OK here goes nothing... Using a track I know and love well - Bloody Well Right by Supertramp from Crime of the Century (remastered CD - accurate EAC rip) I created 15 WAV and 15 FLAC duplicates by copying the files.
File Types are set to WAV-WAV and FLAC-FLAC only in SlimServer. Then I used Music IP to create a 30 song playlist which was then randomly shuffled many times over and sent to the SB. During this the SB display is turned off and I cannot see the randomised playlist content - so I have no idea what is playing. Then I let the playlist play and skipped with the remote after 30 seconds of the intro to the next song, marking on a piece of paper as I go whether the track is the same as or different to the preceding version. When I got to the end of the 30-song playlist I checked my results against the playlist... The first odd thing that struck me was that I was hearing differences...and Wow - 100% accuracy. I could tell the difference between FLAC and WAV every time with NO mistakes. Note that I didn't know which was which - merely that it was the same or different to the previous version. This rather stunned me as it wasn't what I was expecting. Then it hit me - I'd left replaygain on and I could clearly hear the -1.5db cut on the FLAC version - doh!. So starting over with replaygain disabled and a freshly blindly, randomly shuffled playlist... This time I got through all 30 tests and marked each and every one as "A" - in other words, I couldn't hear any difference at all. Test rig was as below but using STAX SR-202's wired to my Linn 5103 record outs...( and with the TACT RC disabled). Anyway, that does it for me. As far as I am concerned there is NO discernable difference between streamed FLAC or WAV using the digital out from the SB. There may be a difference on the analogue outs...but I'm not bothered because I don't use them. Someone else can test that hypothesis. More than happy to learn of anyone else's experiences with this, but personally - that myth is busted ! -- Phil Leigh You want to see the signal path BEFORE it gets onto a CD/vinyl...it ain't what you'd call minimal... ...SB3+TACT+Altmann+MF DACXV3/Linn tri-amped Aktiv 5.1 system and some very expensive cables ;o) ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Phil Leigh's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=85 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=38258 _______________________________________________ audiophiles mailing list audiophiles@lists.slimdevices.com http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/audiophiles
