2. digital
  3. 156968-116029

has anybody else noticed this about flac audio?

o.k are you ready for some truth friends ? flac has compression levels from 0 to 8 with the official flac default level being 5. now flac is lossless compression so there should be no sound loss from the original source no matter what compression level you use however if you encode the same song using every different flac compression level even though they will all be lossless there absolutely is a difference in the overall sound including tone and sound stage from level to level and doing your own test will only prove me right. now here’s where it gets strange? vintage vinyl has stereo + stereo depth perception (3d sound stage).digital audio has stereo + mono depth perception (2d sound stage) and this includes all new remastered vinyl cut from the digital master. this is why digital audio does not sound like vintage vinyl along with brick wall compression.i find it odd that the only flac compression level not recommended as a default no matter what software you use is flac compression level 4 ? it just so happens that re-encoding digital audio to flac with compression level 4 converts digital mono depth perception back into digital stereo depth perception (3d sound stage) just like vintage vinyl! and i don’t think this is by mistake friends ? do your own test and get ready to have your mind blown. here is an audio sample: level 5 http://pc.cd/pCcrtalK level 4 http://pc.cd/iVWrtalK
guitarsam

Showing 2 responses by mapman

mapman's avatar
mapman
21,865 posts
 
I listened to both streaming wireless from iPhone to Vanatoo Transparent 1 speakers.  The sound was very similar did not notice any real difference. 

Also the level 4 compressed file is slightly larger than the level 0.   I would expect the opposite if content were exactly the same to start.  
mapman's avatar
mapman
21,865 posts
 
1) You are making absolute statements about sound quality based solely on your personal experience which may or may not be limited. That is a mistake.

2) digital sound stage is not 2-D. If that is what you are experiencing see 1).

3) Compressed file formats be they lossy or in this case lossless do require additional processing on the streamer to decompress before streaming. That might produce different noise levels with some devices. So I can see where more compressed lossless flac might be at a disadvantage but results will still depend on how well the streamer is able to do its job.
More to discover