King Size1553552683 Posted March 9, 2014 Share Posted March 9, 2014 I've downloaded some FLAC files and need some advice on the best software / ways to handle them. I have a MAC at home and a PC at work but have no real playback options on my home system (which is TT and CD based); although I do have a little mini system connected to the MAC via Airport Express but this is rarely used. So I need some advice on software that can convert the FLAC files to WAV files in order to: 1. Create CD's for playback on my main system 2. Transfer to a USB stick for playback in the car 3. Compress to lossy files for my iphone/ipod (i usually use 256k for this) It looks like XLD or MAX are the way to go on MAC but would like to know if any of those more knowledgeable in this area could offer some advice or insight. Thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted March 9, 2014 Share Posted March 9, 2014 XLD on a Mac is everything you need - and it's a free download. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
King Size1553552683 Posted March 10, 2014 Author Share Posted March 10, 2014 Thanks Michael Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Auty82x Posted March 11, 2014 Share Posted March 11, 2014 Xld works great, think I may have paid for it...not sure as I tried every single one out there, I use decible as the player and find the combo fantastic! Work well together. If you would like, I have a copy of a couple of the "supposed" hifi software for mac, can't remember there names...But thought they were bit of a have...could drop box them for you. They are cracked full versions, one of them integrated with itunes and really annoyed me... Let me know Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dunnersfella1553552754 Posted March 12, 2014 Share Posted March 12, 2014 I use xACT and XLD to convert my files. xACT is the best convertor I've used, Fidellia is the best playback software in my experience. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
King Size1553552683 Posted March 12, 2014 Author Share Posted March 12, 2014 Thanks guys Have downloaded XLD and will give it a try. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
got tinnitus Posted March 14, 2014 Share Posted March 14, 2014 Hi Chris Like Dunnersfella, I too use Fidelia for file conversion and file playback (itunes for ripping). But just a point on converting for i-phone; assuming you are using itunes, itunes will convert higher bit rate songs to 256, 192 or 128 in Summary > Options. (if you know this already, sorry for telling ya how to suck eggs!!) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted March 14, 2014 Share Posted March 14, 2014 But just a point on converting for i-phone; assuming you are using itunes, itunes will convert higher bit rate songs to 256, 192 or 128 in Summary > Options. This, of course, also works with iPods and can be useful for putting lots of music on a device with decent - if not perfect - sound quality. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dunnersfella1553552754 Posted March 14, 2014 Share Posted March 14, 2014 To add to this, today I purchased Amarra for my MacMini, and I'm happy with the performance increase over Fidellia. There's a dynamic edge to the bottom end that wasn't there previously, and while I was running Fidellia in hog mode, the new Amarra setup is certainly a step up. I always saw Amarra as being over priced, but as Fidellia was crashing on me from time to time, I'm going to try another path for a while :-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MorrisTheCat Posted March 17, 2014 Share Posted March 17, 2014 I last built up a desktop PC with emphasis it might become a media centre about 2 yrs ago and sprung for the best CD/BluRay slot access mech I could afford at the time which just happened to be made by Sony. The media centre thing fell by the wayside and it became a workhorse PC amongst with being installed was the free EAC (Exact Audio Copy). I like the fact a log is made of every music CD rip that refers to any problems on the CD or the CD mech. So here I converted many of my fave Classical, Jazz and Rock music CDs (which I have always treated well) to 16bit/44.1k FLAC. The place these files are played though using Fedilia is out of an iTunes Library specifically only for them on my 2013 MacbookPro (512GB SSD and 16G RAM). I've made certain every album contains all that's needed for the iTunes database to work properly including album artwork and to make sure the material is the stuff I will always go to, so I don't fill the SSD with junk. This way I've found Fedilia is brilliant (but it was a bit of hard work at the start setting up and no I never stumped for their EQ headphone stuff)... Most of the time the MacBook headphone out feeds a desktop SO-VOIOE Speaker set for general listening but for serious appreciation it goes to my main HiFi setup. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Auty82x Posted March 19, 2014 Share Posted March 19, 2014 seriously don't forget decibel, works flawlessly when using multiple outputs ie to a dac or to av receiver! Simple avoids using iTunes which only makes any process slow. Cod scraps the data perfectly too for decibel. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MorrisTheCat Posted March 27, 2014 Share Posted March 27, 2014 I've stumbled upon the following article that is, (ok) from May 2012 but quite a handy read for Mac users. I apologise to the mods here that the link serves to effectively take folks away from AudioENZ but the knowledge in the article is too good to be missed for your Mac followers... http://tinyurl.com/pw7wd2d Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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