Best way to play music from my phone (for highest quality sound)?

[marc2112 10+ year member]

Hi,
Can you explain why FLAC is a terrible format? I am thinking of switching my entire library from mp3 to FLAC for its 682kbps (vs. 320kbps mp3).

Well mainly by what my ears tell me LoL! The format was a convenient way to share albums. A bit like the scene guys use winrar for archiving. It was never meant to be an audio standard.

 

[Buck 5,000+ posts]

Can you elaborate on this? The Sony unit with 4v pre-out (XAV-AX5500) is a couple hundred dollars more expensive than the same model with 2v (XAV-AX150). Would 4v deliver that much better sound to justify the price tag?

Do you know of anyone who has run a side-by-side comparison test, to measure the difference?

-Davide

In general I would say this: higher voltage pre-outs generally mean a higher quality radio all around. Using less than 4v pre-outs for amplification can cause amp issues, where you can max out your gain trying to get sound, because the RCA voltage is so low. You want a radio that has POWER to it.

 

[nauc 10+ year member]

x2 on getting a 4v deck

ps, good article...

MP3, AAC, WAV, FLAC: all the audio file formats explained

Do you know your OGG from your ALAC?

www.whathifi.com

 

[figgie]

Flac is a terrible audio format. It was designed as a lossless file sharing format to save space and bandwidth (obsolete now).

Unpack those songs and start living bro!

Then it was whatever was unpacking it that made it sound like hot garbage.

Like any lossless compression algorithm. FLAC does not throw away ANY information that is relevant meaning that what ever is in the FLAC container is what was originally in whatever media was compressed into the flac container be it SACD, master recording etc. This applies to

APE
Apple Lossless
Microsoft WMA Lossless
and every other lossless compression algorithm.

With that said, On Android and Windows, if using built in Android calls or Window methods for audio playback (read built in audio player), the resolution will be downgraded to 16/44.1khz. Both operating systems require custom functions and programming to allow bit for bit playback at the captured bit rate (say 24/192 or DSD512).

See iBasso and Astrell & Krell for said limitation bypass on Android (both of their audio players are custom created in house). Other players are available through the google play store to allow said capabilities also.

 

[stocker08 10+ year member]

Skipping the phone as a source. If you get the right head unit that accepts USB drives with NTFS formatting then you can simply purchase a large solid state external USB drive, format it to NTFS, fill that baby with HiRes audio files, connect it to the head units USB, hide the hard drive away and enjoy HiRes audio without fumbling with your phone and have access to all of your music.

This is what I did. Storage space is dirt cheap these days. Even from my Fiio M11 Plus.....bluetooth is limited whereas 24bit tracks won't transmit in the best possible quality. So I just tossed all my HiRes music on a higher capacity jump drive and have it plugged in all the time.

 

[marc2112 10+ year member]

Then it was whatever was unpacking it that made it sound like hot garbage.

Like any lossless compression algorithm. FLAC does not throw away ANY information that is relevant meaning that what ever is in the FLAC container is what was originally in whatever media was compressed into the flac container be it SACD, master recording etc. This applies to

APE
Apple Lossless
Microsoft WMA Lossless
and every other lossless compression algorithm.

With that said, On Android and Windows, if using built in Android calls or Window methods for audio playback (read built in audio player), the resolution will be downgraded to 16/44.1khz. Both operating systems require custom functions and programming to allow bit for bit playback at the captured bit rate (say 24/192 or DSD512).

See iBasso and Astrell & Krell for said limitation bypass on Android (both of their audio players are custom created in house). Other players are available through the google play store to allow said capabilities also.

I realize my original reply is kind of misleading. Some DACs are better than others when it comes to decompression/sampling. Like an older quality DAC can wipe the floor with a newer one claiming better specs simply because it does a better job at jitter correction eg.

Personally I don't get it. HDDs and SSDs are cheap af these days... I want those files as raw as possible LoL!

 

[figgie]

I realize my original reply is kind of misleading. Some DACs are better than others when it comes to decompression/sampling. Like an older quality DAC can wipe the floor with a newer one claiming better specs simply because it does a better job at jitter correction eg.

Personally I don't get it. HDDs and SSDs are cheap af these days... I want those files as raw as possible LoL!

Just an FYI

uncompressing of a FLAC/APE etc container is done by the CPU as the DAC does not have the capability to decompress containers.

Lossless compression containers tax the ever living hell out of CPU Utilization %.

 

[RobGMN 5,000+ posts]

Flac is a terrible audio format. It was designed as a lossless file sharing format to save space and bandwidth (obsolete now).

Unpack those songs and start living bro!

What is terrible about it?
I ask because I use it for my music server. When it come to terabytes of music, that small storage savings per song really adds up.

 

[some dude]

Talking about higher pre-out voltages, what happens if you hook up a 8v eclipse (they exist right?) to an amp that says 6v max input?

 

[SlugButter]

Talking about higher pre-out voltages, what happens if you hook up a 8v eclipse (they exist right?) to an amp that says 6v max input?

No big deal. You can just turn the sub level down in the head unit to make it 6 volts. You'd only be at 8 volts playing full tilt anyway. I'm running mine too high now. My shitty timpano is only 2.8 volt input, which I refuse to run that low. Testing to see if it will actually hurt it to run it at 4. So far it seems ok.