[houaiss]

I saw two claims that bugged me:

Flac also puts an unnecessary strain on the CPU/DAC as it has to process a massive amount of data into audio signals.

and

overall file size and lossless properties of FLAC deteriorates the drivers inside the Iems which loosens bass control and kills treble extension.

are those claims true? to what extent? I know very little about audio but I like to dip my toes a little in this world. Right now I use a flac library of albums. If those claims are true I'd be willing to change to mp3. If anyone could help me with that, maybe giving source or pointing to the right direction where I could read more about that I'd be really thankful!

 

[Ryokan]

I saw two claims that bugged me:

Flac also puts an unnecessary strain on the CPU/DAC as it has to process a massive amount of data into audio signals.

overall file size and lossless properties of FLAC deteriorates the drivers inside the Iems which loosens bass control and kills treble extension.

and

is those claims true? to what extent? I know very little about audio but I like to dip my toes a little in this world. Right now I use a flac library of albums. If those claims are true I'd be willing to change to mp3. If anyone could help me with that, maybe giving source or pointing to the right direction where I could read more about that I'd be really thankful!

As to the second point when an iem receives a signal from the source the work has already been done, as the first point states, a signal is a signal no matter the original format. That's how I understand it.
I have Mp3 files (256kbps and above) and flac on my daps and cannot hear a difference, if I used only Mp3 the battery would last longer, not sure about the processing components.

 

[chrisnyc75]

I saw two claims that bugged me:


and

is those claims true? to what extent? I know very little about audio but I like to dip my toes a little in this world. Right now I use a flac library of albums. If those claims are true I'd be willing to change to mp3. If anyone could help me with that, maybe giving source or pointing to the right direction where I could read more about that I'd be really thankful!

No. Just no.

 

[msing539]

No. Just no.

Your animated gif is putting unnecessary strain on my eyes.

 

[houaiss]

if I used only Mp3 the battery would last longer

that's something I heard before, as oppose to the other claims I quoted in the OP

 

[KinGensai]

I'm a bit confused by these claims, cpus can and routinely do process vastly larger amounts of information processing just for visual information, let alone AV. Heck, gaming systems command multiple teraflops of processing power depending on budget, then there's CAD design which requires at least 4 teraflops of processing power to handle professionally relevant tasks.

Processing lossless audio is a tiny drop in the bucket compared to other routine processes. It does cost more calculations and energy, but nowhere near enough to tax a system over 80% operational capacity if it's not a total potato PC/device.

The second claim is pretty hilarious.

 

[msing539]

I'm a bit confused by these claims, cpus can and routinely do process vastly larger amounts of information processing just for visual information, let alone AV. Heck, gaming systems command multiple teraflops of processing power depending on budget, then there's CAD design which requires at least 4 teraflops of processing power to handle professionally relevant tasks.

Processing lossless audio is a tiny drop in the bucket compared to other routine processes. It does cost more calculations and energy, but nowhere near enough to tax a system over 80% operational capacity if it's not a total potato PC/device.

The second claim is pretty hilarious.

Yes, but he's asking in relation to a dap.

 

[KinGensai]

Yes, but he's asking in relation to a dap.

Right, I included devices, just saying modern CPUs are designed to perform far beyond what is required to sustainably handle these kinds of loads. Depends on the specific device, but a CPU like a Snapdragon 865 is designed for mobile gaming applications and streaming, both far more data intensive than just audio. Maybe they are talking about relic DAPs or something?

 

[gregorio]

are those claims true? to what extent?

No, as others have said, they’re effectively nonsense:

”Flac also puts an unnecessary strain on the CPU/DAC as it has to process a massive amount of data into audio signals.” - Firstly, there is not a “massive amount of data” to process, quite the opposite, it’s a relatively tiny amount of data. The amount of data is 1.4 megabits per second (for CD), while the amount of data with USB 2 is 480mbps or 40 gigabits per second for say USB 4. FLAC was invented in 2000 for consumer devices at that time, modern consumer devices obviously have far more computing power. An iPhone 15 has roughly the same computing power as the world’s most powerful supercomputer from that time (which cost $46m and was 150m2)!

”overall file size and lossless properties of FLAC deteriorates the drivers inside the Iems which loosens bass control and kills treble extension.” - The drivers inside the IEMs don’t receive any digital data (Flac, other lossless or lossy data), they receive an analogue signal which is identical to the analogue signal they would receive from an uncompressed format (say wav for example).

G

 

[tjkohli]

Is driving to Target going to make your car last longer than driving to Wal-Mart? Nope. The time you spend listening is going to make a larger difference than the quality of the files you're listening to.

 

[chezzer]

It's official, the human race has gone to pot

 

[Ruben123]

What is this kind of bs? Might be the worst claim I've read. Where did you read it? Head-fi? Might be a sales reason for the ongoing "ungraditis". " you have your dap already for a year? You need to upgrade because it's wearing down! The sq is dropping rapidly, you do not want that, do you?"

 

[redrol]

I saw two claims that bugged me:


and

are those claims true? to what extent? I know very little about audio but I like to dip my toes a little in this world. Right now I use a flac library of albums. If those claims are true I'd be willing to change to mp3. If anyone could help me with that, maybe giving source or pointing to the right direction where I could read more about that I'd be really thankful!

That is a lie. Ignore it.. The lowest end cpus can decode FLAC using almost no resources. Nevermind the super powerful chips we have right now.

 

[Roseval]

It is as true as "MP3 is a lossy format. Each time you play it, the loss increases"

 

[jirams]

I saw two claims that bugged me:


and

are those claims true? to what extent? I know very little about audio but I like to dip my toes a little in this world. Right now I use a flac library of albums. If those claims are true I'd be willing to change to mp3. If anyone could help me with that, maybe giving source or pointing to the right direction where I could read more about that I'd be really thankful!

Baloney!