In Reply to: WAV better than FLAC accoring to Absolute Sound.. posted by samoore on January 7, 2012 at 20:54:24:
Over the years (34 in high-end audio, 20 in IT, as classically-trained musician, sound engineer, etc) I often chuckle at how many self-anointed digital audio "experts" (aka "absolutists") ruminate in nano-circles. Many claim irrefutable empirical/mathematical "evidence" e.g., "USB must be better than SPDIF", "FLAC is lossless - therefore there can be no sonic difference from WAV discernible by anyone" etc.
It helps to occasionally grapple with the big picture. If one accepts that digital storage media are progressively becoming more affordable, in relative and absolute terms, then why on earth bother wasting time, energy and expense in compressing/processing original .wav files? Just rip/store those fully-fledged audio files and enjoy!
For the record I can discern the sonic inferiority of FLAC-encoded files (compared to equivalent original .wav files, on my equipment) within 10 seconds of such tracks starting up. Blind test? No need. It's painfully obvious.
-spindrifter-
"We have now sunk to a depth at which the restatement of the (bleeding) obvious is the first duty of intelligent men." — George Orwell
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Follow Ups
- TAS finally gets an aspect of audio right? Really? - spindrifter 22:20:40 01/20/12 (4)
- RE: TAS finally gets an aspect of audio right? Really? - Tony Lauck 08:15:39 01/21/12 (3)
- An AA expert responds - spindrifter 13:53:34 01/21/12 (2)
- RE: An AA expert responds - Tony Lauck 14:10:44 01/21/12 (1)
- OK, let's assume I'm an imbecile (in the digital playback sense) - spindrifter 21:40:16 01/21/12 (0)