FLAC on a MAC?

mca · « **on:** 1 Jun 2014, 04:44 pm »

My home computer runs XP and I am looking to replace it. I have not been impressed with any of the Windows machines I have looked at locally. I have been very tempted to try a Mac Mini but have the following concerns:

I run Logitech Media Server which streams about 3tb of flac files to to my Logitech Touch. I can't figure out if a Mac can run Media Server or if it can even handle flac files?

I use Exact Audio Copy to rip and make flac files and know it's not available for the Mac, if I can run flac files, what program do people use?

Edit: I did find out LMS is available for Mac, does that mean it will play flac files?

saeyedoc · « **Reply #1 on:** 2 Jun 2014, 01:23 pm »

You'll be fine, I run LMS off an old imac. Plays flac without a hitch.

JohnR · « **Reply #2 on:** 2 Jun 2014, 02:39 pm »

A couple of other programs which you may find useful

- XLD for ripping
- Yate for tagging

PS. It's only the Apple software/ecosystem that doesn't support FLAC. Other programs have no issues with it AFAICT.

saeyedoc · « **Reply #3 on:** 2 Jun 2014, 03:37 pm »

Agree with the XLD recommendation, I use it to transcode Flac to Mp3 to put on my phone.

mr_bill · « **Reply #4 on:** 2 Jun 2014, 03:46 pm »

I run all FLAC files and have been wondering the same thing and it never dawned on me to just run LMS on a Mac and that this would work?

I'm wondering how the sound quality compares with Itunes and one of the shell programs like Bitperfect, Audirvana, etc. I really like Rhapsody and Pandora and LMS makes this so seamless.

funkmonkey · « **Reply #5 on:** 3 Jun 2014, 02:36 am »

Yep LMS plays nice with Mac... I use iPeng to control it via my iPhone... I like it better than the squeeze media stuff

also check out MAX and RIP for ripping CDs/converting files, also use XLD for some stuff

Cheers!

Mike Nomad · « **Reply #6 on:** 3 Jun 2014, 02:51 am »

My toolkit:

xACT for encoding,

Media Rage for tagging, & housekeeping,

Decibel for playback.

saeyedoc · « **Reply #7 on:** 3 Jun 2014, 02:39 pm »

+1 to the ipeng recommendation. In a pinch, you can use the player portion of ipeng to turn an idevice into a squeezebox player, run it through a digital dock like the pure i20 and you have a cheap replacement if your hardware dies.

bladesmith · « **Reply #8 on:** 15 Aug 2014, 04:46 pm »

what would be wrong with going into preferences and changing the conversions into apple lossless ? is apple lossless better or worse sound quality. the changes can be done automatically.

any opinions about apple lossless ? or is it better stay with flac ?

avta · « **Reply #9 on:** 15 Aug 2014, 05:41 pm »

I use iTunes for ripping. I find it much faster. I did have problems with older versions of iTunes but the current version is fast, gets cd info quickly and organizes tracks well.

dB Cooper · « **Reply #10 on:** 15 Aug 2014, 05:58 pm »

Quote from: bladesmith on 15 Aug 2014, 04:46 pm

what would be wrong with going into preferences and changing the conversions into apple lossless ? is apple lossless better or worse sound quality. the changes can be done automatically.

any opinions about apple lossless ? or is it better stay with flac ?

It's a tossup. On the Windows platform FLAC is much more widely supported; iTunes will support ALAC (Apple Lossless) but support outside of that is probably sparse. On the Mac side ALAC support is more widespread, but since Apple stubbornly refuses to support the increasingly popular FLAC format, you are limited to third party software (but not to worry, some of it is really good.)

I doubt you'd hear a difference in SQ between the two but I have heard others make claims to the contrary; YMMV.

Mike Nomad · « **Reply #11 on:** 15 Aug 2014, 08:01 pm »

^ I'm one of those claimers mentioned. I think ALAC sounds like poo in general (when compared to FLAC), and appears to have a hard time representing hard transients correctly.

Folsom · « **Reply #12 on:** 15 Aug 2014, 08:19 pm »

Are there any good ways for using linux as a player? I hate MAC OS....

bladesmith · « **Reply #13 on:** 15 Aug 2014, 11:08 pm »

so I converted all of my flac to lossless for nothing...

I run MaverickiTunes and know it will play flac.

(I just thought going lossless was better. but, it may or may not be worth all the trouble to convert. if SQ is the same or if flac is already better to begin with.)

(

I guess I will try just loading some flac files without converting to lossless and see if there is a SQ difference.)

dB Cooper · « **Reply #14 on:** 16 Aug 2014, 12:14 am »

Quote from: bladesmith on 15 Aug 2014, 11:08 pm

so I converted all of my flac to lossless for nothing...

I run MaverickiTunes and know it will play flac.

(I just thought going lossless was better. but, it may or may not be worth all the trouble to convert. if SQ is the same or if flac is already better to begin with.)

( I guess I will try just loading some flac files without converting to lossless and see if there is a SQ difference.)

Firstly, FLAC is a lossless format.
Secondly, iTunes will not play it. Not sure where that came from. It doesn't do it. I just tried. If you want to use iTunes, use ALAC. If a format is lossless, SQ should be the same.

Here is a good article speculating why Apple doesn't support FLAC. Not sure I buy into the theory, but the support is not there for whatever reason.

bladesmith · « **Reply #15 on:** 16 Aug 2014, 01:11 am »

I use "fluke"..

dB Cooper · « **Reply #16 on:** 16 Aug 2014, 01:40 am »

Does that ~~still~~ work? I haven't been able to get it to work in years (seems to be 'abandonware'), and even when it did, there was no metadata support of any kind... Wouldn't even display the elapsed time. On my flac files, I prefer to use a player that actually supports them well. Vox, Fidelia, VLC... Everything but iTunes actually

Mike Nomad · « **Reply #17 on:** 16 Aug 2014, 05:39 am »

Quote from: dB Cooper on 16 Aug 2014, 12:14 am

I just tried. If you want to use iTunes, use ALAC. If a format is lossless, SQ should be the same.

That's what I thought. I was all ready to go w/ALAC, because: I had heard mp4/m4a audio files back in the late-90s, and thought they sounded great; I wanted to use iTunes as fully as possible, to keep things less complicated. I was really surprised to hear a difference between ALAC and FLAC.

Quote

Here is a good article speculating why Apple doesn't support FLAC. Not sure I buy into the theory, but the support is not there for whatever reason.

Have to disagree with that article. ALAC is an mp4/m4a derivative, and not something Apple created from whole cloth.

The reason Apple won't support FLAC is because Apple wants to make money, and Music Biz Clowns want control. When wanted to get iTunes started, the clowns driving the Music Biz Clown Car equated anything open source with "stealing." They wouldn't have given Apple access to the content they needed to make iTunes a going concern, unless they could show there was a means of "controlling" the content. Remember DRM?

Mike Nomad · « **Reply #18 on:** 16 Aug 2014, 05:43 am »

BenEde · « **Reply #19 on:** 16 Aug 2014, 11:16 am »

I was a participant in a university student's study on music formats last year. It was for an undergraduate program course and only 11 of us participated, so with the small sample size it just would not have been published (too bad IMO...the student originally intended to make it publication worthy but time and budget constraints cut it off).

Anyway, we were individually set up in a home theatre room with really impressive stereo gear for 4 hours each - all while blindfolded, haha. Audio was played from a CD, DVD-A, or from a USB Apple laptop port playing a mix of resolution formats from 128kbps MP3 up to 24/192 FLAC and ALAC via JRiver. (No SACD/DSD or AIFF etc., though.)

For what it's worth, not a single one of us were successful in identifying a difference between FLAC and ALAC files specifically.