[jkelly]

I pretty much accepted that FLAC was identical to WAV in the RWA SB2 player.  The flac decompresses to wav and thats that.  However have you ever loaded a folder with a identical set of songs in FLAC and wav files?  Now this could be the way my flacs were made but I am consistantly hearing slightly more velvety sound and more harmonics in the wav versions. The FLACs are slightly more edgy and electronic.  I want to say you really have to listen hard for this.

I am using the Clari-T with SAS IC's that are very revealing and all lights out with eyes closed to hear this.  This setup is like an audio microscope!

Has anyone done a comparison and noticed any difference in a back and forth comparison of the 2 file formats?  It might be my flacs.

Jeff

[dwc]

Why don't you try having your flacs decoded to wav on the server side?  Now you have a third sound to mix into the comparison.  Please remember to have someone switch the streams for you without telling you which type you're listening to.

-Dan

[Jon L]

I pretty much accepted that FLAC was identical to WAV in the RWA SB2 player.  The flac decompresses to wav and thats that.  However have you ever loaded a folder with a identical set of songs in FLAC and wav files?  Now this could be the way my flacs were made but I am consistantly hearing slightly more velvety sound and more harmonics in the wav versions. The FLACs are slightly more edgy and electronic.  I want to say you really have to listen hard for this.

I am using the Clari-T with SAS IC's that are ...

I highly recommend you teach somebody to flip back and forth between Flac and wav while your eyes are closed.  See what your correct % is....  When I tried this with .wav/Flac/apple lossless (re-encoded to Flac), it sure was an enlightening experience.

[jkelly]

Good idea - I will let someone else drive and see what I get.

Jeff

[Paul_Bui]

Jeff,

Nice to learn that you have the same gear and ear as mine.   Oops, almost.  Your speakers are BB FT-1600MkII, and mine are BB FTA-2000s.  Same family anyway.

[DSK]

...Now this could be the way my flacs were made...

How were they made, Jeff ...via EAC?

[DSK]

Why don't you try having your flacs decoded to wav on the server side? ...

Have you tried this, Dan? What were your findings?

[jkelly]

I used EAC to create the Flacs.

Jeff

[ctviggen]

How did you get the wav?  With EAC also?  Do you use EAC to create the wav and then use the FLAC program to create the FLAC?

[jkelly]

How did you get the wav?  With EAC also?  Do you use EAC to create the wav and then use the FLAC program to create the FLAC?

Yes - I did use the FLAC program to re-create the WAV.

This whole thing came about as an accident.
I made a test cd for a friend of some selected songs and needed to make wavs to burn the cd.  (I don't have a flac cd program yet).  
So I used FLAC to create the wavs.  Again I am (still) under the impression that FLAC is like a zip of wav's.  Restores bit accurate when decompressed.
After I "let him borrow" the cd, I wanted to hear it and since I don't have a cd player in the system I pointed slimserver to the folder where the flacs and wav reside.  
Listening to the first 15 sec of the 2 versions, back and forth, back and forth, got me to make this post.  That was my first impression anyway.

I don't understand how SB2 works with flac.  Does it just play them natively?  Does it decompress realtime? Does it decompress the entire file to a buffer?  That is where I am heading - not about the FLAC format but does the SB2 suffer at all from the decompression.  As mentioned above, switching to server decompression will be a good test.

BTW I am running V.15 firmware.

This weekend I will do some further listening.  I guess I am asking if anyone has actually A/B'd the 2 file formats?

Jeff

[ctviggen]

I haven't tested the two formats but might now that you have.  I'll see if I can reproduce the results.  I might not be able to do this for a while, though.

[Folsom]

While I have not been comparing them for the sake of comparrison, I have to say .FLAC has been a little better for me.... I have no idea why just .FLAC files are not as quiet it seems like to me. I know this makes no sense   .

[dwc]

Why don't you try having your flacs decoded to wav on the server side? ...

Have you tried this, Dan? What were your findings?

It's very easy to try this, by simply checking and unchecking a box on the file types page.  If you check the box that says FLAC-WAV, then the server will decode before streaming.  If you uncheck that one and leave FLAC-FLAC checked, then the server streams FLAC to the SB and the SB decodes it locally. Restarting the test song plays it in the new stream.

I tried one evening to tell a difference, and thought that I could.  I'd bet money though, that I'd fail to be able to discern the difference in a blind test.  Nonetheless I have left the server streaming wav files out of superstition, and to reduce processing on the SB side.  The cost is a higher bandwidth load on the wireless network, and not being able to FF or rewind  inside a song.  If my network ever were to barf or if I were to try running from a weaker box (like a nas device)  I'd switch back to native flac

-Dan