[krohm]

heya all, relatively new here.. im sure its been posted before.. however...

im wanting to convert all my cds to flac and run these on my ipod.. to my understanding im going to have to run ipodlinux, which is just an install program so shouldn't be too difficult. that'll run the flacs..

but wanting to know, considerimg im going to be getting a headRoom portable micro amp with dac, whether staying with the ipod is the best bet.

i have sennheiser hd650s.. have heard the ipod is still the best for for portable music for sound reproduction.

so,.. considering i want to run flac with my sennheiser hd650s and the headroom portable amp/dac.. is the ipod the best choice?

cheers...

 

[TheMarchingMule]

ipodlinux is a mess, and it was not made with music playing in the front of the priorities. At least try Rockbox (rockbox.org( if you want to run another OS on your iPod.

Using foobar2000 (foobar2000.org), you can convert your FLAC files into WAV, then transfer those WAV files into iTunes, and convert those into Apple Lossless files. ALAC is arguably optimized for the iPods, just like ACC; smaller file size than other lossless types, and since it is optimized for Apple products, you'll arguably acheive better battery life.

 

[Oya?]

Alternatively you can use dBpoweramp to convert the FLACs to WMA lossless instead of WAV, import those into iTunes and then convert to ALAC. This way you can preserve the tags.

Anyways, X2 on Rockbox. If you're really intent on running FLAC, OGG etc. on an iPod, Rockbox is indispensable.

 

[krmathis]

I have two suggestions.
1. Install Rockbox on the iPod (if you have a compatible model).
2. Convert your CD's to Apple Lossless instead of FLAC. As the iPod have native Apple Lossless support.

 

[LostPhil]

Well, since you don't seem to have ripped the CD's, you can just rip them straight to Apple Lossless in iTunes if you are going to use the original firmware rather than going through the Foobar stage TheMarchingMule described

Otherwise I'd echo his thoughts on using Rockbox over iPodLinux.

EDIT: Dammit, why do I always half write posts before leaving them for a bit, I always get caught out!

 

[trickywombat]

krohm:

Important Question:

How are you connecting your iPod to the headphone amplifier?

This will greatly determine your results/satisfaction

 

[lmf22]

You can also use dbPowerAmp to convert FLAC directly to Apple Lossless. The ALAC codec is available here: dBpoweramp Codec Central

 

[krohm]

i already have all my albums in apple lossless but have heard its not true lossless.. hence wanting to run flac...

trickywombat: havent got the amp yet, but intending on getting the headroom portable amp/dac.. so in answer to your question. i have no idea ! ? you tell me...

checking rockbox now...

 

[thedauntlessone]

You heard wrong. How can you call something lossless when its not?

 

[krohm]

so there is no difference between apple lossless and flac??

why would you want to use flac over applelossless.. other then that you can use it on other applications/systems...

 

[krmathis]

Quote:

Originally Posted by krohm /img/forum/go_quote.gif i already have all my albums in apple lossless but have heard its not true lossless.. hence wanting to run flac...

You obviously heard wrong, or the person stating it is wrong.
Apple Lossless are indeed lossless, and its easy to verify. First encode PCM audio data (WAV, AIFF, ..) file to Apple Lossless, and decode to PCM (WAV, AIFF, ..) again. Then compare the audio date in the source PCM file and the encoded/decoded one. It will be 100% identical, all the time.

Quote:

Originally Posted by krohm /img/forum/go_quote.gif so there is no difference between apple lossless and flac?? why would you want to use flac over applelossless.. other then that you can use it on other applications/systems...

There are differences. Just not when it comes to being lossless.
The differences are:
* Compression rate.
* Encoding/decoding speed.
* Hardware support.
* Software support.
* ...

The decompressed audio will be 100% identical all the times. So choose a codec based on the 4 above points...

 

[shigzeo]

in fact, apple lossless is probably played back better on ipod than flac on many other 'flac supporting' players. lossless/lossy are only really valid arguments if the player can even play them properly to begin with. you can have pure 16bit at 44.1 but if the player has problems displaying the resolution or hiccups whilst playing, it makes little difference. the apple machines play back lossless alac very well indeed.

i have had a couple of 'flac' machines that made a mess of the sound but im sure it was fixed up with firmware updates; long after i sold the machine though

 

[michaelv20850]

Quote:

Originally Posted by krohm /img/forum/go_quote.gif i already have all my albums in apple lossless but have heard its not true lossless.. hence wanting to run flac... trickywombat: havent got the amp yet, but intending on getting the headroom portable amp/dac.. so in answer to your question. i have no idea ! ? you tell me... checking rockbox now...

I actually did convert one CD to both formats: Apple Lossless and WAV ( i use EAC to convert wav). I can't tell the difference when playing them through headphone or line-out to Denon receiver.

Since i use Ipod 160GB for on the go ( eventually i will get portable headphone amp) or casual listening , i use Apple Lossless whhich half size of WAV to save space.

 

[warrior05]

I have yet to successfully play an ALAC or AAC lossy file on my iPod that was created by dbPoweramp. YMMV of course, but I just want to alert you to the possibility in case you consider going down that path. Try a few songs first and test.

Personally, now that Rockbox has made great strides with the battery runtimes, I'm going to give it another go. I play FLAC on my home server so it is just more convenient to keep everything in FLAC.

 

[krohm]

yeh ok, ill stick with the apple lossless for now then.. if i get a home system ill consider putting em across to flac later..

can you convert apple lossless to flac? am assuming u convert them to wav then back to flac..

what, rockbox with the ipod running flacs increases battery playback time...