FLAC Audio

[jean-paul]

FLAC needs a source file to produce the FLAC product. Then you have TWO files takign up 1.5 times the original space. Or you have to delete the "original", however, that seems rather backwards to me.

It is really backwards to keep both the original file and the FLAC file as the FLAC file can be converted to the original file without penalty creating the exact same file as when you started. More or less one of its main features. You can test this yourself in minutes. I think you are trolling or don't have experience with this. Sorry. It is a non issue as many already have found out and a good choice for compatibility and various other good reasons. The chances that the original file gets corrupted are too high to not convert to FLAC. MP3 is flushing away the child with the bath water as we say here. Absolute nonsense to use a top of the line DAC and then feed it 320 kbit joint stereo garbage. Then .... ready made files ... how are they coded? With LAME? CBR? Gambling!

Back to the topic please.

 

[analog_sa]

Many of Pink Floyd's albums would be unlistenable without gapless playback.

Good to know, always thought it was the music 😎

 

[PaulWooferwitz]

First time I remember running into it: Abbey Road cd.

 

[oldjack]

By "uncompressed" if you mean uncompressed WAV's - that's not a good idea, long term - as I suggested in an earlier post from 2021 -
https://www.diyaudio.com/community/...-for-music-storage.377502/page-2#post-6799481

I had not heard of dbpoweramp before, looks good for £100 one off payment.

 

[oldjack]

Any progress?

Yes, a lot of new info on this forum, I am still keen on building a standalone unit, it would integrate well with my intended dsp system.
I will see how it goes in the next 12 months.

 

[oldjack]

Hi.
Just for the sake of example, here my setup, similar to the request except it has RCA outputs from a DAC instead of SPDIF output as asked.
Pictures are blurry because of low light.
1. Bottom is a Raspberry Pi add-on board with MSATA harddrive (long time ago. Now, everybody switched to NVME connection, easier to find hardrive at cheaper price). FLAC on it, ripped from CD.
2. Up is Raspberry Pi 3
3. Top is both Reclocker and Allo Piano DAC. (both together are functionnaly similar to the suggest Allo Boss)

2 points
A. Power comes from an additionnal 19V or so power supply. I have to connect it to power the system. And i have been lazy to buy a cable with a switch
But one of the poster mentionned it as an hassle and it can be true.
B. Keeping up with the software update / trial of Volumio or others might not be your cup of tea.

Have a nice dayView attachment 1073893View attachment 1073894

Thanks for the info

 

[tomchr]

First time I remember running into it: Abbey Road cd.

SGT Pepper is another one that's wrecked if there are gaps between tracks.

Tom

 

[Pano]

I've ripped 100s of CDs directly to FLAC with dBpoweramp and find it very good. I've also done dozens with JRiver and it works just fine, too.
So there aren't any wave files to store or delete (temp files are cleaned up automatically AFAIK)

 

[TNT]

If you are building a DSP platsform I suggest that you get a Mac Mini or corresponding PC unit and install:

• CamillaDSP
• LMS (Logitech Media Server... aka Squeezbox Server)
• Squeezlite (software player)

+
- DAC of some sort...

and you are good to go. All software are free and also really efficient so you dont need a computing monster to run it.

With this you have all the playing and EQ processing you can ever wish for ;-)

//

 

[linuxfan]

I've ripped 100s of CDs directly to FLAC with dBpoweramp and find it very good.
So there aren't any wave files to store or delete (temp files are cleaned up automatically AFAIK)

Yes, dBpoweramp CD Ripper deletes temp files automatically, unless you apply a DSP effect during the rip.
ExactAudioCopy needs a little configuration -

 

[kodabmx]

I used to use Sound Juicer... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sound_Juicer
When I was on Windows, I used CDex. https://cdex.mu/
Seeing as I haven't had an optical drive in my machine for years, I rarely rip CDs anymore 🙂
My CD player will rip to a memory card though.

 

[jean-paul]

On Mac the XLD program is excellent also for transcoding of relatively unknown or uncommon lossless files to FLAC files.

https://tmkk.undo.jp/xld/index_e.html

 

[StevenCrook]

Mandatory in my view. Many of Pink Floyd's albums would be unlistenable without gapless playback.

Tom

Gapless is mandatory IMO, not having it makes electronic, ambient, classical and quite a lot of rock into a painful listen.

 

[peufeu]

I think you are trolling or don't have experience with this.

Yes. Considering a music file takes 4x its size, since it is backed up along everything else important on the main NAS (two backups plus cloud) space is important. And we haven't talked about the huge 24-192 files. In addition, FLAC has proper tags and detects bit rot, the checksum can be verified at any time. WAV does not offer any of these features.

I would really advise OP to try a good player on a computer. It is such a convenience to be able to search, make playlists, play youtube or other streaming services, etc. And of course watch movies. But this needs a convenient interface, not a phone with a tiny screen.

 

[jean-paul]

Better try a separate audio player. Silent!

 

[beeah]

I would really advise OP to try a good player on a computer. It is such a convenience to be able to search, make playlists, play youtube or other streaming services, etc. And of course watch movies. But this needs a convenient interface, not a phone with a tiny screen.

I started, years ago, with a laptop feeding a USB->SPDIF converter, later upgrading to a better converter. The sound was good, but sitting such a distance from the components required a very long USB cable, and all the inconvenience that goes with having a long cable running along the floor in the middle of the room.

Once I discovered the Squeezebox (I did say years ago), I never looked back. There was an Auralic Mini along the way, but I don’t think I’ll find anything to supplant the Bryston without spending a LOT.

I use Soundirok on an iPad mini to control the Bryston. With a few minor quibbles, I find it works well and has a clean, intuitive user interface. There are other MPD apps but for me this is the best. I manage the files (adding, deleting, tagging, etc.) over WiFi from my laptop, though larger file operations can be done by simply attaching the external hard drive directly to my laptop.

Regardless, I am am curious as to whether OP has decided on a solution…