FLAC/Apple lossless does not sound as good as original CD. Why?
Mar 18, 2006 at 7:07 AM Thread Starter Post #1 of 7

Connectz

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I have done a few searches here on the forums on ripping to a lossless format using EAC. For the FLAC songs, I used EAC (configured with one of the online guides), and for the ALAC, I used iTunes to rip the songs.

So I do a quick audio quality test to see if there is a difference between the two and I don't find any. So then I play the same song off the CD and the CD has a better sound. It seems like the FLAC and ALAC songs lack detail in the highs. Its like someone turned the treble down during recording.

The thing is, I have read on numerous occasions here that FLAC and ALAC sound just like the original CD when ripped using the highest quality. I did just that and neither format sounds as good as the CD. Granted, they both sound better than a 320 MP3 by far to me, but not better than a CD. Was I doing something wrong? I used the same media player to test between the CD and the lossless formats.
 
Mar 18, 2006 at 7:12 AM Post #2 of 7
A CD only sounds better than FLAC if the person comparing them knows which is the CD and which is the FLAC file.
 
Mar 18, 2006 at 7:15 AM Post #3 of 7
You know what, I figured out the problem. In my media player, (realplayer) I had the EQ set for cd playback. So I turned it off and the CD sounds just like the lossless formats.
 
Mar 18, 2006 at 7:17 AM Post #4 of 7
i cannot tell what you are listening with. Lesser gear hears less. You cannot tell why you can't hear the difference. I think you might have a source, link, amp, can problem--that could be a loose link in your system. What do you have? Other than claiming your identity: "I am," it may be more helpful to state what you have. 'what are you listening with?
 
Mar 18, 2006 at 7:47 AM Post #5 of 7
Quote:

Originally Posted by Norbert
i cannot tell what you are listening with. Lesser gear hears less. You cannot tell why you can't hear the difference. I think you might have a source, link, amp, can problem--that could be a loose link in your system. What do you have? Other than claiming your identity: "I am," it may be more helpful to state what you have. 'what are you listening with?



lol, its cool man. I figured out the problem. But thanx anyway for trying to help. You guys are cool here.

Quote:

Today 02:12 AM

You know what, I figured out the problem. In my media player, (realplayer) I had the EQ set for cd playback. So I turned it off and the CD sounds just like the lossless formats.



And lol, I don't have any real gear yet. I have 2 pairs of KSC75's and some DT 880's on the way (special ordered them thursday and CAN'T WAIT TO GET THEM
smily_headphones1.gif
)

I was just try to do a simple test as stated above and I made a mistake by not turning off the EQ. That was why the CD sounded better than the lossless formats. But when I turned the EQ off, I couldn't tell the difference between the lossless formats and the CD. And this was all played through realplayer.
 
Mar 18, 2006 at 8:07 AM Post #6 of 7
Quote:

Originally Posted by Connectz
And this was all played through realplayer.


I wasn't aware that Realplayer has FLAC support.
confused.gif

I tried looking for plug-ins, but no luck.
 
Mar 18, 2006 at 8:15 AM Post #7 of 7
Quote:

Originally Posted by Bittergourd
I wasn't aware that Realplayer has FLAC support.
confused.gif

I tried looking for plug-ins, but no luck.



No it doesn't but VLC does. I played both through VLC first and determined they sounded the same so I used the ALAC against the CD to see if there was a difference.
 

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