[brj]

Greetings all.

I finally broke down and bought a MBP and am now trying to figure out how I want to rip, organize and play all of my music across the MBP, my iPhone and my Squeezebox Touch.  One of the largest complications is that much of my music is classical in nature, and thus consistent, useful tagging can be challenging given the popular music focus of iTunes tags.

Given that, I was all set to use FLAC over WAV for its superior tagging capabilities, when I remembered that iOS doesn't support FLAC.

And then I found FLAC Player by Dan Leehr L.L.C..

Has anyone experimented with this and formed an impression yet?

Thanks!

(Note that while Fluke, when combined with XiphQT, allows you to play FLAC files within iTunes on a Mac, it is limited to 16 bit, 44.1 kHz files.  Looks like I may be stuck with WAV after all, and the tagging limitations it imposes.  Nuts.)

[Atlplasma]

Many members use Pure Music, which supports flac up to 24/192.

[skunark]

One could argue that you won't get the best audio from a mobile device whether it's an iPhone or a an Andriod.  Consider converting the FLAC to either ALAC or AIFF for the iphone via Max (sbooth.org) and be done with it.  My thought is along the lines of the iPhone or iPods, like any mobile product, are not even close to being an audiophile grade component, pick ALAC since it's been optimized for it.  You could also try the "Flac Player" app for $10, but if you plan to connect it up to the PeachTree iNova or the Wadia docks you still might have issues playing back FLAC.

[brj]

My implied intent was to have a single lossless file format that 1) would support music playback across all devices and 2) support reasonable tagging.  Yes, I could have my music library stored in multiple formats, but would prefer not to.  WAV meets (1), but not (2).  FLAC fails (2) becuase FLAC playback on iOS wasn't possible... until FLAC Player was released just recently.  I was simply asking if anyone had already tried FLAC Player to know how well it worked.

(And while my desire to avoid multiple copies of my library is mostly logistically, no, I don't expect my iPhone to provide playback quality similar to my main rig.  That said, I do use it at work with a nice headphone amp and some AKG701s.)

[simon wagstaff]

I use COG, it decodes just about everything and supports 24/96. Works very well for me and is free.

[brj]

Thank you, but COG doesn't appear to run on iOS.  Again, I know there are FLAC solutions for Mac OS X, but I'm only interested in them if FLAC also works well on iOS.  Thus my question about "FLAC Player" for iOS...

[chrisby]

could this just be a case of "you can't always get what you want"?

( that is, until Jobs and friends see the market support)

Personally, my current plan is leaning towards dedicated mini as server/HRT Musicstreamer for the main system, and existing AEx and  ATV for lesser remote systems.  Remote from iPhone and screen sharing from MBP and desktop iMac should give all the control required. 


Of course, I've not yet decided exactly which player to use for upgrade from basic iTunes.  Ability to play higher resolution formats are less important to me than ease of use - after a couple of years of playing with the fairly friendly iTunes interface, any changes would need to be transparent to multiple non-technically proficient end-users  (i.e. a pair of near 60yr olds)     

I've only had my iPhone for a couple of weeks now, and haven't even got around to downloading music to it yet, but on the few occasions in the past where I've used my old iPod with earphones, the sound quality of standard Lossless file format was more than swamped by the ambient noise. While either can serve as very handy portable hard-drives, until such time as a portable DAC / (pre) amp combo similar in form factor to any number of headphone amps is available/affordable that can extract direct digital stream, the audio quality is severely hamstrung by space restrictions in the "i" devices.  Frankly, it's amazing how good they do sound when using the 3.5mm jack as line level analog source.  Of course one could probably still selected models of iPod modified by RedWine,  but the only time anyone's getting their hands on my iPhone is when it's time to replace the battery.     

[brj]

could this just be a case of "you can't always get what you want"?

( that is, until Jobs and friends see the market support)

The iOS app already exists.  My original post includes the link.  I'm asking if anyone has used this iOS app and can comment on its effectiveness.

[simon wagstaff]

Thank you, but COG doesn't appear to run on iOS.  Again, I know there are FLAC solutions for Mac OS X, but I'm only interested in them if FLAC also works well on iOS.  Thus my question about "FLAC Player" for iOS...

Sorry, I didn't recognize IOS, I thought it was the newer I5 chip.  Um, not to be stir anything up but why use an iPhone when a Mac mini is likely cheaper?



I am sure you have your reasons.

[simon wagstaff]

It's 9.99, let us know!

[Crimson]

iPhone and Mac Mini? Apples and oranges. Neither is a replacement for the other. Both work to enhance the overall experience. Think of it as a symbiotic ecosystem.

They all just work together. Very well.

[brj]

Sorry, I didn't recognize IOS, I thought it was the newer I5 chip.  Um, not to be stir anything up but why use an iPhone when a Mac mini is likely cheaper?



I am sure you have your reasons.

Because a Mac Mini isn't very portable and I'd get very strange looks carrying a Mac Mini with massive battery supply into work, my car, on a plane....

(You'll note that my original post mentions a SqueezeBox Touch.  That is the streaming player I use in my main system, with full Bolder mods.)

Again, my motivation in asking about this product is the possibility that I could use a single high quality lossless file format with useful tagging capability - FLAC - across all of my various digital sources.  And yes, I realize that it is "only" $9.99, but I still find it useful to learn from others when possible.

[johnnydarko]

I bought the FLAC player for iOS and have used nothing but on my iPhone for the past few weeks.  It's excellent - hasn't crashed once, auto-backgrounds itself as a process and sounds superb.   

[kbuzz3]

On a related note Has anyone tried using the flac player on ipad?

[brj]

A bit slow, but thanks for the feedback, Johnnydarko.  For the moment, I'm just using AIFF everywhere and will postpone the need to reevaluate the use of FLAC until I fill up my phone.

[ted_b]

On a related note Has anyone tried using the flac player on ipad?

Yes, and I reported it here last week (achieved 24/192 playback):
http://www.audiocircle.com/index.php?topic=94009.0