Nothing beats FLAC!

[WineOh]

morning everyone, hope you are all well on this beautiful Friday morning! ????

I would just like to say how impressed I am with FLAC audio files.

The quality is amazing.

I am also subscribed to Apple music but the quality does not compare to FLAC Vinyl files.

I now have a nice little collection on my VOX player of my favorite albums of all time, all in FLAC & Vinyl format.

 

It's brilliant, Dark Side Of the Moon by Pink Floyd sounds absolutely epic on my home stereo system.

Sgt Peppers Lonely Hearts is up next, followed by a glass of red wine with my kippers...

If you haven't tried FLAC yet and you are into music then give it a whirl.

If you have a good sounds system at home you certainly wont regret it!

Any members already got some FLAC music?

 

Have a great weekend everyone! 

[Airalee]

I listen to FLAC via my Tidal HiFi subscription.  It’s great, but my SACDs sound better.  Especially DSOTM.   That being said, FLAC will only be as good as what it is taken from.  Garbage in, garbage out.

[WineOh]

23 minutes ago, Airalee said:

I listen to FLAC via my Tidal HiFi subscription

Tried Tidal before.

Problem with them is that many of the albums I wanted to listen to were not in FLAC, sadly.

 

Apple music is also OK.

I find spotify to be the worst quality when it come to streaming services. 

[Airalee]

8 minutes ago, WineOh said:

Tried Tidal before.

Problem with them is that many of the albums I wanted to listen to were not in FLAC, sadly.

 

Apple music is also OK.

I find spotify to be the worst quality when it come to streaming services. 

The basic Tidal subscription isn’t FLAC....the HiFi subscription is.

 

https://support.tidal.com/hc/en-us/articles/360002599997-What-Audio-Quality-Do-TIDAL-HiFi-Plans-Offer-

 

Haven’t tried Spotify but it doesn’t rank up with Tidal from what I have read.   My Apple ITunes downloads/purchases don’t come close to Tidal.  Hopefully they’ll up their game.  It’s really too bad that SACD went the way of the dinosaurs because it really was the best digital format (I have DSOTM on 2 different SACD and 2 different CD pressings).  All are better than the Tidal set to the highest resolution setting.
 

I never got into vinyl as it’s just too fussy for me even though I’ve heard some astounding Vinyl/Tube systems.

[WineOh]

4 minutes ago, Airalee said:

t’s really too bad that SACD went the way of the dinosaurs because it really was the best digital format (I have DSOTM on 2 different SACD and 2 different CD pressings).  All are better than the Tidal set to the highest resolution setting.

Never heard SACD before.

 

I shall give it a whirl!

 

Thanks.

[Airalee]

2 minutes ago, WineOh said:

Never heard SACD before.

 

I shall give it a whirl!

 

Thanks.

Unfortunately, they aren’t being made anymore but you can still find them on EBay.  The choices here in Bangkok are extremely limited (they were pretty limited anyways as it wasn’t a format that caught on), and when you can find them, they cost an arm and a leg (over ฿2000/disc).  The best sources for CDs here in Bangkok are in Fortune Town mall.

[Airalee]

FWIW, the album I found the best to showcase the difference between CD/FLAC/SACD was Beck ‘Sea Change’

[jvs]

I have a pretty good sound system i think but i have a hard time

trying to tell the difference between different formats.

I must be getting old.

I think listening to music on my pc using head phones is already pretty good.

A lot of my music is in FLAC but that is just to have the best format,not easy to tell

the difference.

[WineOh]

24 minutes ago, jvs said:

I have a pretty good sound system i think but i have a hard time

trying to tell the difference between different formats.

I must be getting old.

I think listening to music on my pc using head phones is already pretty good.

A lot of my music is in FLAC but that is just to have the best format,not easy to tell

the difference.

Bass and drums are a good place to start.

Clarity of these two instruments will give you a good idea as to what the quality is.

Then listen to the vocal.

 

Honestly, there is a huge difference between a standard MP3 files at 320kbps and a Flac file at 3,000Kbps.

It's amazing.

[Airalee]

2 hours ago, WineOh said:

Bass and drums are a good place to start.

Clarity of these two instruments will give you a good idea as to what the quality is.

Then listen to the vocal.

 

Honestly, there is a huge difference between a standard MP3 files at 320kbps and a Flac file at 3,000Kbps.

It's amazing.

It’s not just the particular instruments or vocals but also realizing what you’re missing as you listen to better and better components with music that you are familiar with.  Even (as much of an SACD advocate that I am) though on my equipment, SACD sounds better than CD or FLAC streaming, the best systems I have ever heard had a CD as a source.  Granted, these are systems where just the CD transport/DAC combo is over a million baht and also (by far) the least expensive part of the system.
 

BTW...from what I have read on the audiophile forums for the last 20+ years is that supposedly, Piano is the hardest instrument to reproduce on a stereo.

[WineOh]

7 hours ago, Airalee said:

It’s not just the particular instruments or vocals but also realizing what you’re missing as you listen to better and better components with music that you are familiar with.  Even (as much of an SACD advocate that I am) though on my equipment, SACD sounds better than CD or FLAC streaming, the best systems I have ever heard had a CD as a source.  Granted, these are systems where just the CD transport/DAC combo is over a million baht and also (by far) the least expensive part of the system.
 

BTW...from what I have read on the audiophile forums for the last 20+ years is that supposedly, Piano is the hardest instrument to reproduce on a stereo.

I remember when people first started ripping MP3's back in the mid 90's

I always thought the sound quality was bad when compared to CD.

But back then so was my sound system, all I had were PC speakers so they actually paired off quite well.
From now on though I will also use FLAC.

I'm a big music fan and this kind of file is what does my speakers justice.

It's no good having a good speaker system and playing shoddy MP3s through it at 320.

 

Once you go FLAC, you never go back! ???? 

(btw, about TIDAL again, another thing I don't like about them is that they dump their streaming cache all over your hard drive.

As far as I am aware, they are the only streaming service that does this.

[jvs]

1 hour ago, WineOh said:

I remember when people first started ripping MP3's back in the mid 90's

I always thought the sound quality was bad when compared to CD.

But back then so was my sound system, all I had were PC speakers so they actually paired off quite well.
From now on though I will also use FLAC.

I'm a big music fan and this kind of file is what does my speakers justice.

It's no good having a good speaker system and playing shoddy MP3s through it at 320.

 

Once you go FLAC, you never go back! ???? 

(btw, about TIDAL again, another thing I don't like about them is that they dump their streaming cache all over your hard drive.

As far as I am aware, they are the only streaming service that does this.

May i ask what kind of sound system you have?

Mine is not really expensive but a lot better then karaoke equipment.

 

[Bruno123]

On 5/21/2021 at 1:39 PM, WineOh said:

Never heard SACD before.

 

I shall give it a whirl!

 

Thanks.

 

Have dropped a couple of samples in your inbox.

[Bruno123]

You can also try FLAC ripped from SACD.

[CarlBkk]

I've been listening to Flacs and Wavs for quite some time, but I also have a very good CD player.  Sometimes I think that hi-res has not resolution and detail, sometimes I think that CD is more dynamic and realistic.  So I have no idea which is best!  You'll find the same mix of opinions amongst audiophiles online.  However, just for pure convenience and knowing that the "specs" are top notch, FLAC rules.  

 

I expect soon I'll sell my CD player and put the money into getting a better streamer so my system will be single-source.

[rbkk]

1 hour ago, CarlBkk said:

I've been listening to Flacs and Wavs for quite some time, but I also have a very good CD player.  Sometimes I think that hi-res has not resolution and detail, sometimes I think that CD is more dynamic and realistic.  So I have no idea which is best!  You'll find the same mix of opinions amongst audiophiles online.  However, just for pure convenience and knowing that the "specs" are top notch, FLAC rules.  

 

I expect soon I'll sell my CD player and put the money into getting a better streamer so my system will be single-source.

I use WAV's (Uncompressed format) for music production along with a flat response output (Sonarworks Reference 4 software) to really hear the true sound. The mix must translate to all formats and different listening environments. Flac (Compressed) and home speakers are "colored." Flac is my preferred choice on home speakers.

As an example my last 2'min 58"sec mix was mastered in WAV (Uncompressed) and came in at 46,069 KB. The MP3 (320)(Compressed) is 6,967KB.

Edited June 6, 2021 by rbkk