Is the whole flac thing overrated in anyone else's opinion? I was struggling to get some music I DL'd in flac working...I couldn't get any of the fucking quicktime plugins to work (I have an ipod and so use itunes to organize my music...it would've been convenient). I gave up and tried using other programs to at least give it a listen for a noticeable difference.

I have a Creative X-fi sound card and an old but decent 4.1 Altec Lansing speaker system...and I noticed virtually NO difference between mp3 and flac versions of the same song.

There is a SLIGHT difference...the sound does seem a bit more full and rich at times, but it's not worth the gi-fucking-normous file sizes.

Does anyone else share this feeling, or was it possibly my software (I was using VLC of all things...-___- )?

FirstProbe

1206 Posts

April 18 2009 03:26 GMT

I think the high bitrate mp3's are probably similar enough that you won't be able to discern the difference with your current system.
IMO flac is something pushed around by audiophiles for their more specialised systems.

crabsman

United States13 Posts

April 18 2009 03:26 GMT

What rate were you using for the mp3s?

Archaic

United States4024 Posts

April 18 2009 03:29 GMT

Normally, I would say that high rate mp3 is good enough. If you have an amazing sound system though, then you will definitely notice a difference. But for casual, and not obsessive music listening (i.e. listening to flac just because the number is so much higher!), then I'd say that it isn't worth it. Then again, it usually depends on the song or genre.

zgl

United States1055 Posts

April 18 2009 03:29 GMT

To really notice advantage of FLAC:
1. Use properly configured foobar or winamp
2. Use a real source. There are some good USB DACs. For example: Stello DA100 or Benchmark DAC1 USB.
3a. Use a nice set of speakers + amplifier (either integrated or pre+power combo), i.e., not something designed for computers.
3b. Alternatively, use good headphones + amplifier.

In a typical computer setup such as yours, FLAC won't make much difference since the music file won't be the bottleneck.

T.O.P.

Hong Kong4685 Posts

April 18 2009 03:30 GMT

I think mp3 encoded at 192kbps with the newest Lame encoder sounds very close to loseless. Even audiophiles might not be able to tell it apart. aac sounds better than mp3 at the same bitrate though.

Guilford

Australia290 Posts

April 18 2009 03:46 GMT

you can use flac to create identical copy of the original cd

United States6173 Posts

April 18 2009 03:48 GMT

Hmm...yeah, most of the mp3s I tried comparing were 192kbps.

I have a decent set of headphones...nothing pro, so I'll try comparing them through there as well.

zgl, can you explain what you mean by real source? What is a USB DAC?

sexsexpussyhair

Canada133 Posts

April 18 2009 03:54 GMT

i doubt there is noticeable difference, its like playing at 60fps and 100fps, can't be detected by human.

GTR

51487 Posts

April 18 2009 04:02 GMT

#10

V0 MP3's are best IMO.

crabsman

United States13 Posts

April 18 2009 04:04 GMT

#11

On April 18 2009 12:54 sexsexpussyhair wrote:
i doubt there is noticeable difference, its like playing at 60fps and 100fps, can't be detected by human.

You are very misinformed the human eye can sense the difference between 60 fps and 100 fps. Please stop spreading this rumor.

http://www.100fps.com/how_many_frames_can_humans_see.htm

IzzyCraft

United States4487 Posts

April 18 2009 04:04 GMT

#12

mp3 is loosy it throws away a ton of info that is given that most people and sets up wont be able to hear or produce
FLAC is a lossless it keeps all quality thus size at similar bitrates size is quite different

i just use AAC myself encoding though a cmd line death weeks with neroAAC great size and a ton better quality then mp3 although i can't really tell unless im using my higher quality headphones

IzzyCraft

United States4487 Posts

April 18 2009 04:05 GMT

#13

On April 18 2009 13:04 crabsman wrote:

Show nested quote +

You are very misinformed the human eye can sense the difference between 60 fps and 100 fps. Please stop spreading this rumor.

http://www.100fps.com/how_many_frames_can_humans_see.htm

=p but most monitors can't display over 60.

Chromyne

Canada561 Posts

April 18 2009 04:11 GMT

#14

I agree with zgl. FLAC won't make a difference unless the rest of your gear can convey the differences. Of course, a good/musical ear will help differentiate between lossless and lossy formats, so you may not hear the different regardless of your rig.

IzzyCraft

United States4487 Posts

April 18 2009 04:13 GMT

#15

mp3 is one of the worst lossly formats
AAC is much better in keeping quality
When i rip music i do full lossless .wav and then transcode into AAC making a mp3 ish sized file but smaller with much high quality i don't have a rig to make use of a lossless files so i just do the best loosy fomart there is

although you can do aac in lossless (it's file size is just a wedge smaller then flac) but i dont

mahnini

United States6862 Posts

April 18 2009 04:19 GMT

#16

lossless formats are useless unless your some weird audiophile who has super high end hardware and insists they can tell the difference. other wise 320kbps mp3 or VBR mp3s are fine.

United States6173 Posts

April 18 2009 04:27 GMT

#17

I don't have many 320kbps mp3s...most are around 192-256...or VBR.

btw guys...it's lossy vs lossless. Not loosy or lossly or whatever else...

Shivaz

Canada1783 Posts

April 18 2009 04:29 GMT

#18

Yup, most people even with high end hardware cannot tell the difference between 256-320kbps and flac/lossless, 192 though is easier to tell. However I find when possible people rather listen to lossless just knowing they will not be missing out on anything. After all why listen to lower quality if storage space is not an issue, $80-$100 for 1 terabyte.

benjammin

United States2728 Posts

April 18 2009 04:37 GMT

#19

lossless is great for certain applications, just make sure you have one of those applications (also FLAC is the best lossless format out there, despite some having fractionally better compression ratios)

if not, v0 all the way