media player that reads FLAC?

mikecole · « **on:** 26 May 2012, 11:55 am »

All the media players read MP3, I have seen one that reads .WAV files, but has anybody seen one that reads FLAC files?

dlaloum · « **Reply #1 on:** 26 May 2012, 11:57 am »

Hardware: Logitech Squeezebox
Software: MediaMonkey

mikecole · « **Reply #2 on:** 26 May 2012, 12:04 pm »

Yeah, I saw that post that was asking about a Squeezebox for a mobile application. It sounded like a great idea. Have you actually tried it? I have one at home and love it, but I have never tried using it with a USB memory stick, which is what I want to use whenever I get my next system.

whell · « **Reply #3 on:** 26 May 2012, 12:50 pm »

Have you seen this page?

http://flac.sourceforge.net/links.html

If you scroll down it will show media players supporting FLAC.

dlaloum · « **Reply #4 on:** 26 May 2012, 06:37 pm »

Quote from: mikecole on 26 May 2012, 12:04 pm

Yeah, I saw that post that was asking about a Squeezebox for a mobile application. It sounded like a great idea. Have you actually tried it? I have one at home and love it, but I have never tried using it with a USB memory stick, which is what I want to use whenever I get my next system.

I have the old "classic" version - which has no USB port.

All my media are on a NAS box at the other end of the house, and I have Squeezeboxes in various rooms so I can play music in most parts of the house...

I am not sure whether the later/current versions (SB Touch) have usb

mikecole · « **Reply #5 on:** 26 May 2012, 07:38 pm »

whell, thanks for the link. I took a look and both of the units mentioned used an attached hard drive instead of a usb key. Kind of cool, but I still want the convenience of a memory stick ... even though having 2TB worth of music is kind of appealing

dlaloum, the Touch has a slot for a USB stick. Seems like this could be a good solution if I could find a way to mount it and power it that was not too amateurish.

Hopefully, the car audio manufacturers will start figuring out that not everyone is satisfied with mp3.

fredgarvin · « **Reply #6 on:** 26 May 2012, 07:49 pm »

Isn't Neil Young working on a new lossless protocal along with supporting players?

Scott F. · « **Reply #7 on:** 27 May 2012, 01:31 am »

Have a look at the Cowan

http://www.cowonglobal.com/

The X7 has a 160 gig hard drive and plays wav and flac files.

adydula · « **Reply #8 on:** 27 May 2012, 02:01 am »

oops...mobile..
Alex

Scott F. · « **Reply #9 on:** 29 May 2012, 12:32 am »

The Cowan is mobile though not a head unit. It's similar to an iPod except you'll have to use the 1/8" out and connect that to your 1/8" in on your head unit.

If you are looking for a head unit that reads flac, I've yet to find one. The best the 12 volt the industry can muster is 320bps through an iPod, SD card or thumb drive (save the CD). I searched and searched and ended up having to go with an iPod interface for my head unit. Not great by any stretch but at 320bps, they are more than listenable in the vehicle.

Bob in St. Louis · « **Reply #10 on:** 29 May 2012, 12:56 am »

In my searches, without going with a full blown "car-puter" (as they're called), there is no way of having mobile FLAC. I guess you could mount a "Touch" in your dash, but you're also mounting a power inverter in there as well.

I've got a unit with a 750GB harddrive ('HDD'). Ths biggest problem with it is load time. To date, I've got roughly 10,000 songs on my little pocket HDD. A mere fraction of the HDD's available space, but it still takes 45 - 50 seconds every time the ignition key is turned on to "reload" the HDD into the head unit. If you load up a couple terrabites, you might as well never shut your key off, as you'll never hear any music.

More power to ya Brother. I'm with you, all the way. I've just not found it feasable with a reasonable amount of money, time to modify the vehicle, or space available in the vehicle to mount the equipment to take my listening room "with me".

Bob

Scott F. · « **Reply #11 on:** 29 May 2012, 01:09 am »

So Bob,

Tell me a little more about your portable drive and the head unit. I assume they are mp3s? Are you feeding them into a usb slot on the head unit? Which head unit are you using?

Audioclyde · « **Reply #12 on:** 29 May 2012, 03:04 am »

I've just started using my IPad in the car connected to the typical "line out" IPod cable. I installed the "Flac Player" app on the IPad. You load your flac files onto the IPad and use Flac Player (rather than ITunes). This also allows you to play high res tracks!

Sounds awfully good IMHO.

Randy

Chromisdesigns · « **Reply #13 on:** 29 May 2012, 04:40 am »

Only problem is even with the largest iPad storage, you aren't going to fit many FLAC albums on an iPad, at roughly 300+ mb per album.

Now, if the iPad would only let you plug in a big memory stick or external drive, then it might be a reasonable solution. You can get 1 TB pocket drives now that are only a bit larger than a pack of cards. And you can power it with a USB cable.

Unfortunately, for that to work, you have to jailbreak your iPad.

Chromisdesigns · « **Reply #14 on:** 29 May 2012, 04:43 am »

Quote from: Bob in St. Louis on 29 May 2012, 12:56 am

In my searches, without going with a full blown "car-puter" (as they're called), there is no way of having mobile FLAC. I guess you could mount a "Touch" in your dash, but you're also mounting a power inverter in there as well.

I've got a unit with a 750GB harddrive ('HDD'). Ths biggest problem with it is load time. To date, I've got roughly 10,000 songs on my little pocket HDD. A mere fraction of the HDD's available space, but it still takes 45 - 50 seconds every time the ignition key is turned on to "reload" the HDD into the head unit. If you load up a couple terrabites, you might as well never shut your key off, as you'll never hear any music.

More power to ya Brother. I'm with you, all the way. I've just not found it feasable with a reasonable amount of money, time to modify the vehicle, or space available in the vehicle to mount the equipment to take my listening room "with me".

Bob

You would not need an inverter, just a 12-5 vdc adapter, easily made DIY or get one off the shelf. The load time for a big drive is a real issue, though.

Bob in St. Louis · « **Reply #15 on:** 29 May 2012, 04:31 pm »

Quote from: Scott F. on 29 May 2012, 01:09 am

Tell me a little more about your portable drive and the head unit. I assume they are mp3s? Are you feeding them into a usb slot on the head unit? Which head unit are you using?

I installed a Pioneer 4300 a couple months back. Works great, I shouldn't have waited so long to install it. You know me, if there aren't pictures, then it didn't happen. ha ha
So >> HERE'S << my build thread.

I've got a Western Digital 750GB USB drive that is powered by the USB cable. So far, I've just dumped some MP3's that I had on there. I assume that's the best quality the unit will read? I've never researched with lossy format is the best, but when I get serious about putting better quality on it, I'll have to find out which is best.

Quote from: Chromisdesigns on 29 May 2012, 04:43 am

You would not need an inverter, just a 12-5 vdc adapter, easily made DIY or get one off the shelf. The load time for a big drive is a real issue, though.

Sorry, my bad. That's a good point. I didnt think about the unit's natural voltage being DC and it could be knocked down from the 12. Good point.

Bob

mikecole · « **Reply #16 on:** 30 May 2012, 12:04 am »

I've seen one car player that does read WAV files, but those eat up too much space and tagging is an issue. That is why I wanted FLAC. I guess I should really convert some stuff to 320bps MP3s and see if there really is any difference when in the car environment. Do all MP3 car media players do 320bps?

srb · « **Reply #17 on:** 30 May 2012, 12:44 am »

Quote from: mikecole on 30 May 2012, 12:04 am

Do all MP3 car media players do 320bps?

The MP3 MPEG-1 Audio Layer III standard has a maximum bit rate of 320kbps. There is a LAME encoder that can encode up to 640kbps, but it is non-standard and certainly no car audio player supports it. I do think all most all of the car audio players do support 320kbps MP3.

Some of the car head units, like the Kenwoods, do support 16/44.1 LPCM WAV format, but the Pioneers do not. I agree that the lack of tagging is problematic. I personally think 320kbps MP3 suffices for car playback, and all but the most complex audio tracks sound pretty decent to me. The simpler and sparser the recording, the better the sound. I am amazed at how good sparse music such as Alison Krauss sounds in MP3 format, even when less than 320kbps.

My plan is to use an iPod with 320kbps files into a head unit from Kenwood, Pioneer or JVC. Easy to install and I like the iPod library functions over using a USB thumb drive or hard drive.

I think the only way to get FLAC in the car is to use a player not designed for the car. Most would involve either custom mounting as in the Squeezebox Touch or some kind of removable holder/dock for something like an iPad.

Steve

Bob in St. Louis · « **Reply #18 on:** 30 May 2012, 01:33 am »

Quote from: srb on 30 May 2012, 12:44 am

I think the only way to get FLAC in the car is to use a player not designed for the car. Most would involve either custom mounting as in the Squeezebox Touch or some kind of removable holder/dock for something like an iPad.

I'd agree with that statement.

andy_c · « **Reply #19 on:** 30 May 2012, 04:44 pm »

The SanDisk Sansa Clip+ supports FLAC. I bought the 8GB version and added a 32GB MicroSDHC card. This fits about 140 CDs worth of FLAC files and is about the size of a match pack.