My Pearl Jam FLAC-HD experience

2-feign-reluctance

Using an iMac - downloaded the FLAC-HD straight from 10c store - not the other website listed in a previous thread. Got my zip file going - right after I bought it it was ready for download under 'Order History."

It took about 5 hours or so to download it using my internet connection. While that was going I downloaded a freeware program for Mac called "Burn" which will allow one to burn DVD-A (audio), the only way to get hi-resolution files onto any sort of 'media.' After converting the FLAC files to WAV files using another great freeware program called "Xact" - I placed these files into the "Burn" program, inserted a blank DVD-R and was able to burn a DVD-A disc of the show.

My goal was to get this into my Blu-Ray player and playing through my home stereo. However, my Sony Blu-Ray player would not play the disc. After some research - it appears Sony Blu-Ray players do not play DVD-A discs, like the one I burned. However - there are some $500 + BR players out there that would play DVD-A discs.

Seeing as listening through my iMac and iTunes was going to be the only way to experience these HD files - I went ahead and adjusted my iMac audio settings to accept HD playback (24 bit - 96 kHz) and have experienced the following.

Keep in mind I'm using a $200 pair of Audio Technica's (for my musical aspirations) when I say the following:

Everything is crystal clear - the instruments are razor sharp and Ament's bass is the warmest, most present I've ever heard in any official/non-official bootlegs to date. I can hear subtle effects in each channel (The Fixer and Corduroy so far are my favorite).

Ed's vocals and Matt's drums are seriously like none I've heard before. Thumping kickdrum - which when paired with Ament's uncompressed bass make all the songs sound very full. It's about as close to what I hear when I see them live to be honest.

These files are definitely worth the money - even if you don't have the means to put them on a disc - however if you do have the means, you should get cracking because far and away the best sounding live Pearl Jam I've heard. If you liked how they sounded on the Blu-Ray PJ20 set - you will not be disappointed here.

boyo79

PJ started the Euro tour on fire, its great that the boot does Manchester I justice. I think they have got the mix perfect on these boots.

Can't wait to get Manchester II

veddertown

Can I borrow like, all your stuff please Chris....

barger395

veddertown wrote:

Can I borrow like, all your stuff please Chris....

My thoughts exactly!!

Cheers,
Barger

Indifference71

That all sounds great, but that is a lot of work to get high quality sound. I wish it was easier.

SVRDhand13

I have the Bose QC15s so I'm thinking I should pick up some FLAC HD. Maybe PJ20 will be released in this format.

Out of My Mind and Time

ok you got my attention. I already bought the mp3 of Manchester and just bought the FLAC HD. So.....now what. How do these files work? What programs play these files? Do they only work on MACS?

bazzer

I don't like digital files, I prefer material "things", so I'd rather buy the CD and rip to FLAC myself for my archive. These hi-res FLACs present me with a dilemma since the quality is higher, I want it (it's possible to play them via PS3) but I also want something to keep on the shelf (even if it is just a CD-R in a generic sleeve with a sticker). I don't really want to buy both.

Talk about first world problems...

LeatherMosquitoMan

You've convinced me to buy it in this format.

gobucks005

So I thought I'd share my experience.

In the short, the DVD I burned sounds great on my PS3. Wish I didn't have to use a disc to get it to play but I couldn't figure out anyway to stream it without issues (PS3 media server wouldn't stream it, PS3 kept saying it was corrupted data, maybe I need a different decoder).

I ended up using lplex @ http://audioplex.sourceforge.net/ to convert the FLAC-HD to a DVD video to play on my PS3. Unfortunately I realized after the fact that my PS3 won't play DVD-A (which I know I've tried before and just forgot).

I'm pretty sure that I'm getting everything out of the recording because I believe that DVD video can handle the same audio specs as a DVD video can.

But either way, I couldn't agree more with the clarity and precision of the bass on the recording. The bass drum and the bass guitar are clearer then any other live recording I've heard of PJ. It's mixed perfectly with the lead guitar from one side and the rhythm guitar on the other.

2-feign-reluctance

Interesting...wonder if my Sony BR player will play DVD video of these files at the hi-res specs. I may try the program you listed here & report back. "Burn" for Mac offers DVD video burning - however when I dropped the files in there it wouldn't convert. Not sure if its a program flaw - because in theory one should be able to do this. Thanks for posting. Not enough audiophiles/techs on The Porch -

gobucks005 wrote:

So I thought I'd share my experience.

In the short, the DVD I burned sounds great on my PS3. Wish I didn't have to use a disc to get it to play but I couldn't figure out anyway to stream it without issues (PS3 media server wouldn't stream it, PS3 kept saying it was corrupted data, maybe I need a different decoder).

I ended up using lplex @ http://audioplex.sourceforge.net/ to convert the FLAC-HD to a DVD video to play on my PS3. Unfortunately I realized after the fact that my PS3 won't play DVD-A (which I know I've tried before and just forgot).

I'm pretty sure that I'm getting everything out of the recording because I believe that DVD video can handle the same audio specs as a DVD video can.

But either way, I couldn't agree more with the clarity and precision of the bass on the recording. The bass drum and the bass guitar are clearer then any other live recording I've heard of PJ. It's mixed perfectly with the lead guitar from one side and the rhythm guitar on the other.

2-feign-reluctance

Indifference71 wrote:

That all sounds great, but that is a lot of work to get high quality sound. I wish it was easier.

It really isn't - ask for some help man! You won't be let down!

Out of My Mind and Time

2-feign-reluctance wrote:

Indifference71 wrote:

That all sounds great, but that is a lot of work to get high quality sound. I wish it was easier.

It really isn't - ask for some help man! You won't be let down!

Help... :oops:

Bought flac. Now what? Tried looking around and either it looks crazy tough or need some app/program.

Got a respectable audio system :roll: and want to hear flac. Is it like vinyl or better?

2-feign-reluctance

Out of My Mind and Time wrote:

2-feign-reluctance wrote:

Indifference71 wrote:

That all sounds great, but that is a lot of work to get high quality sound. I wish it was easier.

It really isn't - ask for some help man! You won't be let down!

Help... :oops:

Bought flac. Now what? Tried looking around and either it looks crazy tough or need some app/program.

Got a respectable audio system :roll: and want to hear flac. Is it like vinyl or better?

Can't help if you are running Windows. What computer do you have?

Out of My Mind and Time

I got windows but have access to anything. I can work on a Mac if need be. Any help is appreciated. I am an audiophile PJ freak. Is it better than vinyl? I have to hear it

LeatherMosquitoMan

I asked Demetrios this question on facebook: He told me all i need is either winamp or VLC media player, and i already had both. Both versions i have are free, and i'm yet to DL it in FLAD-HD but i shouldn't have any problems playing it on my pc.

NHiding

I use a Squeezebox and have been for years. Plays all my music files off an external drive in all formats, including these mind-blowing HD Audio files.

http://www.logitech.com/en-us/speakers- ... ebox-touch

slcporch

2-feign-reluctance wrote:

Using an iMac - downloaded the FLAC-HD straight from 10c store - not the other website listed in a previous thread. Got my zip file going - right after I bought it it was ready for download under 'Order History."

It took about 5 hours or so to download it using my internet connection. While that was going I downloaded a freeware program for Mac called "Burn" which will allow one to burn DVD-A (audio), the only way to get hi-resolution files onto any sort of 'media.' After converting the FLAC files to WAV files using another great freeware program called "Xact" - I placed these files into the "Burn" program, inserted a blank DVD-R and was able to burn a DVD-A disc of the show.

My goal was to get this into my Blu-Ray player and playing through my home stereo. However, my Sony Blu-Ray player would not play the disc. After some research - it appears Sony Blu-Ray players do not play DVD-A discs, like the one I burned. However - there are some $500 + BR players out there that would play DVD-A discs.

Seeing as listening through my iMac and iTunes was going to be the only way to experience these HD files - I went ahead and adjusted my iMac audio settings to accept HD playback (24 bit - 96 kHz) and have experienced the following.

Keep in mind I'm using a $200 pair of Audio Technica's (for my musical aspirations) when I say the following:

Everything is crystal clear - the instruments are razor sharp and Ament's bass is the warmest, most present I've ever heard in any official/non-official bootlegs to date. I can hear subtle effects in each channel (The Fixer and Corduroy so far are my favorite).

Ed's vocals and Matt's drums are seriously like none I've heard before. Thumping kickdrum - which when paired with Ament's uncompressed bass make all the songs sound very full. It's about as close to what I hear when I see them live to be honest.

These files are definitely worth the money - even if you don't have the means to put them on a disc - however if you do have the means, you should get cracking because far and away the best sounding live Pearl Jam I've heard. If you liked how they sounded on the Blu-Ray PJ20 set - you will not be disappointed here.

What are you using to connect your mac to your receiver? I run my audio out of the headphone jack, but I am worried the audio will be compressed if I do this.

slcporch

I did some research and found I can use a 3.5mm output jack from my macbook pro and output digital audio to my receiver via a toslink cable or in other lingo an optical audio cord. This cable can be found online for less than $5. In more simple words, I plug in one end of the cable into my headphone jack on the laptop and the other end goes into the optical audio input on my receiver. And then make sure to change the output on your computer to 24 bit. An easy way to enjoy these FLAC HD recordings in 24 bit sound. Are these recordings done in stereo or 5.1?

Eddie NL

2-feign-reluctance wrote:

Seeing as listening through my iMac and iTunes was going to be the only way to experience these HD files - I went ahead and adjusted my iMac audio settings to accept HD playback (24 bit - 96 kHz) and have experienced the following.

Do you know if I can also play the FLAC HD files on my MacMini when I use Plex software? I use my MacMini as a Media Center connected to my amp & tv so it would be nice to use Plex for this files as well.

benjs

slcporch wrote:

I did some research and found I can use a 3.5mm output jack from my macbook pro and output digital audio to my receiver via a toslink cable or in other lingo an optical audio cord. This cable can be found online for less than $5. In more simple words, I plug in one end of the cable into my headphone jack on the laptop and the other end goes into the optical audio input on my receiver. And then make sure to change the output on your computer to 24 bit. An easy way to enjoy these FLAC HD recordings in 24 bit sound. Are these recordings done in stereo or 5.1?

sicporch,

My understanding is that the maximum data transfer rate of TOSLINK will be your bottleneck here, as it is not high enough to handle lossless formats (ie. FLAC-HD or even FLAC). From my experience, when it comes to audio, the only ways to output HD audio is with a dedicated HDMI receiver/decoder, which has a far higher maximum data transfer rate than optical audio. And since I'm setting up a home theater and researching A/V receivers that can do just that, if anyone would like to correct me on this front and save me some money, I'd love that

EDIT: I should add, though, that optical audio is a step in the right direction, and will provide better quality than the analog output through the 3.5mm jacks.

2-feign-reluctance

Revised set up:

1. Buy FLAC HD from 10c store.
2. Download zipfile (make sure you have free program UnRarX for Mac users)
3. Using freeware program xACT (for Mac users again) - drag the FLAC files to the 'decode' option in the xACT program and selected either WAV or AIFF.
4. Make new folder for newly decoded files
5. Now, you can drag that folder to iTunes and play them but want to make sure your Mac audio preferences are set to handle 24 bit 96 khz audio.
6. Enjoy listening on computer with nice headphones (they even sound great on external iMac speakers)
7. Using Roxio Toast Platinum you could burn yourself a 'music' DVD and play these files on your Blu-Ray player.

*Thanks to all for the input and suggestions. I learned alot this week researching the format and various ways one can enjoy audiophile quality.

2-feign-reluctance

NHiding wrote:

I use a Squeezebox and have been for years. Plays all my music files off an external drive in all formats, including these mind-blowing HD Audio files.

http://www.logitech.com/en-us/speakers- ... ebox-touch

Interesting option - though I was looking for a more 'old school' set up. Disc through stereo with wires and stuff.