File format

[Rockerman]

Hi al lI just got a yamaha cd-s300 cd player that has usb port on the front. I would like to put my CDs on a usb memory stick for convenience. But was wondering if wav is better audio quality than flac to copy the cds to the memory stick any info greatly appreciated

[Firebottle]

Both wav and flac are lossless, flac has smaller file sizes as is a little compressed.

Check what file types are supported by the Yamaha.

[Lawrence001]

The vast majority of people say they are the same quality as though flac is compressed it is lossless.

A small number of people think wav sounds better so if you are concerned and you want to be really sure you can stick to wav but it takes up more space.

[struth]

yup, flac is the daddy

[Qwin]

I use Flac and max 24/96, sound quality is superb. I doubt my gear would pick up on any details a higher Res would bring, if in deed those additional details exist, outside of what measuring equipment could pick up, I'm sure it would be beyond human hearing.
WAV files are enormous, that's what finally clinched it for me.

[Macca]

it's the exact same data in both so the idea that they are different, let alone audibly different, is far-fetched.

[Qwin]

it's the exact same data in both so the idea that they are different, let alone audibly different, is far-fetched.

Depends how each is mixed down from the original ultra hi res studio master.
I sometimes find differences between resolutions and the hi res isn't always the best. I accidentally bought a CD quality download, not realizing I had already down loaded a 24/96 from the same album and link to the store. They definitely sounded different.
The streamed version and download can also sound different, you pays your money and cross everything.:)
Same with up sampling differences.

[Macca]

Depends how each is mixed down from the original ultra hi res studio master.
I sometimes find differences between resolutions and the hi res isn't always the best. I accidentally bought a CD quality download, not realizing I had already down loaded a 24/96 from the same album and link to the store. They definitely sounded different.
The streamed version and download can also sound different, you pays your money and cross everything.:)
Same with up sampling differences.

The two different resolutions are not necessarily the same master. Also how the down sampling was done could conceivably make a difference.

But we're talking about the difference between WAV and FLAC. Sampling rate has nothing to do with that.

[Qwin]

Sorry Martin, I wrongly presumed you were picking up on my point, about higher res than 24/96 not being discernible.
Your right in principle, if the same oranges were fed in to each, but even WAV/Flac versions could have been processed differently when mixed down. So, so many unknowns and possibilities to cock something up on one version or the other.

[struth]

all files ive ever bought i took on flac. used to buy a few from qobuz

[Qwin]

all files ive ever bought i took on flac. used to buy a few from qobuz

Me to Grant, I decided early on to stick to Flac.
I don't know about the other formats, but I like the way Flac files carry the album art imbedded for thumbnails etc. and not as separate images.

[Patrick Dixon]

it's the exact same data in both so the idea that they are different, let alone audibly different, is far-fetched.

Absolutely correct. FLAC can be decompressed to produce a bit-identical file to the original.


Me to Grant, I decided early on to stick to Flac.
I don't know about the other formats, but I like the way Flac files carry the album art imbedded for thumbnails etc. and not as separate images.

WAV only holds the 'raw' audio data whereas most other audio file formats (inc MP3, FLAC) also contain metadata tags.

[Gazjam]

Ripped most of my CDs to AIFF Apple Lossless here.
Experimented with Wav, Flac all the usual suspects.

Found that there was less cpu “effort” in decompressing the AIFF file compared to Flac before it hit the Dac.
I found THAT could be one of the sources of files sounding different.
Did a deep dive on this stuff back in the day when setting up my Music Server, there’s a lot of factors at play potentially.

Just depends how deep down the rabbit hole you want to go.

Ripping to Flac is absolutely fine though, it’s great.
a difference not really worth caring about, especially if you use lowest Flac compression levels when ripping.
Storage space isn’t really an issue nowadays after all.

[Macca]

neither is CPU power :)

[Gazjam]

Your not wrong! :)

In this case though, less can be better.
comes down to noise again?

I always underclocked the CPU on server builds.
Sounded better that way to me.

[Macca]

noise transfer is a possibility. but it's not a given. Heard some very good sounds from just a laptop plugged into a DAC, nothing fancy added or done.

I've never liked the idea of using a computer as a source though.

[Gazjam]

Computers are noisy environments yeah,
can mitigate some but not all of the noise issues.

Good digital doesn’t need to be over complicated or expensive nowadays.
GREAT digital… sometimes it can be ‘pay to play’, though I’ve heard very spendy digital gear I never liked.
Naim Dac for instance, oh dear.
Needed the add on psu to make it sound like music.

Its a funny old game.