HDX WAV to FLAC conversion

You have many choices from 8 to 320 kbps.  The .mp3 files are tagged but I've not tried the conversion to flac.

Mine are showing at 320kbps. TBH I haven't looked to see if this is user selectable. They play just fine in the car.

 oops. Looks like Bart posted while I was typing. 

Hi Harry!  Yes it's user selectable in the DTC or n-Serve OS X software.  The default is the highest bitrate of 320kbps, which is what I use for my iPod Classic in the car.

I've now fully re-done my iTunes library with these 320kbps files, replacing the mix of files, many much lower quality, I had amassed in that library over the past 15 years.  I did not do an MP3 conversion of EVERY cd in my uServe's library, as I knew that some I'd never listen to out of the home.  But of course iTunes Music Match doesn't care -- a 128kbps mp3 in my iTunes library becomes a 256kbps aac file in Match, part of the great deal that Match still represents.

Sounds promising 

The jury still seems out on the subject of sound quality (WAV vs FLAC) but convenience I'm afraid is to me a factor these days!

Anyone actually done the WAV to FLAC conversion or anyone from the Naim factory care to comment on the retention of the WAV's tags?

I don't see the point of what you are trying to do. 

Naim have gone through great lengths emphasising that their rips, on their ripping solutions tend to outperform any other solution on SQ grounds. True or not, this is their position. Everything was developed based on and around Naim's WAV files. The addition of FLAC and MP3 was merely done to cater for wider demand.

If you've invested in a HDX, stay with WAV. Storage is cheap, so should not be an issue. Converting to MP3 makes sense, if you needed access to your files away from home on a mobile device. 

Back in my HDX as source days I listened to FLACs and by some unforeseen coincidence happened to end up comparing WAV to FLAC. My conclusion was that FLACs played back (actually transcoded by the HDX) sounded a bit soft and for want of a better word, phasey. Not a deal breaker but if I can have easy access to what I consider better playback, then why not? So I now download WAV or convert FLAC to WAV when storing music. Your experiences may be different. I have revisited it on the NDS and remain convinced that - for me - raw WAV gives me what I want the most.

It's totally harmless and trivial. Each to our own. Something like dBpoweramp can tag WAVs just fine, if that's your preference.

Harry - you know that I am closer to the "a bit perfect rip, is a bit perfect rip" camp, than the "Naim WAV files sound better" camp. May that be as it is, I'm not saying that it's all just imagination, it's just that I haven't heard a difference myself yet. However, for arguments sake, let's assume that Naim WAV rips do sound better. The really interesting question is whether FLAC files converted from Naim WAV rips by a Naim server sound: a) better than standard FLAC files and b) transcoded on the fly by a Naim server, sound equally good than the original Naim WAV rips? A bit like that argument where apparently rips from a demagnetised CD sounded better than those from the untreated CD. 

I am being serious here. I think it's an interesting question. That's with Naim streamers of course, files served via Ethernet. Not SPDIF into nDAC.

That's something I don't assume because I haven't heard anything coming out of my speakers that supports it. I suppose there are situations in which this might apply but I've always taken trouble when ripping files and I don't think Naim have cornered any specialist market in bit perfect rips. That a Naim device will rip bit perfectly is to be expected, but it's not something only a Naim device can do.

If get something from Qobuz or HDTracks in FALC format (time was when HDT didn't offer WAV), playing back the FLAC was satisfying enough but converting it to WAV and playing back the WAV seems to sound slightly better to my ears. But that's just my ears. It is fortunate that we have the facility to flip flop between formats and can each use what suits us best - if we can hear a difference,

I have found that digital interconnects make a difference, sometimes a significant one. Ethernet cables can also sound different. Neither should matter. But we hear what we hear - or don't. Again, it's nice that we have the choice and the scope to trim our systems according to what we think sounds best to us. I haven't heard any difference between WAV and FLAC played back from different locations and I don't hear a difference between a variety of routers and switches. Or HDD type, or NAS type. I tried a network isolator and that sounded awful. 

Sorry, I've veered off somewhat. What I'm trying to say is that none of this should matter but some things do. And different things matter to different people. It shouldn't be complicated but it can be. The good news is that we can all chose what suits each of us. And if we all heard exactly the same things, something would probably be wrong with us. 

Hi blythe,

Any joy with finding a way to convert Naim WAV files to a more universally readable format?

When the original or Classic Naim wave files are created there is an XML file with the meta data. When you create a flac copy you get these meta data from the XML file as part of your flac file, but the XML file is still in the folder with each album, so that you can turn it back to a wav file later.

Actually there are 2 files, one is the data  found online, and another with the changes the user makes to that data.

When you do the 'make a flac copy' process, does the original wave file get deleted?

If you use something like dBpoweramp you end up with both versions. I haven't tried converting with my HDX's environment but I expect the answer would be no. This is another area where it's proven useful to store files on a NAS.

The option you get is to rip into WAV or FLAC.  The HDX rips into WAV and then, if you've chosen FLAC, it converts the WAV rip to FLAC and deletes the WAV copy...  so no, you don't get both... that's what I've observed when trying it just once to see what happens !

The MP3 conversion is a different ball game, of course - your MP3's get parked in the LQ folder and of course the WAV or FLAC remains untouched...  again I only tried this once to see what happened.  (Rumours that I rip to MP3 are, like rumours of my death, inaccurate !)

The HDX, or any Naim server, does erase the wav files if it converts to Flac. IIRC, it erases them when it has finished to convert the full album.

Have any of you guys gone ahead and converted all your wav's to flac's?

Not sure why anyone would want to do that, tbh !

For me the only reason would be to future proof my library. 

My library is about 300 cd's ripped by my uServe, and almost 700 cd's in flac format from my prior library and from online purchases (HDTracks, etc).  My uServe is already set to transcode flac to wav . .

.

So I am thinking that going all-flac has no real disadvantage.

I haven't made the change either yet, but given that I transcode all of my flac's in the download directory to wav already, why not go 100% flac?

Not sure why anyone would want to do that????

 

I suggest you read the whole reason for this thread existing! Particularly my post dated November 28th 

 

 

 

 

Originally Posted by rjstaines:

Originally Posted by Bart:

Have any of you guys gone ahead and converted all your wav's to flac's?

Not sure why anyone would want to do that, tbh !

 

I followed your suggestion, Martin, and re-read your 28th Nov thread.  So now I understand why you might want to do this... to support your Sonos system.  But if I were you (and I'm obviously not), then I'd be creating a separate FLAC library using a WAV/FLAC converter (dbPoweramp?), not the HDX.  But then you would have a duplicate library to maintain and may not find that acceptable.  So I'd agree, given these circumstances, go right ahead and have the HDX convert the music store(s) to FLAC. 

Let us know if you hear any differences in the FLAC files !!!! 

I will report back on my findings but it's likely to be a few months as I'm travelling :-)

If I don't detect any difference with FLAC, I might as well convert my HDX library, rather than maintain two libraries. 

However, if WAV sounds better to my ears, I'll have no option but to maintain two libraries.

If I have to go that route, what is the best WAV to FLAC converter for a Mac? (dbpoweramp is currently Windows only)

There are wav to flac converters, but as others have reported, the issues will surround tagging.  You will have only two choices if you don't let the Naim server do the conversion: (1) do the tags manually, or (2) try a program that attempts to match the files against an online database and will tag them accordingly.  Picard, from Musicbrainz, MIGHT be the best of those, but it's far from foolproof. 

Thanks Bart. I'll try a few Mac conversion programs and also, if push comes to shove, convert my entire library using the HDX which should mean correct tagging.

I will ensure I have a full back-up of my original WAV files so I can restore the HDX to WAV if I don't like the sound of the FLAC music.

I'll post any findings as I try anything but as previously said, it's likely to be a few months before I can try anything.

Regards, Martin.