Best way to play (or convert??) FLAC files

Any lossless codec should be equivalent to the other in terms of quality. That's the whole point -- there is no loss so no change in quality.

If you want to use iTunes I think the best solution long term is to go with ALE. There's supposed to be some plugins to enable FLAC on iTunes but I haven't seen absolutely glowing reports.

[Xiph QuickTime Components (XiphQT)|http://xiph.org/quicktime/]

[How to play .flac files in iTunes for Mac|http://www.simplehelp.net/2007/09/20/how-to-play-flac-files-in-itunes/] - link broken

[http://arstechnica.com/apple/news/2008/08/use-fluke-to-add-flac-files-to-your-it unes-library.ars] - link to Fluke in article broken.

http://www.simplehelp.net/2008/06/12/how-to-play-flac-files-in-itunes/

Play .wma, Ogg, and FLAC files in iTunes. - [http://www.macworld.com/article/142096/2009/08/play_wmaoggflac_itunes.html]

The links above for Fluke are broken but you can still find it at: http://mac.softpedia.com/get/Multimedia/Fluke.shtml

I can't swear on it since I have not tested a FLAC vs an ALE file, but the whole point is that nothing is lost (nor presumably gained). I remember once taking an AIFF file, opening it in an audio converter, converting to FLAC, opening the FLAC, reversing the phase, adding one from the other, and getting a flat line. I guess you could do the same to test the two codecs.

I don't use ALE since I don't have room for lossless formats. XLD lets you do batch conversion and appears to have both FLAC and Apple Lossless. It's slightly confusing until you realize that most of the configuration is done through preferences.

I don't know about iTunes playback. I haven't bothered updating in years, and I run an older machine. I remember years ago there was fuss about iTunes not handling 48k, 24bit, blah, blah, blah. that was several years ago and I don't see a lot of talk about it these days. Maybe some audiophile will respond here who knows. I think itunes probably does as well as anything with lossless. Do keep in mind that its a mass consumer product, not your high-end stereo.

.m4a - http://www.google.com/search?q=apple+lossless+extension

Given that you are playing back lossless files I would think the limitations will be on your hardware and not iTunes itself unless it is doing something such as downsampling your audio. I don't know iTunes to that detail but I am sure there is discussion about it on the web (jut note the date on any such discussions as they may refer to a 5 year old iTunes). Limitation on iTunes might be your preferences for equalizers, etc.

Mark, Went through the exact same thing myself and opted to convert everything to apple lossless. I'd suggest you have a look at Max to do your conversion

http://sbooth.org/Max/

It can batch convert all your flac's to apple lossless, tag them (well, copy the existing tags ...) and add them to iTunes for you all in one go. And it's freeware.

As far as sound qualiy is concerned, I stream via airport express out to my cd player which handles all the dac. These files have been ripped from CD to flac, then converted from flac to apple lossless, and seriously, there's no difference between apple losless and an actual CD - as said earlier, that's the point of lossless I guess!

i have been asking the same question... i converted some FLAC 24 bit files using XLD to apple lossless and then got info in itunes and it said it was 24bit and 96khz, so beyond that, not really sure what else could be lost quality-wise? they also won't play on ipad or iphone, so i imagine they are the same? would love to confirm bc i am playing them in VLC which is not as good as itunes...

but one thing i know FOR SURE is that airport express AND ATV2 cannot handle 24bit. they downsample to 44kz so if you have one of those devices in your chain you are losing quality. that has been written about a lot around here...

how are you connected from the AE to your stereo? just curious...

and how do you know itunes can't handle 24 bit? it seems to play them fine as long as they are apple lossless and not flac...

so confusing this whole issue...

yeah, i think you are losing quality through the minijack... i am going from my MBP through TOSlink cable (the lineout of the MBP) to optical audio IN on my receiver

and correct, itunes does not decode 24 bit FLAC, that is true. but if you convert 24 bit FLAC to apple lossless, it's still 24 bit and itunes can play that. i'm wondering what the difference is between apple lossless 24/96 adn FLAC 24/96?

for me, just having all of my music in itunes works best... i like it all in one place, the playlists, metadata, etc, i have established that as part of my life at this point!

in answer to your original question:

i did some research, if you convert FLAC 24/96 files to apple lossless, you don't lose quality. if you use ATV2 or an airport express, you are downsampling...thus losing quality. it makes sense that a wifi network can't handle that much info, i suppose

how to play the 24/96 files directly from your computer is a different issue. you can TOSlink directly into a receiver, or use a portable DAC like the nuforce Icon. but if your issue is trying to STREAM 24/96 content, i think you need the boxee, or maybe sonos... post back what you find out, but i think the strreaming part is where you run into issues...