Can the n800 play FLAC audio format?
 

I ve heard recently of this open source FLAC format with each song being about 50mb (Normally 5mb @128kbps) . WIll this be playable in anyway on the n800?


Thanks

Re: Can the n800 play FLAC audio format?
 

Yes. It requires mplayer and (AFAIK) there is no GUI for that. You have to run it from command line.

Re: Can the n800 play FLAC audio format?
 

MediaBox provides a GUI for mplayer and plays FLAC nicely.

Re: Can the n800 play FLAC audio format?
 

Wouldn't it be better to convert it to ogg or mp3 (192kbs or higher)? it is not that you can tell the difference (quality) from the n800 speakers that it comes with or with high end earphones

Re: Can the n800 play FLAC audio format?
 

Well, for normal people like you and me, Ogg would be perfectly OK. I'm happy with Ogg + N810 + earphones. Heck, I even use my N810 with a FM transmitter in the car. But some people actually can hear a difference between a hi-quality Ogg and a FLAC.

Re: Can the n800 play FLAC audio format?
 

Audio people claim that if there is any compression loss whatever, one can hear the difference. Note: FLAC is compressed, but lossless, unlike OGG or mp3.

I personally don't care if there is a difference. What i care about is artifacts. Vinyl probably taught me that. 128kb mp3's are fine for me. YMMV.

Re: Can the n800 play FLAC audio format?
 

MPD can play FLAC.

Re: Can the n800 play FLAC audio format?
 

Some study says that exposure to lossy compressed music can cause hearing loss. No idea if this is true. But the sound is missing pieces and this may really strain the ear, even if you don't hear any difference.
But I still don't use much FLAC because the files are too big for me.

Re: Can the n800 play FLAC audio format?
 

Since the memory card becomes cheaper and cheaper, FLAC and APE are better choice than 320kbps MP3 files, aren't they?

Re: Can the n800 play FLAC audio format?
 

The N800's audio chip is pretty good as far as mobile devices go, but without a dedicated quality sound card I assure you you won't be able to hear a difference between 320 kbps MP3 and FLAC, no matter what kind of headphones you use.

The only real reason I see for trying to play FLACs is to avoid the hassle of transcoding into a lossy format if your main collection is in FLAC.

Re: Can the n800 play FLAC audio format?
 

I have xmms installed on my n800, with the flac module. Don't have any flac files handy to test... Works on the desktop, so why not?

Re: Can the n800 play FLAC audio format?
 

Not everything is about what you consiously hear though... I find myself enjoying the music more when listening to lossless formats rather than lossy. Try it. Play a few songs in say 320kbps mp3 and then as a flac and go back and forth a few times. (Same songs in both formats of course) Then ask yourself, "Which would I listen to for a whole day?" and "Which is more/less annoying, which is more/less pleasant on the ears and to my body." and "Which makes me tap my foot and hum along?"

Vague? You bet! Same questions are good when buying stereo equipment btw... Would you rather buy the system with the brilliant mid-range, or the system that makes you tap your foot?

Re: Can the n800 play FLAC audio format?
 

There are benefits to lossless audio.

With a usb-snd kernel module and something like the Headroom Total Bithead (a portable amp), it should be possible to output digitally perfect sound to a HIGH QUALITY pair of headphones, earbuds, or even a home entertainment system (with the appropriate amp). Once you've listened to high quality audio, there's no going back to iPod-grade earbuds!

There are other types of audio that generally suffer from lossy compression. I frequently listen to binaural beats, which contain frequencies outside of the consciously perceptible spectrum of sound, but are apparently still 'heard' by the brain. I've read that compression tends to eliminate these frequencies or distort them sufficiently for them to lose effect. This is why I *need* FLAC/WAVE for certain types of listening.

Individuals looking encrypt data into an audio stream may also run into new challenges with a lossy format.

Also, I have noticed that lossless audio has a less harsh effect on my system. For some reason I find MP3's mentally draining to listen to after a while (even if I can't hear the distortion, which I often can), but a well amplified lossless format is a different story: it's softer somehow. For my favorite tracks/albums, FLAC is must. Generally half the size of WAVE and all of the quality.

One last benefit is computational cost. FLAC is supposed to be very computationally light to compress and decompress (eg. stores predictable functions in the codec for quick decompression). It's less of a benefit when compared with specialized hardware used to handle common lossy computations, but it's still is nice to know that it requires few cpu cycles. Of course, the larger file size equate to more drive seeks, so this isn't an intuitively reliable measurement of implied battery life conservation.

Here's a link to the FLAC FAQ which has a very comprehensive breakdown of the format.

Of course, for casual listeners, the mp3/ogg/aac/etc formats are quite acceptable. But for those that listen a lot, I recommend you to find a good audio setup and have a listen. You may be jolted (like me) out of low quality audio country, into pure listening bliss!

Maybe then FLAC may seem just a bit more appealing! ;)


}:^)~
YARR!

Long-shanks Corrupt

Re: Can the n800 play FLAC audio format?
 

Seems the capt'n and I are on the same page :)

//Bow

Re: Can the n800 play FLAC audio format?
 

I have to admit I don't really hear any difference between FLAC and high quality lossy compression. But: I do experience problems converting from one lossy format into another. (For example I used to have MP3-files, converted them to OGG one day, then later I found AAC is better for my mobile phone etc etc ...)

So I now keep music as FLAC on my computer and can - if necessary - always re-encode to other formats without quality loss. (Without any quality loss that I notice, that is.)

Re: Can the n800 play FLAC audio format?
 

The matter of fact that some people can hear the difference is psychoacoustic processing involved in MP3/VORBIS coding. If there weak guitar string touch and the drum are simultaneously go in my ear, I can concentrate on the guitar and hear it. But If such a music is processed with MP3, I could not hear guitar even if I concentrate all my attention, because it has been swept out.

Re: Can the n800 play FLAC audio format?
 

I have recently started ripping new CDs to FLAC, and I think it really feels better. It could just be imagination, but the sound got so clear. Placebo or not, I think I'll stay with FLAC. :)

Re: Can the n800 play FLAC audio format?
 

That's what it boils down to though... if it feels better, it is better.

My only problem is that I can't find a good flac-solution on the n800. Using mediabox, it sorts and tags correctly from the flac-tags, but the interface is sometimes a bit slow, and there's occasionally a crackling or popping when listening to flacs (might be processor-load or something, dunno). When I listen through the built-in mediaplayer with the flac-plugin, I get no crackling, but some songs stutter for no apparent reason, and I don't get any tags or sorting. Have to go to "all songs" and just step back and forth.

Annoying. But worth it, for the more pleasant aural experience of flac ;)

Re: Can the n800 play FLAC audio format?
 

I have an n800, a total bithead, and Grado SR225s. The DAC and amplification on the total bithead is phenomenal when listening from my PC. Headphone amps aren't about being loud, it's about correctly amplifying the waveform and not running out of energy when some bass note hits and uses up all the available power in the measely output stage of the amp.

If I can get the USB audio working on the n800 this will be awesome. Has anyone actually played FLAC back from the n800? It can be pretty CPU intensive to playback.

Re: Can the n800 play FLAC audio format?
 

Yes, use "mplayer," as opposed to "media player." mplayer is the player they're talking about in the previous posts.

Joe

Re: Can the n800 play FLAC audio format?
 

That's the holy grail for quite a lot of us on here and over on head-fi. Seems getting n8x0 to play nice with a usb-dac is beyond even the most persistent attempts to tame the beast so far though.

I'd pay good money for a solution like that if it ever pops up. Would love to go n800/flac->usb dac->good cans.

Re: Can the n800 play FLAC audio format?
 

Yeah me too. It's funny to get on a train when others are carrying an ipod Nano, I've got a freaking CD player strapped to a Total Bithead playing into my ER4s. :D

The n800 / n810 seems to be the best candidate out there to get this to work. n810 may be needed for more CPU speed. But maybe with a USB DAC some of the processing gets offloaded...

Re: Can the n800 play FLAC audio format?
 

If you have OS2008 on your N800, then your tablet is already matching any N810 in terms of processing power. Frequency scaling up to 400 MHz came with that OS release.

Re: Can the n800 play FLAC audio format?
 

This thread got me started experimenting a bit... I converted a bunch of stuff into OGG at 500kbps, and actually, I think that for me that may be the best choice for music on the n800. Flac-playing isn't very convenient as I've stated earlier in the thread, seems the ogg implementation through either Canola or YouAmp is much more usable. The sound quality is excellent, to the point that it actually feels slightly -better- than flac for some reason, and the handling quick and easy.

Since ogg is lossy, and flac isn't I can't explain why they'd sound better, but there may be some issue with flac simply not being well implemented?

Now if only that usb-dac connection became reality...!

Re: Can the n800 play FLAC audio format?
 

my experience on a 600MHz via x86 CPU is that flac takes much less CPU power to decode (at least a factor of 2) than ogg vorbis. That was using gstreamer codecs.

there may be variations between x86 and arm, but i can't imagine the n800 having any trouble playing flac if it can play vorbis in software. if the decoding can be pushed to the DSP then it would be even better.

Re: Can the n800 play FLAC audio format?
 

I can but agree. That's why I first went to flac.

But when I switch between ogg and flac, still I'd say there's something I like more about the ogg at the moment. It may all be placebo of course, since the overall handling and userexperience of using oggs works better.

Re: Can the n800 play FLAC audio format?
 

And no, please, disregard my last few posts. Flac, is much nicer. A few more listening tests, and I'm back to Flac, warts in the implementation and all. My new shiny ogg-files all produce a hiss in the background which isn't there when playing the flac-files. Strange, but true.

Re: Can the n800 play FLAC audio format?
 

Is vorbis (that's the name of audio codec which is typically used in ogg container format) decoder compiled in low quality mode? That could explain audible artifacts: http://www.humboldt.co.uk/2006/02/vorbis-on-dm642.html

Re: Can the n800 play FLAC audio format?
 

I'm now experimenting with somewhat lower ogg bitrates, and the results are encouraging. So I don't think it's a problem across all ogg/vorbis settings, but rather certain levels of compression perhaps.

Back to my trials!

Re: Can the n800 play FLAC audio format?
 

And what about adding flac support into platform ? it's just a gstreamer codec element isnt it ?

same for lossless codecs in table:

http://wiki.hydrogenaud.io/index.php...mparison_Table

Re: Can the n800 play FLAC audio format?
 

Geez rzr
I think the people you are talking to are dead by now!

I didn't even know this thread existed!

Huh!

well...generally speaking ..I have had no prob with flac or ogg on my n8x0's...

As far as audio goes ...for playback I tend to use xmms and as well ..now...oscp...and both have (seemingly) no prob playing flac or ogg ...

in fact for xmms there are extension packs available in the repo (WHICH is a 3rd party repo by the way...which SHOULD be brought under the official maemo repo umbrella...hint-hint...) for such codecs...

I believe mplayer.. even kmplayer... also... would have no problem playing such files...(I imagine)....

Re: Can the n800 play FLAC audio format?
 

Hahahahhahahhahahahhah xD
Yep endsormeans, those people are dead for sure and also I, with so much digging in n8x0 subforums didn't know of this thread existance :)

Yes, Xmms can paly almost everything that hardware will let him :) FLAC is now confirmet by 2 people, that aren't dead and their n8x0 series aren't for sure :)

Im not sure what repo and time I came along with xmms but it is without a doubt the best music player for maemo 4 platform. I can dig it out, but Im pretty sure that endsormeans can fix it sooner without having to check his resources :)

Re: Can the n800 play FLAC audio format?
 

check gronmayer's 3rd party repo catalogue list.
xmms and all it's goodies are hiding in there...
just type in the search field "xmms"

I enjoy oscp....
but I do admit ...having full fledged xmms on my n8x0's is hard to beat...

pity the n900 doesn't have xmms available...
ah well...no device is perfect eh?
:D