Converting Flac to Wav & Upconversion

Hello Steve,

"Dob - It helps to understand why upsampling makes things sound smoother and silkier. "

I do not beleieve its always the case and depends larfely on the given DAC (with its filters and other parameters)

I believe later on you also said that if X then Y and else its Z etc....

I think audiophile must trust their ears first of all. If I like the taste of the given soup I don;t have to learn all exact ingridiens and methods of cooking involved in its preparation - leaving it to the brilliant chefs as you are.

Always ewmjoy reading your comments. Thanks a lot

Thanks

Steve,
Any ideas about transcoding on the fly from FLAC to WAV?
Can this sound as natural as AIFF or WAV?
Has transcoding evolved to close the distance?

On reading your posts above, I think you were saying it is better to let the DAC do the up sampling rather then upconverting via IZotope?
Is there a way for Izotope to convert on the fly like transcoding?

Have you heard a difference converting a 44.1 file to 88.2 or 176.4 vs 96 or 192? Or does it make any difference?

Does AIFF keep all the artwork sorted as well as FLAC? Does AIFF sound the same as WAV?

Thanks in advance!

Dob - higher sample-rate files can be better for high-frequency transients, but upsampling 44.1 has its own added distortions I have found. If a DAC has a high-order digital filter, then leaving a 44.1 file at 44.1 is usually the best course. This result depends on your DAC of course. I have one of the few DACs that sounds great with 44.1. At shows, the attendees believe that I'm playing hi-res when its only 44.1 rips.

Steve N.
Empirical Audio

Thank you Steve.
I have only limited experience with upsampling and I am thankful to you for your much more generilized input

"Steve,
Any ideas about transcoding on the fly from FLAC to WAV?
Can this sound as natural as AIFF or WAV?
Has transcoding evolved to close the distance?"

It's the real-time uncompression of FLAC that causes bad audio quality. This would not change that.

"On reading your posts above, I think you were saying it is better to let the DAC do the up sampling rather then upconverting via IZotope?"

No, it is still better to use Izotope because the algorithms are better than any hardware resamplers, plus you get options to adjust.

"Is there a way for Izotope to convert on the fly like transcoding?"

No.

"Have you heard a difference converting a 44.1 file to 88.2 or 176.4 vs 96 or 192? Or does it make any difference?"

Depends on the DAC. It is more a function of how good does the digital filter at 176 sound versus the 192 filter I think.

"Does AIFF keep all the artwork sorted as well as FLAC?"

Yes.

"Does AIFF sound the same as WAV?"

I wish it did, unfortunately it sounds very diffuse and unfocused to me. I dont understand why because the only real difference is that the L-R data comes R-L instead....

Steve N.
Empirical Audio