Why do Wav and Flac Files Sound Different?

@bolong You can have the image "embedded" in each track as FLAC allows it, in fact you can put a different image in each track of a "disc". If you try any tagger (I use Tag Editor) you will see that and you can also delete the image for each track if you want. When you use a program like JRiver, Audirvana, Roon, ..... to play the files they can work in two ways: choosing the "folder / disc" image over the track image or the contrary.

If one the images is missing, they will choose the one that exists. And if there is no one, no image will appear.

Regarding your question: if you burn your CD (physical disc) as a real CD the tracks are transcoded to WAV and the images are not included in the process. 

@aldnorab You are opening another big and old discussion.

On one side, when hard disk space was not such a a commodity as it is today, people tried to reduce the size of the music files as much as possible. That implies the use of algorithms to "fold" them.

But also implies the use of algorithms to "unfold" them just in the fly while or just before being played. This implies the use of processing capacity of the computer ant that means noise.

Again, in the "old" times, this operation could demand a slightly significative "effort" for the computer. Today you can say that this "noise" is absolutely negligible. It will depend on your computer (streamer, server or whatever)

If you are curious, play the same file / track as FLAC level 0 and level 8 and trust your ears: I think you can use any transcoder to do ver both FLAC files.

And my advice: once you have tested this in YOUR equipment and with YOUR ears, forget it: there will always be people saying that they hear the difference in their equipment and there will always be people saying that with the computer of such equipment is "scientifically" imposible to feel any difference.

By the way, I am working from the start with .wav files here. Everything in the Quobuz "Download Store" that is "CD quality" comes as a ,wav file.

Thank you @corente for the answer. Guess if FLAC was developed today there would be fewer levels. 

 I would like to know what format the major studios supply streaming and download companies with. 

Thanks,

aldnorab

I have never streamed, so this may be a dumb question, but in the case of Quobuz, for instance, which is the outift from which I download, is every single file fetched for play tagged with an image of cover art? Is that cover art separate from the music file - or is it "infolded" in the file?