WAV or FLAC?

Hmm, I'm going to change my preferred format from MP3-320 to lossless for all new tracks. I am now pondering pros and cons of using WAV and/or FLAC respectively and I need input from you, my colleagues ...

What are your experiences?

/Fredrik

 

I use only Flac for lossless and V0 for mp3s since the CBR 320 sounds to "bass" for me.
There is a slight issue about Flacs & Traktor but there ways around them. (like missing the first beat, ratings not updating)
The only drowback i see at WAVs is the size of them, but on the contrary volume at hard drives is getting cheaper and cheaper every day.

 

Any Comments on m4a lossless vs flac? I'm running m4a and lost all my artwork in the latest ver. of Traktor... thinking about moving to flac if there are less problems...

 

Hi!

With FLAC you can perfectly tag your tracks in contrast to WAV where there is no tagging at all...

Christian

 

I`m also convert my collection.From mp3 320 kbps to fluc and wav.I thing wav format is better but the only way to work with wav songs is through Tractor collection :S .For that reason i`m going fluc 80% and wav 20%(songs which i know very well)

 

It doesn't make sense to convert from mp3s to flac/wav as the mp3s are already of reduced quality and a lossless codec won't make them any better.

+ Flac: cauz of tagging

 

Exactly!

WAV has no better audio quality than FLAC. FLAC is absolutely lossless and you can always uncompress it back to WAV without quality limitations if you want to.
If you want to use FLAC you either have to convert it from WAV to FLAC or rip your CDs directly to FLAC.
Alternative solution: Buy FLAC directly from your favorite music webshop

Christian

 

Anyone found a program that tags Flac files ratings and then shown on Traktor ?

 

I regularly use mp3tag:
www.mp3tag.de/en/

Very powerful tool that supports ID3v1, ID3v2.3, ID3v2.4, iTunes MP4, WMA, FLAC, Vorbis Comments and APE Tags. It can be extensively configured so that you shurely will find a proper configuration that meets all Traktor requirements.

Christian

 

Thank you ,
Will try that now.

 

Sorry,from audio cd`s convert/rip to wav/flac..The 80% of my music collection is from cd`s i own.Now i`m going to rip those cd`s again,because i don`like the guality of 320kbps mp3.I use the `Total audio convert`.Is it good enough.Do you know any better software for riping and converting?

 

Best software to produce flacs is EAC (Exact Audio Converter) it needs some setup though. Once done then you 100 % sure it creates flawless lossless flacs.

 

I use "dBpoweramp reference" from Illustrate to create my FLACs.
www.dbpoweramp.com

You get bit-perfect copies of your audio CDs and the reference version makes use of multicore CPUs.
Great piece of Software but it's not for free.

Christian

 

Thanks,both

 

CDex is opensource and works great to convert to nearly any format, including FLAC, and setting the compression parameters. For tagging I use Tag&Rename, awesome with batches.

BTW, Beatport is undergoing a backend revamp, and they're considering putting FLAC on the menu, but they're hesitant, figuring not all DVS systems can play it. I'm like WTF? The proper ones can!

"So we're looking at FLAC as well as other lossless formats to figure out what's the right lossless format for our customer. The problem with FLAC is there's still a lot of DJ software that can't use it very effectively..." [Bottom of the article]

Anyway, 2cents.

 

+1 on dbpoweramp. I use that as well and it works great! well worth the $20...
on a multi core system it will conver 1 track per core. running an i7 and can convert 4 tracks at a time. It also has batch tagging that allows you to have it read the name of folders files etc and apply them to your files.... I use to hand tag everthing.... This saves me hours!

Eccentric

 

+1.Is very good

 

LOL

Cheers dude!

 

confused, isnt flac already on the menu?
I know they recomend wav or mp3 but i see flac as supported on ni's site...
---
Any feedback on those already running flac?
Any problems to note?
Any issues between traktor updates?
Any codec updates to follow or does work standalone?
I'm running m4a lossless now and have to worry about itunes updates, quicktime updates & traktor updates.
The last traktor update cleared my art even though it's imbeded in the id3. After some poking arond i realized i had to clear my tracks out of my collection and reimport my music folder. Magicaly my art reapeared...
Any problems like that w/ taged flac files?

 

Until now i have about 450 tracks(flac) and 200 tracks(wav) ready for gigs(beat grid,cues etc).I`don`t have any issues with flac format.Everything works fine(tag,cue,loop) with Tractor Pro 1.2.7.But all my music collection is from riping cd`s and i tag them with mp3tag.Also i don`t find any diference in sound quality compare with wav.Has anyone problems with flac format and Tractor Pro?