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CD vs FLAC

Hi Folks,

I am currently investigating a new home system and some of the questions I have are with respect to digital audio. My questions are:

1. All other components remaining equal (speakers, amps, preamp, etc.) is there any loss of audio quality in playing a FLAC file vs the track from a CD?

2. If there is a noticeable loss then what CD player would you recommend for a $1000 budget.

3. If there is no noticeable loss and I were to convert all my CD library to FLAC files and store them on a network accessible media server what source component would I use to stream this through my system - again keeping the budget to $1000?

4. Are there quality sounding CD players (first and foremost for CDs) that would allow the FLAC files to be processed through it and output to the preamp?

The system I am looking at would be comprised of the following:

Odyssey Stratos HT-3 Extreme
Odyssey Khartago 2-channel Basic
Odyssey Lorelei front speakers
Outlaw 975 AV Processor

If you require any additional information to respond then please let me know.

Thanks for your assistance!
remedy451
levy03
442 posts
 
depends on your cd player or transport/dac combo imho. i have noticed very slight differences between FLAC/CD using PSA's pwt/pwd vs the pwd/bridge (pwt sounds a tiny bit better to my ears using I2S). these "differences" (improvements) are only noticeable during critical listening.

have auditioned several other cd players in my set-up (sony, oppo and rotel) and could not tell a difference (Flac sounded the same as CD). thinking a higher end CD player would resolve the difference better but am yet to have an opportunity to try.

a $1000-ish msrp cd player compared to FLAC will sound the same imho.
m_snow
57 posts
 
Remedy - I have done extensive comparisons between flac & wav formats and the wav format has won hands down.

Something to think about.

(You look back at my prior threads & find the one where we've discussed it pretty in depth, if you're interested).

mike
remedy451 OP
2 posts
 
I was going to be getting the Oppo BDP-103 as my dedicated Blu Ray/DVD player. What about the Audiolab 8200CD? I hear that its an excellent CD player and DAC.
audioengr
3,282 posts
 
If you are planning on USB from a computer and you actually have a highly resolving system, FLAC will not sound as good as .wav. Even AIFF files dont sound as good as FLAC. The differences are mostly in the imaging soundstage and compression. FLAC loses a lot of the airiness and high frequency echo cues from the venue.

Steve N.
Empirical Audio
levy03
442 posts
 
yep...wav sounds slightly better to me as well, but didn't want to comment since the op never mentioned wav. that being said...i've had way more meta data issues using wav. flac seems to do better in that regard.

Steve N....your statement rings true even when not using usb. i stream via the psa pwd/bridge
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