WMA Lossless?

[gunmetal30]

So my stock CD changer stopped working a few days ago, and since then I've been searching for a new headunit. Maybe I'm just picky but I think CD's sound better than mp3's even in a car. The bass seems less muddy and the highs seem clearer. The lossless versions would work for me but I've looked and it seems none of the headunits can play those types of files.

Well I've been searching the internet all day trying to find an answer and thought maybe I could find it here. What I'm looking for is a receiver that can play Windows Media Audio Lossless files. I was just thinking the WMA lossless would work since some can play regular WMA files. So are there any headunits that can play WMA lossless files or should I give up on that?

By the way. I know even though my portable mp3 player can play WMA files it can't play lossless ones. I'm wondering if the headunits have to say they can play lossless too. Which would mean none that I've seen can.

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[superspank 10+ year member]

what's the file extension for lossless files?

 

[gunz4me2 10+ year member]

Good luck with that. I experimented with my fiancée's Clarion DXZ785USB and the results were disappointing. It would not play Apple Lossless or Windows Media Lossless from a CD BUT it streams Apple Lossless from the iPod itself.

To answer the question above... Apple Lossless has a m4a extension and Windows Media Lossless has a wma extension, same as their compressed counterparts.

 

[gunmetal30]

Hmm. So I wonder if it would work if I get an mp3 player that can play the lossless files. I always thought if its connected through the USB that it just reads from the memory. I know it would work from the headphone jack if the headunit had a line in since its just playing from the mp3 player. I was trying to avoid that though since the quality of the signal through the headphone jack isn't as good.

 

[gunz4me2 10+ year member]

I think it would depend on if your HU is capable of controlling the portable MP3 player or not if you wanted to stream it through the USB connection. IIRC, the content is actually played on the iPod itself and streamed through the USB connection on both the DXZ785USB and the Alpine HUs in my vehicles, hence the reason why Apple Lossless worked through the iPod but not on the HU via CD.

 

[superspank 10+ year member]

so it's just a wma file? How does the hu determine the difference if the files have the same extension?

 

[gunmetal30]

Yep. Its just a WMA file. That's why I was having such a hard time finding out if they work. The only difference is the kbps rate they are played at. If you look at the specs on an mp3 player it will tell you. But there are no stats listed for that on a headunit. Regular WMA files are usually played at 192 up to 320 kbps. But WMA lossless is played at a higher rate than that, up to about 3 times higher. Its just cause the lossless file keeps more information from the song which makes it a bigger file and the player has to process more information at once. I don't know why a headunit wouldn't be able to process that much info since it does it with a CD or DVD.