Any Sound Difference Between Wav and Flac?

[ttan98]

I put some of my favourites music tracks and whole CDs into two formats, FLAC(to save space) and WAV in my harddisk in my Laptop. I use a USB adapter and an external DAC before reaching the amplifier to drive a pair of external speakers.

I played both formats of the same track for more than 1 track, I will briefly describe what each sounds like.

FLAC, sounds ok, there seems to be something(not my imagination) missing and lack of smoothness in the music. Overall sounds ok if coming from a portable.

WAV, sounds much more smoother, continous and natural very much preferred.

Anyway, what do you all think?, any inputs/comments I like to hear. I can hear the difference and I don't think I am imagining things.

 

[s4nder]

Technically the flac once unpacked during audio playback is the very same wav file it was converted from. In essence, you're playing a wav file. They're a 100% identical down to the last bit.

 

[outmatch]

Maybe you should try A/B test, what you perceive might be from placebo effect. As the post above stated, it is practically impossible to distinguish between FLAC and wav.

 

[rxc]

Maybe his computer is choking when it comes to decoding the flac files. Maybe it's a software issue.

 

[datura647]

Yes going from wav to FLAC to wav will result in the same as the original. Maybe the sound difference is due to the way your music software reads and processes the different formats?

 

[datura647]

rxc youre quicker than I

 

[kugino]

yet another one of these threads...

 

[Febs]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ttan98 /img/forum/go_quote.gif Anyway, what do you all think?, any inputs/comments I like to hear. I can hear the difference and I don't think I am imagining things.

It's either a volume difference or you're imagining things. FLAC and WAV are bit-for-bit identical.

Quote:

Originally Posted by rxc /img/forum/go_quote.gif Maybe his computer is choking when it comes to decoding the flac files. Maybe it's a software issue.

I suppose that's possible if he's running a computer from like 1989. An iPod running at 80Mhz can decode FLAC easily. Besides, even in the extremely unlikely event that the computer weren't able to decode FLAC fast enough to feed the DAC, that would result in stuttering playback, not a problem like the OP describes.

 

[SR-71Panorama]

I use Apple Lossless, but am aware of FLAC. I was wondering, since I know FLAC = WAV = Apple Lossless, how come there are different "levels" of FLAC?

I assume its just making the file smaller, but if so, why not use the smallest version as the sole FLAC version?

 

[ammatos]

The simple reality is that it's what's in YOUR head that counts. The only way you're going to resolve this one is to do a BLIND A/B test, as noted. The best way is to get a friend to do the source flipping.

Unfortunately our 'intelligence' gets in the way on stuff like this.

 

[rxc]

Quote:

Originally Posted by SR-71Panorama /img/forum/go_quote.gif I use Apple Lossless, but am aware of FLAC. I was wondering, since I know FLAC = WAV = Apple Lossless, how come there are different "levels" of FLAC? I assume its just making the file smaller, but if so, why not use the smallest version as the sole FLAC version?

The highest level of FLAC takes longer to encode and some of us don't have the patience.

 

[poo]

If it sounds better to you and you have the space... who cares? Might as well go .wav

Lets face it, the 'audio purists' will soon be explaining all the nuances of difference between lossless and uncompressed audio soon enough... might as well beat them to it eh?

 

[badmonkey]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ttan98 /img/forum/go_quote.gif FLAC, sounds ok, there seems to be something(not my imagination) missing and lack of smoothness in the music. Overall sounds ok if coming from a portable. WAV, sounds much more smoother, continous and natural very much preferred.

If you're dumb enough to think this, abandon your PC as a music source - you're only going to be miserable. Get a nice black CD player with digital out, an upmarket looking brand name stuck on it, and you'll much prefer the identical sound.

 

[kpeezy]

Quote:

Originally Posted by badmonkey /img/forum/go_quote.gif If you're dumb enough to think this, abandon your PC as a music source - you're only going to be miserable. Get a nice black CD player with digital out, an upmarket looking brand name stuck on it, and you'll much prefer the identical sound.

That's pretty harsh man. It probably was some playback issue or placebo, even though I don't see many people advocating WAV over FLAC. Maybe I'm not paying enough attention.

 

[Fing]

I noticed a difference between Wav and Flac files.

Then I noticed that I had set my software player (Foobar) to use replay gain on Flac files. This changed the sound - I don't know whether it was a volume change or something else. Turning it off made a noticeable difference to me and improved the dynamics of the sound a lot.

I would check that your player is handling Wav and Flac files in the same way.

If you feel it is that important, you could ask a friend to help you do some blind listening tests, which would perhaps provide a more objective view.

Personally, I found it difficult to distinguish between mp3 and wav files, let alone flac. Sure there is a difference, but on my rig at the time (AKG 271s and Doge amp) I couldn't really discern much difference.