Educate me on FLAC

Zod · January 2014

jervin007 said:

Thanks for the info on how to optimize my home stereo. Don't know much about Cowon players (i have been a slave to IPODS for a decade) can you recommend a specific model or break down the perks of this player for me?

I know a little. My player is 4 or 5 years old now. It's a Cowon S9 (32gb version). The reason the Cowon's are awesome is because they put a high quality DAC in it. I think DAC stands for digital audio converter (or something close to it). It's the thing that's mainly responsible for converting your digital data to the analog sound that come outs of your headphones. Most devices (like an iphone or or high end android device) have a mediocre to ok DAC in their hardware. Cowon uses a high quality DAC and the sound from them is much better than an apple/android device. I only use a cheap pair of IEM's (Brainwavz M1's) and the sound out of the Cowon is so much better than my phone. It's even better when you plug in higher quality headphones/iems.

The other reason I bought the Cowon is because it supports folder view. I have all my albums ripped and stored in folder format. IE a different folder for every album. When I bought it, most mp3 devices were sorting based on tag, and it drove me nuts. It also has the option to run as a UMS device (aka like a flash drive), so you plug the cable into the unit and your pc and you can copy files over to it like you were copying files over to a flash drive. No need for any crappy 3rd party software.

My unit is pretty basic. Has a small screen, it can play videos but I don't really use it for that. It's all about the music.

I think the J3 and D3 models are the current ones. The D3 uses android instead of the proprietary OS. I think it also has wifi. Most of which I don't need so I'd probably get a J3 if I had to replace mine.

PJ-Cubs · January 2014

Everyone's input has been very helpful in understanding FLAC.

So here is my question - what is the best way to start transitioning your music collection to FLAC (or a higher quality MP3)? I currently use itunes and an ipod. I can start purchasing FLAC downloads for new music and converting them to ALAC. I can also to reload all of the studio albums and boots that I have on CD in ALAC (but that seems like a lot of work). I obviously can't transition any downloads that I have purchased in the past without re-buying them.

Zod · January 2014

I think it's a grey area in Canadian law but I built a lot of my mp3/flac collection by downloading the albums that I already owned from less legitimate websites.

I ripped a bunch of them from the cd's but it's a very time consuming process. Downloading FLAC rips from other sources is quicker and since I own the cd I consider it a format shift which is permissible by Canadian law

I've probably been building my flac collection about 5 years ago. I'm must be up to 400 albums or so by now.

Vedd Hedd · January 2014

Just wait for Pono.

2-feign-reluctance · January 2014

Convert to WAV via xACT free for Mac. Plays on all your iStuff, burn to CD.

cutz · January 2014

Vedd Hedd said:
Just wait for Pono.

For how long?

http://news.cnet.com/8301-13645_3-57608168-47/whats-up-with-neil-youngs-pono-high-resolution-music-system/

What's up with Neil Young's Pono high-resolution music system?
We've heard about Pono for years, and now the promised 2014 launch has been postponed.

Steve Guttenberg by Steve Guttenberg October 19, 2013 7:46 AM PDT Updated: December 23, 2013 11:35 AM PST

36 CommentsFacebook285Twitter200Linked In6More

(Credit: Steve Guttenberg/CNET)
The Gigaom Web site reported on December 20 that Pono announced it won't be showing at the CES show in Las Vegas in January.
I first heard about Neil Young's Pono music system more than a couple of years ago, and it was supposed to roll out a few months later. Rumors continued to circulate about an imminent debut, then fade away. Young showed a Pono music player prototype on the David Letterman show in September 2012, and it seemed like the launch was within reach.
Like everybody else I'm still unsure about how the Pono music service will work. Will we have to buy a Pono music player to fully enjoy the glories of Pono files? In other words, is Pono a closed system? Or can you play Pono high-resolution Master Files on your computer at home or on an iPhone or Android phone? I can't see how that would be possible in the near term, and I don't consider phones' digital converters and built-in amplifiers audiophile-grade devices. Playing a file is one thing; hearing better sound from it is something else.
The biggest stumbling block for Pono is the scarcity of high-resolution music being recorded today. According to a friend who worked at one of NYC's biggest mastering studios, only 10 or 15 percent of clients ever bother with true high-resolution masters. Most are no better than 48kHz/24-bit, very few are bona-fide high-resolution 96kHz or 192kHz masters. But even if Young can rack up enough high-resolution music albums, how Pono Master Files will differ from the high-resolution WAV, FLAC, or ALAC files that are already available from other high-resolution download sources, he isn't saying. How will the Pono player be any different than the Astell & Kern, FiiO, or Hifiman high-resolution players already on the market?
While the original high-resolution audio formats, SACD and DVD-Audio, could produce awe-inspiring sound quality back in the early 2000s, most high-resolution mixes were only slightly better-sounding than the CDs'. Young has said that Pono files will be artist-approved studio masters, and that implies different masters and possibly mixes than the CD, LP, or iTunes mixes. If they can pull that off, Master Files would really be a major sonic improvement over what we have now. It's nice in theory, but if Pono is ever going to be a high-resolution alternative to the iTunes store, Pono has to offer a vast selection of music. If Pono could somehow enforce higher quality standards on the music business, that would be a great thing, but why does the business need Pono urging them on? If they cared about sound quality in the first place, they would make all of the releases sound great in every format they sell: MP3, FLAC, CD, iTunes, or LP.
I proposed the "two-mix" solution for a couple of years ago. Mix One would be the standard heavily compressed mix that sounds fine on Bluetooth speakers, car audio systems, and cheap earbuds; that's the mix we have now. It's fine for the way most people listen to music. Mix Two would be less compressed and processed for folks who have decent stereo systems and/or high-quality headphones. The prime reason cited why the two-mix approach isn't being implemented is cost; the record companies don't want to spend extra cash to create a second mix. Why will they now for Pono? We'll find out if Pono ever gets off the ground; Young now claims it will happen early next year.
I wish Pono great success, but it hasn't clearly defined what it's trying to accomplish.
Editors' note: This story was originally published on October 19, 2013, and has since been updated with additional information

Zod · January 2014

lol.. I like how all the apple users are saying convert to tapple format so you can use it on these apple devices... lol....

sort of defeats the purpose of an open source format that should be playable amongst a wide range of devices (except apple because they like to lock their shit down

).

samsonite · August 2014

This is my first time converting an FLAC to an AAC or MP3, and I need help! I'm on a PC and I've downloaded foobar2000. Every time I try to convert a file I get a window asking me to "Please locate qaac.exe" or "Please locate lame.exe". I'm not sure what they're asking for or where to find it. What do I need to do?

samsonite · August 2014

...

lolobugg · August 2014

try an app called "trader's little helper". it can convert your FLAC files to WAV or MP3.
you just drag the FLAC files in, press decode and it converts them to the format that you want and puts them back into the same folder.
I found it much easier than foobar.

Bob Mayo on the keyboards Bob · August 2014

Your ipod can play flacs if you rockbox it. Go to rockbox.org - you basically swap out Apples OS and replace it with the Rockbox one that plays flacs. Many apps will also allow you to listen to flacs on your iphone - I use capriccio for that.

samsonite · August 2014

Bob Mayo on the keyboards Bob said:
Your ipod can play flacs if you rockbox it. Go to rockbox.org - you basically swap out Apples OS and replace it with the Rockbox one that plays flacs. Many apps will also allow you to listen to flacs on your iphone - I use capriccio for that.

I appreciate the tip but I've got one bootleg in FLAC format so I'd rather not reformat my ipod for one show. :-)

On a totally different subject, is Mayo your real name? I only ask because it's my last name and not one I hear very often. :-)

2-feign-reluctance · August 2014

xACT for Mac or Toast Titanium for Mac

Bob Mayo on the keyboards Bob · August 2014

samsonite said:

Bob Mayo on the keyboards Bob said:

I appreciate the tip but I've got one bootleg in FLAC format so I'd rather not reformat my ipod for one show. :-)

On a totally different subject, is Mayo your real name? I only ask because it's my last name and not one I hear very often. :-)
A rockboxed pod will also play tons of other file types- mp3, aac, etc, too. But iTunes interface is better and music is better organized on the device (rockbox is drag and drop, so folder structure remains) using the apple os, so it's not for everyone. I keep one ipod for iTunes (128 aac) and another rockboxed for flacs.

No, the Bob mayo thing is from frampton comes alive (do you feel like we do), thought it was funny one night listening to that record after a couple of drinks, back in the day when we could change our names at will, now I'm stuck with it! Only one person has gotten it. But ultimately better than Showbox opera walrus, which I almost changed it to later while listening to Bob pollard....

mrussel1 · August 2014

Use DBPoweramp. It is super intuitive, converts to/from all popular formats (Wav, alac, alachd, flac, ape, oog, etc.). It converts in 16 or 24 bit and it is super fast since it uses all of your PC cores individually. Also uses IDV4 tags so any media player will pick them up. I've been screwing with digital music since the late 90's and this is the best product I've come across. It's not even close.
If you know where to go, there are free versions around for the reference edition. Or you can PM me.

samsonite · August 2014

mrussel1 said:
Use DBPoweramp. It is super intuitive, converts to/from all popular formats (Wav, alac, alachd, flac, ape, oog, etc.). It converts in 16 or 24 bit and it is super fast since it uses all of your PC cores individually. Also uses IDV4 tags so any media player will pick them up. I've been screwing with digital music since the late 90's and this is the best product I've come across. It's not even close.
If you know where to go, there are free versions around for the reference edition. Or you can PM me.

Ah, that did it! Thank you for the help!

Educate me on FLAC

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