Feature request: FLAC to WAV transcoding

[knijsterbek]

Hello Simon,

First of all, I have to compliment you for all the good work you have put into Minimserver. It works great on my QNAP NAS and I enjoy using it a lot!

Because I prefer the SQ of WAV over FLAC, I wonder if you plan to incorporate the transcoding of FLAC files to WAV, before sending them to the streamer. That way, the benefits of FLAC (tagging, album art) and the benefits of WAV (for me: SQ) could be bundled.

Paul

[simoncn]

(01-04-2012 11:39)knijsterbek Wrote:  Hello Simon,

First of all, I have to compliment you for all the good work you have put into Minimserver. It works great on my QNAP NAS and I enjoy using it a lot!

Because I prefer the SQ of WAV over FLAC, I wonder if you plan to incorporate the transcoding of FLAC files to WAV, before sending them to the streamer. That way, the benefits of FLAC (tagging, album art) and the benefits of WAV (for me: SQ) could be bundled.

Paul

Thanks for the kind words! I've been expecting someone to ask about this.

I don't have any near-term plans to support transcoding. If I were to add support for this in the future, it would require you to separately download and install external software (such as FFmpeg) to do the FLAC to WAV transcoding, with an option in MinimServer to invoke a separate transcoding program as part of audio streaming.

One day when I'm not busy working on MinimServer, I plan to do some double-blind comparisons of 44.1/16 and 96/24 music to see if I can reliably detect a difference. I'll also do the same for FLAC and WAV at equal resolution. If I can hear an improvement with WAV under double-blind conditions, this would increase the priority of adding transcoding support to MinimServer.

[knijsterbek]

OK, thanks for the reply.

I performed the FLAC vs WAV comparisation quite a few times and the only thing I can say is, that, in my system, with my setup, WAV beats FLAC every time.
I also tested various levels of FLAC compression, including lossless FLAC. To my surprise, I had a slight preference for maximun compressed FLAC over uncompressed FLAC.
So, based on my observations, it does not seem to be the compression itself that causes the sound quality difference.

[simoncn]

(01-04-2012 19:48)knijsterbek Wrote:  OK, thanks for the reply.

I performed the FLAC vs WAV comparisation quite a few times and the only thing I can say is, that, in my system, with my setup, WAV beats FLAC every time.

Have you done this double blind? If you know whether you're listening to FLAC or WAV, the results of the comparison can't really be trusted.

Quote:I also tested various levels of FLAC compression, including lossless FLAC. To my surprise, I had a slight preference for maximun compressed FLAC over uncompressed FLAC.

All FLAC is lossless, no matter what compression level is used. This is why most people claim that there's no difference between having the server stream files in FLAC format vs WAV format.

[knijsterbek]

(01-04-2012 21:26)simoncn Wrote:  Have you done this double blind? If you know whether you're listening to FLAC or WAV, the results of the comparison can't really be trusted.

All FLAC is lossless, no matter what compression level is used. This is why most people claim that there's no difference between having the server stream files in FLAC format vs WAV format.

It was not my intention to start a discussion about FLAC vs WAV, but let me explain: I have not tested this double blind, but I did test it numerous times and under different circumstances. The results with (standard) level 5 compressed FLAC's were the same every time.
The last time, I tested uncompressed FLAC as a logical alternative to WAV, in the belief that the compession made the difference. Totally to my surprise, the uncompressed FLAC was not equivalent to WAV at all and I even had a slight preference for the maximum compressed FLAC over the uncompressed FLAC!
So I tend to trust my ears, especially because I hear differences that do not always confirm the "beliefs" I have.
Like I said: based on these observations, it seems logical that it's not the compression level of the FLAC that causes the SQ difference. I believe it's something else, maybe just the way the file is organised/built up/handled?

I use minimserver to stream FLAC and I very much like the comfort of the combination of the two (tags, album art, switching between folder view and tag view, etc.).
But: WAV has the edge over FLAC in my setup, so transcoding would be a logical way to combine the benefits of both ways.

[ThierryNK]

(01-04-2012 21:48)knijsterbek Wrote:  

(01-04-2012 21:26)simoncn Wrote:  Have you done this double blind? If you know whether you're listening to FLAC or WAV, the results of the comparison can't really be trusted.

All FLAC is lossless, no matter what compression level is used. This is why most people claim that there's no difference between having the server stream files in FLAC format vs WAV format.

It was not my intention to start a discussion about FLAC vs WAV, but let me explain: I have not tested this double blind, but I did test it numerous times and under different circumstances. The results with (standard) level 5 compressed FLAC's were the same every time.
The last time, I tested uncompressed FLAC as a logical alternative to WAV, in the belief that the compession made the difference. Totally to my surprise, the uncompressed FLAC was not equivalent to WAV at all and I even had a slight preference for the maximum compressed FLAC over the uncompressed FLAC!
So I tend to trust my ears, especially because I hear differences that do not always confirm the "beliefs" I have.
Like I said: based on these observations, it seems logical that it's not the compression level of the FLAC that causes the SQ difference. I believe it's something else, maybe just the way the file is organised/built up/handled?

I use minimserver to stream FLAC and I very much like the comfort of the combination of the two (tags, album art, switching between folder view and tag view, etc.).
But: WAV has the edge over FLAC in my setup, so transcoding would be a logical way to combine the benefits of both ways.

Hi everybody

Is it possible to know to what device you stream your Flac or Wave files when noticing differences?

Thanks
Thierry

[simoncn]

(02-11-2012 02:29)ThierryNK Wrote:  Hi everybody

Is it possible to know to what device you stream your Flac or Wave files when noticing differences?

Thanks
Thierry

I have noticed this on a KDS/1 and a Klimax Renew DS.

[knijsterbek]

(02-11-2012 02:29)ThierryNK Wrote:  Hi everybody

Is it possible to know to what device you stream your Flac or Wave files when noticing differences?

Thanks
Thierry

I have noticed this on ADS/D, ADS/1, Renew DS and KDS/1

[simionergo]

I know a way to easily transcode FLAC to WAV without quality loss at: http://www.faasoft.com/articles/convert-...o-wav.html

Better still, this way also applies to convert FLAC to MP3, AAC, AC3, M4A, M4R, AU, AIFF and more and vise versa.

Hope it's what you are looking for.

[simposon]

To convert flac to wav you can see this Firecoresoft Video Converter, it can help to convert most of video and audio format to the format you need.