Reading the ripping instructions suggests that Flac is sonically superior. Am I misunderstanding this? “ If ripping with FLAC, Sense uses zero-level compression so that there is a minimum amount of work for the CPU to perform during the decompression process, helping keep system noise to an absolute minimum to the benefit of sound quality during playback”
CD ripping, sound quality between WAVE and Flac?
- Thread starter Ralph
- Start date
Hi Ralph, the idea behind these instructions is that there are different amounts of compression that can be applied to a FLAC container, which not everyone is aware of. Furthermore, not everyone is aware that more compression = more decompression, which does have an impact on system processing. We therefore wanted to emphasise we use the least amount of compression possible when ripping to FLAC. We're not trying to suggest that makes it superior to WAV which is indeed a completely uncompressed format. You would just need to choose which sounds best for you, WAV does still take up more disk space and is also not compatible with more casual systems like Sonos, in case you wanted to share those CD rips around the house to other wireless speakers/streamers.
If it comes down to just raw sound quality and nothing else, then I suggest ripping in both FLAC and in WAV and do your own comparative listening to see if you feel there is a difference.