Taking the FLAC

Hi sorry to ask but as I do use my iPhone 3GS to play music via headphone jack into RCA into my amp am I loosing quality in sound? What is a flac format compared to the format of tunes on my iPhone?

Thanks

Like you, I use a good quality mini jack to RCA / phono cable (Chord) to send audio from a source device to integrated amp (Rotel / Arcam).

For information on FLAC visit: http://flac.sourceforge.net/

As for losing audio quality - Let's start with lossy vs lossless formats.  If you are playing a lossy format from your 3Gs (e.g. MP3) the quality will be much lower than that of a lossless format (FLAC or Apple Lossless).

Explanation - Lossy formats are compressed to render the files smaller and thus more portable.  Think of image files.  Each time a JPG file is edited and saved it gets smaller (and therefore loses image data).  This is because it is compressed each time it is saved.

The difference is huge, especially when audio is listened to through a good quality amp and speakers, so you might want to consider the Apple lossless format as you already own a 3Gs (and if top quality audio is important to you - I guess that it is as you're posting on the WHFSV forum).

[EDITED BY MODS - house rules]

Essentially what it comes down to is the 'proprietory vs open source' debate.  I am a proponent of open source which means that I want to encode and store my music in formats that are available for use by all manufacturers.

Hope that this helps...

99.9%* of people use Windows Media Player or iTunes as their music manager. Neither of them support FLAC natively.

Discuss.

* this is a made up statistic, but I'll bet it's about right.

spring3r:

The difference is huge, especially when audio is listened to through a good quality amp and speakers

No it's not.

It is huge, I double on that. I have a winmo smart phone with Core Player (supports flac) When I connect my phone to my car (which has awesome audio system) if I play MP3 even at high rates (232kb) it has some noise. When I play flac the sound is richer and clean.

OK, apart from the fact that
a) you're using a phone
b) you're using a car system, and
c) you're using 232kb MP3 files, which can easily be bettered without going to lossless encoding.

yiannis550:

if I play MP3 even at high rates (232kb) it has some noise

that sounds like a problem with the player rather than the format...

I agree. Cut the Apple bond and choose life.  Or a Cowon J3.  Same thing pretty much.

The love for all things Apple in What Hi-Fi is perplexing and pretty sinister really. Almost Body Snatchers stuff, if you ask me.  Apple are rubbish for music playback, having neither flac support or customisable eq options, not to mention the bloated dictatorship of iTunes being infinitely inferior to the likes of Mediamonkey et al.

If I have to read another stupid round up of iPod docks again, or comments about how orgasmic the Touch or iPhone are, I'll be forced to come round your office and go all Jason Bourne with a rolled up copy of the mag.

 

bennyboy71:

I'll be forced to come round your office and go all Jason Bourne with a rolled up copy of the mag.

Go on then.

I'm not sure there's necessarily an if-and-only-if relationship between

bennyboy71:

Apple are rubbish for music playback

and

bennyboy71:

having neither flac support or customisable eq options

I'll take you up on that challenge

Here's my view (for what it's worth) -

Microsoft has the PC desktop market 'nailed' (for want of a better term, and has done for years).  WMP is installed by default.  Therefore it stands to reason that a high percentage of those listening to audio from computers use WMP. These people may not describe themselves as hi-fi geeks or audiophiles.

Apple successfully creates desirable mobile / technology orientated products and, although not cheap, has sought to develop converged products that pretty much do anything.

I'm no more a Microsoft advocate than I am loyal to Apple.  I have not used WMP in years, but I'd surprised if they hadn't linked it to some kind of online store.  If Microsoft support any lossless format natively my guess is that it supports DRM (like Apple lossless).

So, my view is that FLAC is often not supported for commercial reasons, and this may also explain why Sony's PS3 does not play this format by default.  Conversely this is also why FLAC is massively popular on the web, where freedom and flexibility are still valued by billions.

I currently have 12 computers running various operating systems (mostly Linux distributions) - For me, FLAC is important because the audio quality confirms to my requirements.  Secondly, it offers flexibility.  I will attempt to negate or undermine any and all technologies that attempt to reduce my freedom to play purchased audio or video on any device that I choose in any way that I see fit.

spring3r:

Conversely this is also why FLAC is massively popular on the web, where freedom and flexibility are still valued by billions.

Really? Can you point me at all this (legally) downloadable/purchasable FLAC music, and tell me how much of it is of interest to the 99.9% of users mentioned above?

Are you suggesting that there is little audible difference between well recorded FLAC files (or other lossless formats) than MP3 files?

I suspect that you are about to suggest that well recorded MP3 files can sound almost as good...

...and although the quality can certainly be improved, aren't many of us constantly tweaking our systems and spending more and more of our hard earned cash upon riding the curve of diminishing returns.

One day I may be able to afford the amp by Chord Electronics )))

You know that I can't.

I should be able to buy CD media and rip the files to FLAC for my own use, however. 

There is nothing morally wrong with that, now, is there?

99.9% of consumers aren't audiophiles.

spring3r:

Are you suggesting that there is little audible difference between well recorded FLAC files (or other lossless formats) than MP3 files?

I suspect that you are about to suggest that well recorded MP3 files can sound almost as good...

If you replace 'mp3' with 'lossy', yes (since there are better ways of compressing music lossily than mp3).