Just before I do the deed!

Hi

dbpoweramp is more than capable of ripping to WAV and tagging all the files at the same time so if you prefer WAV then I would follow this route - this is what I do myself.

However, there are many that advocate ripping in FLAC who still prefer the sound of WAV - most then use their UPnP server to transcode the file on the fly to WAV - so thats the format delivered to your streamer.

You didn't mention which server you will be using but if transcoding is an option then that will also work with FLAc files

You could also go with the AIFF format. I have started re-ripping all my CDs in AIFF as it sounds just like WAV, but includes all the tagging, embedded artwork and is compatible on Mac, Windows and Linux If you ever need.

I prefer the sound of WAV to FLAC. I've set my UnitiServe to rip to FLAC and transcode to WAV on playback. The sound is indistinguishable from playback of WAV files. Just make sure that whatever server you use can transcode.

Thank you all for your help.

I ripped the same track in four different formats, aiff, wave, flack5, and uncompressed flac via dbpoweramp, and wav was the only one that did not show any track info on my unitiqute1 display.This I did on a usb stick and onto the nas playing back through the qute.

Would much prefer to use wav but have no idea how to tag so qute shows info on display.

I am very new to this and don't fully understand the interaction between server, streamer etc and what should be doing what. I think the nas has 'asset' already on it but not sure if it is configured ok.

Thanks.

Why don't you simply transcode your WAVs to AIFF? Would be much more convinient and the result identical.

There are ways of taggig wav files via MediaMonkey. But not every player will read it. Go with flac5 or any other compression level and be done with it for ever. Uncompressed flac is not really the intention of the format and renders no advantages whatsoever. The computation load only exists when you encode compressed flac files (read: rip). On decoding (playback) the computation load is almost independant of the compression level. So you would only be wasting disk space if you were to rip to flac uncompressed.

Don't fall for the voodoo of wav sounding any different or even better than flac.

I agree with the Halibut and the Hamster (strange what you find yourself writing).

There's no benefit to uncompressed FLAC, so you may as well go with level 5 and save the disk space. 

I recommend getting a server that can transcode to WAV such as Minim or Asset. I store in FLAC and transcode to WAV. The sound is indistinguishable from storing in WAV. But I get all the metadata, including on N-Stream and the Qute display. It's fit and forget, works perfectly. 

Uncompressed FLAC is exactly the same PCM as is in a WAV but then in a FLAC container.

since you like WAV best and disc space is no issue pricewise, you could just go ahead with uncompressed FLAC.

there is no format issue as it is just the same set of pcm-bits as in wav.

aiff also uses uncompressed pcm in its container, but they have a different byte order to wav I believe. I don't know for sure if that would require some additionla 'processing' to swap them around before playback?

cheers

Aleg

Got to agree with some of the above.. FLAC level 5 is probably best to rip to. There are occasionally issues with more advanced tagging, but keep your FLAC encoder upto date, as issues get fixed quickly IME.

When you stream to Naim you simply transcode to WAV, and as far as the Naim is concerned it is like playing a WAV file.

WAV and AIFF are great for storage, but you are consuming a lot of space, and you may have tag reading challenges with WAV in the Apple world, and AIFF in the non Apple world. Of the two if you needed to go uncompressed PCM I would recommend WAV as it is very common with its meta tags for industrial applications, but currently these are hidden from you in the Apple default world.

Simon

Thanks everyone for your help and comments,

I have just worked out that I can get over 6,000 cd's on a 3tb drive, so what is the point of any compression.

So I will start with uncompressed Flac and see how that goes.

Regards

David

Do make sure that you write ID3v2 tags, as well as Vorbis comments, to the files–this will make life easier later.

To Lost-in-fog, although you are right storage is cheap and available, advantages of compression still exist for Hidef, as these files can get very large, and also for significantly speeding up backup and restores. Backup is important, you definitely would not want to re-rip 6000 CDs if your NAS failed.

To DavidDenver, FLAC does use Vorbis tags, and WAV and AIFF can use ID3v2 tags. I am not aware FLAC supporting ID3v2, so,I think it's one or the other depending on file format. (WAV also more traditionally incorporates the LIST INFO based tags, but these are generic to all multimedia and not specific to albums, but WAV will allow you to use both tagging methods in the same file for interoperability with some more limited software, regrettably Apple supports neither by default)

Simon

Thanks very much Simon and David, points duly noted.

Also keep in mind that your hard drives will be happier in the long run if they aren't full to the brim, and if you're like me they'll be spinning all the time!

Oh, sorry, I see that you have 800 cds to do. 6000 and you may as well check yourself into the looney bin! I currently have a bit over 900 on my Vortexbox and using 360gb of a 1tb drive. That's ripping to FLAC level 5. Probably best to get a 2tb or even 1tb drive to start with. Less platters than a 3tb.(though I use those all the time for my photographs). Anyway, something to think about. 

I have decision overload with 900 albums on my server; I can't even begin to imagine 6000!

Hi, my files are Flac, but I don't see any setting on my NAS (Snology 214play) to have this transcode to wav, am I missing something ?