MP3 players that play FLAC?

[ToxicBug]

Hello, according to CNET, the Sandisk Sansa Fuze plays FLAC. I couldn't find FLAC in the manufacturer's specs on the Sandisk website, so is this true? Do any other players than those on the list play FLAC, such as Creative? Which one has the best sound quality?

Also , the sales rep at FutureShop said that the memory is only expandable up to double the original capacity, i.e. I can only put a 4gig microSDHC card in a 4 gig player, not more. Is that true? I couldn't find any info about it.

Thanks!

[Therac-25]

Firmware Update: http://www.dapreview.net/news.php?item.4340.2

Were you actually listening to a Future Shop rep? Seriously?

http://forums.sandisk.com/sansa/board/m ... ing&page=1

[ToxicBug]

That thread is 9 pages long, what are they saying?

[Therac-25]

That thread is 9 pages long, what are they saying?

It starts out talking about the availability of 128G microSDHC cards. I figured that would answer the Future Shop moron's point. There are several posts in there from Sandisk people that talk about 8G and 16G cards being in common use now.

[Bacon]

Were you actually listening to a Future Shop rep? Seriously?

lol, how about how right when you walk in they attack you like vultures to try and get you to buy something for thier commission

[+JuggerNaut+]

Cowon ftw

[Fender]

wow those cowon players have some nice specs

[Therac-25]

Yeah, the D2 would be my pick if I was getting a new one these days. Encountered it when helping my brother choose one. Does FLAC, to answer the original question.

http://www.cowonamerica.com/products/cowon/d2/

[ToxicBug]

Bought an 8gig Sansa Fuze yesterday. Its excellent. Great sound quality.

[Fender]

Any of those cowon players act as a USB host? If I was using FLAC, I'd be filling up memory sticks left and right. However, connecting to a external HD would be great. I really only use my iPod in my car and at my desk.
*looks to answer his own question*

edit: both the A3 and QW5 have USB host functionality.

[obsidian]

Great sound quality.

Well that would depend on bitrate and headphones, the unit itself, being digital, doesn't have much to do with sound quality.

[Plan B]

As to the flac format; how does it compare to mp3 and ogg?

Right now I'm in the process of using EAC/lame to rip all my cds to 320kbps mp3s.

Is flac superior sound quality/filesize-wise?

[ToxicBug]

FLAC is lossless. I have an album in FLAC that weighs 547mb and the same album in 224kbps MP3 weighs 120mb, so thats 4.56x more

[ToxicBug]

Great sound quality.

Well that would depend on bitrate and headphones, the unit itself, being digital, doesn't have much to do with sound quality.

It sure looks like the player has a lot to do with sq

http://reviews.cnet.com/4520-11297_7-6510133-1.html
http://mobilitysite.com/2008/07/do-all- ... und-alike/

I have Shure E4c headphones and I usually listen to FLAC, so I guess I can hear all that the chip has to offer. Personally, I don't like my gf's 80gig zune because I can hear the HDD make unpleasant and distracting noise while its searching or reading files.

[+JuggerNaut+]

As to the flac format; how does it compare to mp3 and ogg?

Right now I'm in the process of using EAC/lame to rip all my cds to 320kbps mp3s.

Is flac superior sound quality/filesize-wise?

FLAC is superior because like toxic said, there is no compression going on. you get the same quality as a .wav file except a typical 30%+ reduction in file sizes compared to wave.


Back up your albums using EAC>FLAC then compress away for your DAP's. Be sure to use cue sheets also when archiving: http://wiki.hydrogenaudio.org/index.php?title=Cue_sheet

[+JuggerNaut+]

It sure looks like the player has a lot to do with sq

http://reviews.cnet.com/4520-11297_7-6510133-1.html
http://mobilitysite.com/2008/07/do-all- ... und-alike/

I have Shure E4c headphones and I usually listen to FLAC, so I guess I can hear all that the chip has to offer. Personally, I don't like my gf's 80gig zune because I can hear the HDD make unpleasant and distracting noise while its searching or reading files.

cowon will sound best via the headphone outs, but the ipod will sound better via the line out. add a headphone amp to that and it's all over. lol at the old reviews though.

[Fender]

What's the typical size diff between a 320 kbps MP3 and FLAC?

edit: Using TB's album data above, looks like ~3.2x

[ToxicBug]

I don't need a headphone amp, the drivers in my headphones are tiny.

[+JuggerNaut+]

it's not about size of the drivers, though. isn't there a line out on that cowon? i was referring to using a HA on the line out of the ipod. it's night and day between line out and headphone out.

[Plan B]

So flac is lossless (which I stubbornly refuse to believe, something's gotta give when you compress shit, right?) but weighs in @ pretty high file sizes.
I think I'll stick with 320kbps mp3s, then.
Moreso because I lack both HQ audio equipment and a batlike sense of hearing.
TBH, I can't even tell the diff between 192 and 320 mp3s, but I just don't want my audiophile friends to ridicule me

[+JuggerNaut+]

a lot of people can't. besides, rip what makes you happy but, if you WANT to get higher end equipment one day, trust me and archive your current source library to FLAC so you don't have to re-rip later.

[Fender]

So flac is lossless (which I stubbornly refuse to believe, something's gotta give when you compress shit, right?)(

No. Both gif and png are lossless image formats that significantly compress compared to bmp. Zip (and other similar algorithms) perform lossless compression on many file formats, but are pretty bad for audio/video. The best algorithm depends on the data. A generic algorithm like zip doesn't perform well for some specific formats. FLAC has been optimized for audio data.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_Lossless_Audio_Codec

Lossy codecs can achieve ratios of 80% or more by discarding data from the original stream. FLAC uses linear prediction to convert the audio samples to a series of small, uncorrelated numbers (known as the residual), which are stored efficiently using Golomb-Rice coding. It also uses run-length encoding for blocks of identical samples, such as silent passages. The technical strengths of FLAC compared to other lossless codecs lie in its ability to be streamed and in a fast decode time, which is independent of compression level.

[Plan B]

Thanks for the info, I appreciate the technology involved.

You know, at first I thought flac would be total overkill for my humble requirements.
But juggs is right; since I don't plan on backing up my entire cd collection ever again, I may as well do it right, now. Make it future proof and all that.

I already got an 500GB external HD dedicated to this, so that would store about a 1000 FLACed cds, which I don't have. I'll be sorted for a while.

Cheers

[+JuggerNaut+]

nice