback changed from FLAC to wave file then that demonstrates a sub optimal decoder and I would be wary of it.

As far as Naim's comments about decompressing and revealing sources, absolutely fair comments when the compression uses a lossy codec where information is thrown away. PCM wave files an FLAC are not lossy and do not discard information.





Simon

Tog Lowly only because it's at the bottom of na's long and winding upgrade spiral, not meaning anything about it being bad =>

Just in case anybody needs it a basic list of differences between different types of lossless PCM  encoding file formats

http://www.bobulous.org.uk/misc/lossless_audio_2006.html#data_times

Simon

(Bear in mind that by default Squeezecenter streams both FLAC and WAV as FLAC so you need to change some settings before attempting to A-B FLAC and WAV files, otherwise you will be doing an A-A comparison!)

lhau - I would rip to whatever lossless format suits your storage and tagging needs and toolset. And only buy equipment that plays it back to your satisfaction and pleasure!

(Naim held out against s/pdif for 20 years, but eventually they found a way to do it. Maybe it will be the same with FLAC)