Optimal settings for FLAC

[BigBirdy]

Since FLAC is unable to stream, and I guess SS needs to transcode into
something like MP3 to stream (assuming this is correct), where/what are
the most optimal settings? My goal is to stream the highest possible
bitrate/quality as I send a digitial out from the SB to a MF DAC-21.

__________________________
Johnny Stork

[bgriffis]

That's not true, at least with respect to the SB2/3. (I'm not sure about the other devices.) You ARE able to stream flac which is one of the great advantages to storing your music as flac as opposed to WMA Lossless. You are still able to get a bit-exact output with about half the bandwidth as PCM.

[BigBirdy]

Re: Optimal settings for FLAC

Ahhh...soooocoooollllllll. Off I go now to re-rip 700 cd's as FLAC.......

Thanks...I was hoping I was wrong

> -----Original Message-----
> From: bgriffis
> [mailto:bgriffis.2a4q8b1151526901 (AT) no-mx (DOT) forums.slimdevices.com]
> Sent: Wednesday, June 28, 2006 1:33 PM
> To: discuss (AT) lists (DOT) slimdevices.com
> Subject: [slim] Re: Optimal settings for FLAC
>
>
> That's not true, at least with respect to the SB2/3. (I'm
> not sure about the other devices.) You ARE able to stream
> flac which is one of the great advantages to storing your
> music as flac as opposed to WMA Lossless. You are still able
> to get a bit-exact output with about half the bandwidth as PCM.
>
>
> --
> bgriffis
> --------------------------------------------------------------
> ----------
> bgriffis's Profile:
> http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=1477
> View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=25064
>
>

[nelamvr6]

BTW, the only options with flac files is the compression ratio, with 8 being the highest level of compression.

I have heard from several sources that the difference in the amount of compression is not that great. You may want to try a few test rips at different levels of compression.

I use 8 because I want the smallest files possible.

Remember, no matter how much compression they are still bit perfect. There is a small premium in CPU usage on the compression side, but not much at all on the playback side.

[pfarrell]

Re: Optimal settings for FLAC

nelamvr6 wrote:
> BTW, the only options with flac files is the compression ratio, with 8
> being the highest level of compression.

It is really an indication to the compression engine of how much time
the user wants the engine to spend trying to compress things a little
bit better.

It is really not a compression ratio control, it is more 'search this
long for a better way to compress'

> I have heard from several sources that the difference in the amount of
> compression is not that great. You may want to try a few test rips at
> different levels of compression.

It is better to extract to wave/PCM and then run the flac algorithm
against the files with alternative settings. This way you know that
the source is the same. And any CD read errors won't impact your
timing tests.

But in general, the higher settings take lots longer and don't shrink
the files all that much more. But if it is running all night,
set it higher.



--
Pat

http://www.pfarrell.com/music/slimserver/slimsoftware.html

[radish]

Ahhh...soooocoooollllllll. Off I go now to re-rip 700 cd's as FLAC.......

Thanks...I was hoping I was wrong

If they're already ripped as a lossless format (e.g. WAV) you don't need to rerip - just convert.

[nelamvr6]

nelamvr6 wrote:
> BTW, the only options with flac files is the compression ratio, with 8
> being the highest level of compression.

It is really an indication to the compression engine of how much time
the user wants the engine to spend trying to compress things a little
bit better.

It is really not a compression ratio control, it is more 'search this
long for a better way to compress'

> I have heard from several sources that the difference in the amount of
> compression is not that great. You may want to try a few test rips at
> different levels of compression.

It is better to extract to wave/PCM and then run the flac algorithm
against the files with alternative settings. This way you know that
the source is the same. And any CD read errors won't impact your
timing tests.

But in general, the higher settings take lots longer and don't shrink
the files all that much more. But if it is running all night,
set it higher.



--
Pat
http://www.pfarrell.com/music/slimse...msoftware.html

I have a fairly high-powered box so it really doesn't take all night to use level 8. But that certainly should be a consideration.

[eq72521]

I've run tests myself to compare encode speed vs. compression. Obviously, if speed is not an issue, 8 is the best. That's what I typically use. However, if I want to go faster but still have reasonable compression, 5-6 is pretty good. The speed difference from 1-5-6 is minimal, while the compression gains are great. Conversely, the speed difference from 6-8 is drastic, while the compression gains are marginal. I used 5 or 6 (I don't remember which now) when ripping and encoding my neighbor's music collection a few weeks ago because I wanted the encoding jobs to finish ASAP and didn't mind if he ended up using a bit of extra space.