Please note that a viable explanation might also be psychological.
I’ll stop commenting, drawing the conclusion that this is an objectivists vs subjectivists debate.
I don’t think that’s true. Modern psychotherapeutic techniques have come a long way since Freud. Behavioral therapy to reduce or eliminate the ‘missing out’ anxiety could be quite effective.
Perhaps a rehab center for compulsive audiophile tweakers?
1 Like
I’m fine if you think I’m wrong, that doesn’t really change the fact that I hear the difference and there is no downside to using uncompressed lossless vs compressed lossless, so, why not do so?
It may even be down to certain devices are being more optimized for certain files. Among music studio friends that I have, I’ve heard them say that some devices even play WAV better than AIFF. Go figure. I run Roon off a Mac for example. Maybe on dedicated music servers there is less of a difference, or no difference.
The fact that others don’t believe there is a difference, or can’t hear a difference, doesn’t mean there isn’t one. No amount of posturing can change that. Which is why I encourage everyone to do their own listening test for themselves to make their own determination, versus just believing what you read or have always been told. Because I’m definitely not the only one who hears a difference, see the article links above as a start.
I cannot respect the opinions of those who refuse to let their own ears be the judge in favor of just believing ‘what I’ve always been told’…
Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence.
Your anecdotes are not evidence.
There is however, overwhelming empirical evidence that there is no sound quality difference.
There are also compelling reasons NOT to store as WAV:
- Disk space is not free, despite the ridiculous assertion that it is.
- Tagging AIFF and WAV outside of a proprietary application is a nightmare and not transportable.
- Checksum capable repair of FLAC.
7 Likes
If I spent the time and energy converting a bunch of music files from one format to another, I would be able to hear a difference also. If I couldn’t, I would have to explain to myself why I spent the time and energy converting all these files. Placebo effect.
2 Likes
Certainly not in the pro audio recording/mastering/CD pressing world where they NEVER use or deliver compressed audio files. Among armchair experts, yeah.
You’ve already been told why those files are used. It has NOTHING to do with SQ.
2 Likes
Even Apple, who doesn’t (as of yet) even deliver any lossless music, requires uncompressed files from the studios for their iTunes Music store. They will not accept ALAC:
To meet the Mastered for iTunes technical requirements, you need submit your masters in a 24-bit uncompressed audio format, such as 24-bit 96kHz sample rate *.wav format
from: iTunes Mastering - "Mastered for iTunes" explained | JustMastering.com
Yes, for their workflow for the onward conversion to aac. It nothing to do with SQ.
You should really spend some time exploring the experiments done with Audiodiffmaker (about 10 years ago). It compares analogue signals and is so sensitive it has a null value of -90dB - way below the threshold of the human auditory system. The whole FLAC v WAV nonsense was thoroughly debunked. Real data, real evidence, no anecdotes.
5 Likes
You can use the checksums to identify corrupt data…but not to fix it.
2 Likes
I’m sorry yes, the checksum allows for comparison of backups to ensure data integrity.
Respectfully, there are many people that believe the earth is flat, aliens exist, base materials can be transformed into gold, and the COVID-19 virus is a liberal hoax. Belief doesn’t make it so. Science matters. And there is plenty of science confirming that comparison biases are prevalent among human beings.
7 Likes
And just like for years everyone believed the earth was flat, no one should just believe what they are told, or just believe the status quo because ‘that’s what they’ve always been told’. Again, we all have our ears and this is something very simple to test for ourselves, instead of just believing what I, or anyone else for that matter, says.
Hear no difference in your system? That’s great. At least you would then know. But stating it’s not possible for there to be a difference, without having done the test yourself, and there are those that do hear the difference (as well as evidence of such, anecdotal or not), is just like believing the earth is flat because everyone said it was.
Some things are obvious based on science. People can imagine and say anything. That doesn’t make it true.
3 Likes
The only thing more pathetic than claiming a difference between FLAC and WAV is 112 posts arguing about whether there is a difference between FLAC and WAV.
Unless of course, you consider that I read every post, whilst thinking how ridiculous all of this is. THAT’s pathetic. 
3 Likes
No ALAC, no FLAC, no MP3, no MP4.
Most DACs/streamers are optimized for the WAV format.
Amazing what we’ll do to amuse ourselves in a pandemic, isn’t it? 
6 Likes
No, I wouldn’t. Suppose I listened and heard no difference temporarily because of wax in my ears, or accidental ingestion of Southern Comfort, or a poorly made espresso, or because my dog ran away with my pickup truck? All kinds of things affect someone’s hearing. If I listened again the next day, or next week, or next year, who’s to say I wouldn’t hear a difference then? I’d be biting my nails continuously with anxiety over making a mistake in this regard! There’d be bloody stumps at the end of my fingers! The music would be drowned out by my moans of pain and bewilderment!
I tell ya, this listening stuff is for the birds. Measurement and a priori reasoning is where it’s at! And they tell me that compressed vs. uncompressed formats make no difference.
1 Like
Wow!
This is even better than the folks who ascribe magical properties to ethernet cables and switches. Magical properties for lossless audio file formats!
How about the next step, guys? Magical properties for the file systems your audio files are stored on! Anyone want to compare the SQ merits of exFAT versus NTFS? Ext3 versus ZFS? HFS+ versus APFS?
Every silly thing that’s been said about FLAC versus ALAC is true in spades for the filesystems those files are stored on.
Have at it …!
8 Likes
I’d be very happy to see the reported results of properly administered double blind tests to test the hypotheses of differences. These of course rely primarily on what one hears with their own ears through their own equipment. Easy enough to do as well. But yet, in the many posts on such claims we never see such evidence.