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All things being equal, are FLAC and AIFF music files the same from an audio performance standpoint?
All things being equal, are FLAC and AIFF music files the same from an audio performance standpoint?
Both are lossless. FLAC is compressed and AIFF is not.
and iTunes will playback AIFF too!
fwiw i've read that flac level 5 gives the optimum trade off between compression and computational burden. apparently higher levels are only slightly more compressed, but require much more computation to unpack and thus drain battery life.
All things being equal, are FLAC and AIFF music files the same from an audio performance standpoint?
Since both FLAC and AIFF are both lossless, their "resolution quality" will be exactly the same. However, what makes them different is their workload on the CPU. Since, as it was already said, FLACs are compressed lossless, the CPU is required to unpack the information and then translate the audio stream. As stated, FLAC Comp. Level 5 is the best compromise for today's standard.
What about if the compression is too high for the CPU? There is still no degradation of resolution quality but the lags and stutters will occur within the data stream as the processor is unable to handle the workload. Kind of like stuffing 100 cars that require 5 lines to move smoothly down a 1 lane road. No data is lost but there will be a definite studder when the buffer becomes filled.
If you have the space, convert all the FLAC to AIFF. While I believe the QP1R's CPU should be able to easily handle compression, as I have FLACs and no AIFF, the conversions will relieve any kinds of worries you have. Processors now and days are quite powerful and can handle some pretty heavy compressions. On a side note, since I don't own any AIFF, does the format (AIFF) support tags and metadata like FLAC does?
English... A language lost in translation....Sigh...
16/44.1 vs 24/96 etc......or whatever. Then we have DSD in whatever flavor 64/128/256......
Exactly what I want to knowWhat do you mean? I assumed the question was "Is there any difference in terms of audio fidelity between FLAC and AIFF". Unless if I missed something.
Exactly what I want to know
Specifically when both formats are available with the same bit rate, which to choose
Yes my AIFF files show album art on the QP1RIf I answered your question, then glad I was able to do so.
I guess a simple way of describing it is FLACs are like zip files, or any compression formats. They contain the same bits as a file/folder that is uncompressed except that the decompression must take place before accessing the data. While FLACs are a compression lossless format, I think you can keep it as a FLAC Compression None/0 and it will perform the same as an AIFF. I would need someone more intelligent on the matter for the answer to that question.
Jim, do you know if AIFF has the same metadata abilities as FLAC does. Its the main reason why I have my tracks in FLAC and not AIFF or some form of uncompressed lossless.