Re: SACD to FLAC
Reply #51 – 2020-01-05 08:59:11
Still, the output from dbpoweramp is larger than from foobar2000 for about 100%. The SACD ISO (3.16 GB) converted to FLAC tracks with foobar2000 is (835 MB). Converted with dbpoweramp the output is (1.64 GB). I used compression level 5 in both programs. Is there any way to check if the conversations are really lossless ? As say they aren't lossless. For filesize, I would say that the huge difference is probably a consequence of a different sampling rate. Check both converted file in foobar2000: are they 88200 Hz, 176400 Hz? foobar2000's SACD plug-in allows you to change several options: sampling rate, but also some filters and also volume boost. A few years ago I converted a SACD to FLAC 88.2 KHz with all possible filters/options. The FLAC size varied from 900 MB (Direct, 64 fp 30 KHz lowpass) to 1.29 GB (installable FIR, 60 KHz lowpass) for a same sampling rate. It's 40% more! The more you keep the dithered noise from SACD the more the FLAC size inflates. Anyway if you absolutely want losslessly convert SACD, the better is to use WavPack lossless. From my experience size is similar to FLAC conversion (sometimes less, sometimes more with basic conversion options : 88200 KHz, fb2k default options). But for conveniance/compatibility FLAC is still better.
Wavpack Hybrid: one encoder, one encoding for all scenarios WavPack -c4.5hx6 (44100Hz & 48000Hz) ≈ 390 kbps + correction file WavPack -c4hx6 (96000Hz) ≈ 768 kbps + correction file WavPack -h (SACD & DSD) ≈ 2400 kbps at 2.8224 MHz