How to convert FLAC to WAV ?

"there was no reason to go with WAV and in fact there were reasons not to. Curious why you would do this?"

Sound Quality. If your system cannot resolve the difference between FLAC or ALAC and .wav, this is not so unusual. There are very few highly resolving systems out there. If you are using a typical inexpensive active preamp, this alone will make it almost impossible to hear the difference.

If your goal is a truly transparent and highly resolving system, I can help you get there. Its not cheap, but not a fortune either. Here is one example:

http://www.audiocircle.com/index.php?topic=112012.msg1175451#msg1175451

Steve N.
Empirical Audio

"Any logic to why a particular interface would make a WAV sound better?"

Yes. Networked interfaces dont typically use much if any of the audio stack in the computer OS. USB and Firewire interfaces do.

This difference probably accounts for the difference in SQ using networked versus USB with FLAC and other compressed formats.

Steve N.
Empirical Audio

I've downloaded the Plant/Krauss song 'Killing the Blues' (24/96) in both formats and am in the process of doing direct comparisons.

The WAV version is winning . . . .

Forgot to mention I am also running the clock out of the DAC into the soundcard.

This is a very long ongoing debate. There are the mathematicians out there that will insist there can be no difference, I am of the camp that I understand there can always be a difference, so I spent a long time ripping many files, all in DB Poweramp, using a very highly resolving system including an Esoteric D-70 (PCM 1704 DACs), RME 9632 Sound card, ASIO, custom made $800 digital output from RME soundcard into my DAC via XLR. All running direct into my Pass Labs amp using the DAC as a volume.

Now maybe there are differences with USB? I have found USB to be vastly inferior to SPDIF or XLR or even Toslinnk for that matter.

With that being said I found HUGE differences between playback software and settled on JRiver.

Back to WAV vs. FLAC, I would have willingly ripped all to WAV but again found zero difference, I wish I could have but couldn't.