[Vinnie R.]

I have not done a comparison.  In principle, they should be identical (they are both "lossless").  Any differences would have to do with the efficiency of the decoder on each format, associated equipment, volume levels, and the like.  So there could certainly be differences, but I would expect them to depend on your particular hardware/software, not on the format generally.

Hi Verne,

I totally agree with ehart on this.

There have been lots of posts on www.headfi.com (search on the "Portable Audio" forum on that site) about Apple Lossless vs. FLAC, especially when using an iPod or the modded iPod.  Note, in order to use FLAC on the iPod, you need to install Rockbox software.  Many seemed to prefer using Rockbox/FLAC files, but *in principle* they should be identical. 

Interesting topic!

Vinnie

[MikeLa]

Vinnie, can you import directly from the usb drive? Right know I'm importing over a 11 Mbps wireless connection and it's slowwwwww, 15-20 minutes per album.

I would test this myself but my usb drive is formated NTFS.

[Vinnie R.]

Vinnie, can you import directly from the usb drive? Right know I'm importing over a 11 Mbps wireless connection and it's slowwwwww, 15-20 minutes per album.

I would test this myself but my usb drive is formated NTFS.

Hi MikeLa,

If you have a USB drive that is filled with music, you can connect it to the Olive and copy the music into the Olive's internal hard disk.

I'm pretty sure that you'll need to format the drive for FAT32 for the Olive to be able to ready it...

Best regards,

Vinnie

[MikeLa]

Thanks Vinnie, I know I've asked you before, but when using the Olive's digital-out, does it matter from where the Olive is receiving the file? Will all three methods below sound the same?

1. Internal Hard Drive
2. USB attached Drive
3. UPnP wireless connection to remote Hard Drive

[Vinnie R.]

Thanks Vinnie, I know I've asked you before, but when using the Olive's digital-out, does it matter from where the Olive is receiving the file? Will all three methods below sound the same?

1. Internal Hard Drive
2. USB attached Drive
3. UPnP wireless connection to remote Hard Drive

Hi MikeLa,

They should also sound the same in theory (using the same file).  If you hear any differences, they will probably be minimal. 

Best regards,

Vinnie

[Ferdi]

HI, expanding on what Verne.M said:

I am also using Max for ripping CDs. This is the closest I've come to EAC on OSX. There are some current incompatibility issues between Max' way of encoding ALAC and Slimserver 6.5.x' ability to read this but that should not affect FLAC functionality at all.

The most interesting use of Max in this case is that it can transcode from ALAC to FLAC. In principle you should be able to connect a FAT32 formatted disk in addition to your current external and read from the original in ALAC and transcode to the new disk in FLAC.

Interested to hear if this will work.

Max can be found here: http://www.sbooth.org/Max/

Groeten,

Ferdi

[ehart]

They should also sound the same in theory (using the same file).  If you hear any differences, they will probably be minimal. 

That's certainly true of internal and external hard drives.  It's not uncommon, however, for people to complain about the quality of wireless connections.  If you have trouble there, consider going wired rather than wireless, and also look at what else is using your network bandwidth.

Cordially,

Eric

[MikeLa]

Thanks, I'm ordering some drives tonight. I'll report back.

[studley]

Vinnie

That's OK but I'd rather convert the files into FLAC to reduce storage. 

I do have have access to a laptop running Windows.  If  I download FLAC to it and hook up the HDD with the wav files, could i convert the files to FLAC using the laptop?

KRs

Ian
 

Hi Ian,

Yes, with FLAC software you can convert WAV to FLAC.  See: http://flac.sourceforge.net/download.html

Before you convert them all, try one or two albums and make sure that the Olive properly recognizes them.  When you use the Olive to make FLAC files, look at how the Olive add the "tag info" to the files.  You want to mimic this when you convert the WAV to FLAC (so the Olive can read them properly).

The external hard drive needs to be formatted in FAT32 to be able to work with the Olive. 


Best regards,

Vinnie

Vinnie

The Symphony is sounding pretty damn good!  More good news: it recognises the music files on my external HDD and if I convert them to WAV (from Appe Lossless) it will play them.  I now need to convert them to FLAC to save disk space.

Question: re your comment about checking the tag info - I looked through the various menus (including song Information) but I can't see the tag format info.  Where do I find it?

Thanks
Ian

[Vinnie R.]

Hi Ian,

This example should help.

When I use EAC (Exact Audio Copy) to rip and then auto-copy to FLAC, this is how it is set up to convert:
 
03 - Another Lonely Day - Ben Harper - Fight For Your Mind.flac
 
(The format is Track number - Song Name - Artist - Album)
 
When I put this on my external hard drive, the Olive sees the song names and artist/album info/track number perfectly fine.
_______________

More info (which you probably won't need, but it might help explain things for those using EAC and FLAC):
 
When I import a song from my Olive's hard drive to an external drive (something that was ripped and encoded to FLAC using the OLIVE... not EAC) this is what it looks like (another example):
 
01 Happy Together.flac
 
So it looks like the Olive wants to see the track number first and then the track name.flac
 
Now, here is an example of a track from another external hard drive that is formatted differently:
 
Alison Krauss-Forget About It-01-Stay-8609680B-Misc-1999.flac
 
When running it on the Olive, this comes up as "unknown" on the Olive because of the formating. 
 
If I rename it on the eternal hard drive to:

01-Stay-Alison Krauss-Forget About It.flac
 
Now the Olive sees it properly.
 
Again, the "magic format" is Track number - Song Name - Artist - Album
 
If you use EAC to make FLAC files, do this:
 
Open EAC
 
Go to the EAC tab and select EAC Option.
 
Select "File Name"
 
In the "Naming Scheme" box, paste this in:
 
%N - %T - %A - %C
 
Check the box that says "Use various artist naming scheme" and paste this in that box:
 
%C - %N - %A - %T
 
Press OK.
 
Now go back to the EAC Tab and select "compression options"
 
Select ID3 Tag
 
Don't check any of the boxes, and in the box that says construction of filenames from ID3 tags, paste this in:
 
%N-%T - %A
 
Press OK.
 
If you rip your music with EAC in this format and then move this to your hard drive, the Olive should see it all.


I hope this helps,

Vinnie

[studley]

Very helpful Vinnie, thanks