Sound is better from uncompressed downloaded files?

[Teresa]

Even if the data is perfectly preserved, the 2 methods of playback could sound different. It has been shown that different playback software and/or different file types exhibit different levels of noise produced inside the PC upon playback. Yes, even if both are bit perfect and even if data reconstruction is perfect.

 

So arguing that the end result of the file compression/decompression is perfect may be irrelevant. There could be a difference in the sound of the playback process without there being a difference in the end result of the compress/decompression.

 

I agree with you. If I take a wav or aiff music file and convert it to flac and then convert it back to a wav or music file file I don't notice any degradation.

 

On the other hand, playing lossless flac or alac music files and letting my computer decode them in real time just doesn't sound as good as playing wav and aiff music files. So I use aiff since I have a Mac Mini.

 

I have no clue why Plissken decided to resurrect this old dead thread other than to cause trouble?

 

Also, in the first post in this thread where Elcorso quoted recording engineer Cookie Marenco and her reply's in this thread I pretty much agree with everything she said.

[semente]

If one believes that a WAV, AIFF or FLAC file fundamentally is music, then audiophile notions of how that music should handled can come into play. Music is intricate, fragile, and must be handled carefully to preserve as much detail from the original recording as possible. Transfer over wireless networks should be avoided. Before downloading from an on-line music store, be sure to use a high quality Ethernet cable of no more than 5m in length, directly connected between your PC and DSL router or cable modem for shortest signal path. Intel network cards are better at preserving mocrodynamics, but Broadcom NICs tend to deliver digital downloads with a larger soundstage. Save your downloads directly to a firewire or internal SATA hard drive (avoid USB and SSD because of higher noise levels). Downloads done late at night tend to have better sonic purity than downloads in the middle of the day due to less traffic on the network. Make sure that both your computer and your router are connected to a good power conditioner during the download and any subsequent transfer. Do not convert your downloads to other data formats...there's no such thing as lossless conversion or especially lossless compression! Do not attempt to add or correct the metadata since doing so can have a subtle but irreversible impact to the sound quality of your digital music files.

 

This is probably the funniest piece of writing on computer audio I have ever read.

Thanks!

 

R