Why do Wav and Flac Files Sound Different?


This article is from 2016, so outfits like JRiver may have developed workarounds for the metadata/sound quality issues sussed out below. Inquiring minds want to know.

Why Do WAV And FLAC Files Sound Different?

"Based on these results, we attempted to pinpoint which section of the metadata might be responsible. Since the cover art file associated with the metadata is the largest contributor to the metadata header size, we began by examining the effect of deleting cover art prior to the WAV-to-FLAC-to-WAV conversion protocol. This proved fortuitous, as our first suspicion proved correct."

bolong

WAV and Flac sound identical to me and WAV just takes up too much space.

The more interesting point of this article seems to be that both Flac and Wav are sonically adulterated by metadata during playback to the extent that fidelity is somewhat harmed. A significant portion of my digital library contains flac files downloaded from Allflac.com and converted in JRiver to Wav. Now that Allflac accepts only bitcoin from overseas customers I just use Quobuz - downloading their Wav files into JRiver and then burning to CD's for my transport. A useful conclusion for my situation would seem be that I not include files such as "cover art" in the download since it appears in the article's graphs to pollute the sonic data.

If the metadata is affecting the sound time for a properly designed streamer. 

I think that in order to get a productive discussion, could be good to have some mark of reference. The article goes back to 2016 and many things have changed since then.

Can you tell us about your experiencia?

Do you feel some difference when playing different formats: WAV, FLAC, ALAC, indeed mp3? Have you tried different "apps" to play your files: JRiver, Audirvana, Roon, ....?

Do you feel any difference playing the same file with metadata and totally stripped from metadata?

 

Wav take up much more space, the key more so is the quality of the recording 

it is a fine line ,I just use Flac files ,but do have a few files with Flac and wav files ,the differences is so small it is not worth taking up all that extra space IMO.

Qobuz uses Flac files ,and hirez masters in Flac ,and saves tons of space 

and sounds fine.