has anybody else noticed this about flac audio?

Guitarsam - the levels have to do with the level of compression achieved, but all are lossless. The more convoluted (literally!) a code you use, or the more passes, the longer it takes,and the better the compression will be. In fact the differences are HUGE, like 15:1 worst case, so it matters to anyone who cares about time invested. It does not change the digital output one bit (also literally). Nothing new to see here, move on. Well, maybe something new to learn here, read on.

What is also not new is that someone heard differences, where none exist, because they expected to hear differences.

I have had this hit me in reverse as well. I just **knew** the cables made no difference so i ascribed a difference to components. until i switched the cables and the sound differences also switched. Damn.

So don’t feel too bad about it, but recognize what you just learned.

Its all described here:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FLAC
G

That being said #8 flac file is uncompressed .

That being said #8 flac file is uncompressed .

I didn't hear any differences in the two files. I listened carefully and switched back and forth every few seconds. It's possible there is a slight difference since I didn't expect to hear any and it wasn't a controlled test. 

I listened to both streaming wireless from iPhone to Vanatoo Transparent 1 speakers.  The sound was very similar did not notice any real difference. 

Also the level 4 compressed file is slightly larger than the level 0.   I would expect the opposite if content were exactly the same to start.