Anyone who agrees with me that since WAV files are what nothing else is allowed to differ from, and are automatically reference listening compared to anything else, is already my idol, even before they agree that WAV sounds like it can’t be wrong another noisy way like FLAC does. I have to listen to heavy metal WAV’s only, because of what a slacker the correct untampered with copies make me. Streaming FLAC Beethoven is still why you’re dead, though. Oh, and from an SSD clearly beats reads with ecc from an optical disk. I’m stuck with USB for my I2S signal for the time being only, but the read sounds more confidently clear than my 80’s cd player ever gave me. After that, I can’t believe my DAC designer smoked my first Yamaha cd player with each separate balanced side for only that price...
Why do Wav and Flac Files Sound Different?
This article is from 2016, so outfits like JRiver may have developed workarounds for the metadata/sound quality issues sussed out below. Inquiring minds want to know.
Why Do WAV And FLAC Files Sound Different?
"Based on these results, we attempted to pinpoint which section of the metadata might be responsible. Since the cover art file associated with the metadata is the largest contributor to the metadata header size, we began by examining the effect of deleting cover art prior to the WAV-to-FLAC-to-WAV conversion protocol. This proved fortuitous, as our first suspicion proved correct."