REVELATION! - WAV vs. FLAC

Nice to have someone who agrees with my opinion on .wav vs .flac

If you are using the Synology native UPnP "Media Server"

Go to your Synology NAS web page & open Media Server > DMA Compatability

Check box - Enable Audio Transcoding

Check box - FLAC/APE

Not sure how this done with Syn & MinimServe

Thats it, yr done - but I would go the whole hog & convert all to .wav

Double check when you play a 24 bit file that is does not play it as 16 bit,  a transcoding problem

24/48 should show as 2304kbs - 16bit is 1536 

24/96 is 4608kbs - 16bit is 3072

Minim transcoding:

Right click on Minim Watch, select System tab, enter FLAC:WAV (and MP3:WAV if required). Click Apply.

Minim transcodes gaplessly, Synology Media Server does not.

When I download WAV files from Qobuz I often can't get the cover art displayed in my app. Flac always finds the correct information.

Fred

 +2

Have to say I would agree Wav is better SQ wise, but thought it was just me.

Yes, my experience is Wav sounds best - Naim recommend it too. 

I don't agree with Mike-B that you should convert the files; transcoding on the fly does the same thing with a lot less trouble. 

I transcode to WAV "on the fly", on the advice of Phil Harris. It may have been Simon who described FLAC as a flat pack version of WAV. Apparently, it sounds better to transcode because it saved the streamer the effort of unpacking. I don't know if it sounds even better if the file is already WAV.

Keith

100% agree, & if Synology did it right at the time when I first got into HDD media but had already bought the Synology,  then I might well be using .flac & transcoding to .wav right now. That said the Synology is a fine machine but its native media server did have problems with transcoding 24 bit (now fixed) & gapless at the time,  hence my choice of .wav at the time I was experimenting.

Learning metadata editing in .wav is not as difficult as some forumites indicate, in fact I found it easy & fun & I was a newbee duffer at the time.

No. I prefer WAV also.

I always buy flac given the tags etc, but transcode on the fly to wav.

Yep, when it comes to downloads I also buy in FLAC or increasingly recently ALAC. I then transcode to WAV on the fly. However, since I have decoupled my DAC (Hugo) from my streamer I don't hear much if any difference between FLAC and WAV when streaming unlike when I used the DAC within the streamer or even a connected NDAC/555PS... But old habits die hard.

Simon

Silly question, but how do you transcode FLAC to WAV?

Fred

no difference for me either...flac, alac, wav sound the same with aries and mac w/audirvana....will demo aurender soon ...

Fred, the UPnP media server does the transcoding if it supports it. Asset and Minimserver both support on the fly transcoding.

Simon

Wav fuller and richer than Flac was definitely true for me via the HDX. When I switched to the NDS the difference became very hard to pick.

Bruce

Hi Scott,

I also use QNAP and find Asset to be the easiest to use and it works faultlessly. Transcoding from FLAC to WAV via Asset works for me.

One vote for MinimServer here: have used it on various QNAPs without problems into original Uniti, various other Naim network players, and currently NAC-N272 and NDS

It's simple to set up using the exemplary instructions on the MinimServer site, seems to handle data and images much better than Twonky, and as well as transcoding will also serve up everything up to and including DSD.

I have a QNAP and use Asset (this UPnP was recommended by Naim support), after seeing this thread last night I set up Asset to transcode Flac to Wav to my ND5XS, still need to try more tracks to evaluate any difference.

However for options in Asset Audio Format Streaming is it best to leave "increase to 24 bit" unchecked, this is adjacent to "replay gain" which I have checked.

Thanks

Rob

Fred  --  you have Synology & its native UPnP Media Server does have transcoding.

It used to have problems with 24bit, playing those at 16bit,  but I believe its been fixed.  

To check .......... read the kbs number on the app & naim display

24/48 should show as 2304kbs - if its limiting to 16bit it will show 1536kbs  

24/96 should show as 4608kbs - 16bit will be 3072kbs

If that's the case & you want transcoding, install Minimserver that's included the Synology package centre, some prefer it over Syn's UPnP,  I don't. 

Synology & Asset don't support each other,  more's the pity 

Hi Mike,

My problem is that I really don't know (understand) how to transcode these files with Minimserver. It's not a user friendly application. 

Fred

Hi Fred,  I don't use Minimserver,  tried it for a while but went back to Synology UPnP & my memory does not stretch to details,  but I did find it easily enough & work it out by playing around.

Gary Shaw posted yesterday on this thread on how to do it ...........  https://forums.naimaudio.com/to...39#48028103824363939

I am a complete idiot, but can use Minimserver happily, albeit with help from the minim server forum. Gary explained above how to do it. 

Thanks Mike,

So will the FLAC files on my Synology diskstation now be transcoded to WAV when I play them through my NDX? Do I have to play them through the media server (Dont know how to!) or do I play them through the NDX as I have been doing previoulsy? Can I use the iOS app?

Thanks 

EDIT: I just checked the transcode on the MediaServer and the file names changed to title.flac on the iOS app, and the description of the file at the bottom of the app to WAV 44.1KHZ 1411kb/s for 16Bit files, to WAV 96kHz 3072kb/s for 24Bit files.

The media server lives in the NAS. This is where you set it to transcode. The NDX plays the music exactly as it does already.