WHAT IS FLAC?... WHAT IS EXpanded Frequency... WHY ARE WE HERE?

 Hello and Welcome Back... I was asked the other day, What is a FLAC EX i use on this site?

First, i thought i would give a little music lesson..

The basic structure of a music CD is 16bit / 44.1 kHz / WAV... (Waveform Audio File)

16bits is the amount of information that is read to the laser and the 44.1 kHz is the frequency range.. Sometimes, some albums are sampled at 48 kHz which give a little bit of play in the frequency department. A better frequency range allows the music to 'Breath'.. 

WAV is the format that is applied to the CD from the factory..

A recent experiment by myself is that i can reproduce / copy a CD album using 96 kHz range / 16Bits, so this, in theory, allow even more spread of frequencies while retaining the standard 16bit of a CD and save on space.. Called 'Flac EX' (FLAC EXpanded Frequency)

For me personally, I can hear the difference, as the bass is deeper, mid-range is more detailed and highs are more crisp and pronounced..

The WAV part is a music Format and is where the FLAC part comes into it.. 

There are uncompressed waveforms / formats such as WAV / AIFF and are large in storage space.. 

Then there are compressed waveform formats such as FLAC /ALAC (Apple) and then, there's the bottom end of the scale which is whats called 'lossy' formats such as MP3 & AAC. (frequencies cut away so its basic)

For most of my website, i have been using the AAC format, Apple's version of MP3 mostly because of sound quality & storage space. 

With AAC / MP3, it can store a copy of a CD in around 100 - 300mb in size but the sound will be lacking bass, it will sound boxy, midrange can sound muddy and highs sound shrill... 

For most people, they wont even notice but for some people who strive for the best sound, the next step up is FLAC. 

FLAC is a compressed file format but in sound, is very close to the real thing aka the CD,  only, its slightly smaller in size.. Most FLAC albums in the 16bit / 44.1khz range will sit around the 300 - 500mb in size

This is where it gets interesting, as record company's are re-mastering albums using the master-tapes of the original recording used back in the day, in the recording sessions which were mostly record in 32bit tape.. They then can remaster the album in 24bit audio and 96khz or even 196khz frequency range... While i'm happy with 96khz, i can't tell the difference between 96 & 196khz and to me, just adds to the storage space.

So, to make the best of both worlds in sound, i now use the FLAC EX format in 16bit with a frequency range of 96khz

BUT WAIT, There's more..

Its all great having this wonderful sounding albums but no good if you cant reproduce that at the other end (that's you guys / gals).. 

Your playback needs to be able to recognize the format and be able to reproduce the sound i'm recording at my end so you can hear it at your end, and then, have you guys go..."WOW, this sounds LUSH, This is amazing, i gonna sell my soul to this"... Wait, that's not it.. I'm getting carried away..

But its true, you need to be able to hear the difference otherwise the hours and hours i spend preparing the albums, recording and proof listening, is all but a waste of time..

I listen to music in two ways, on a computer and on a phone...

The computer has a sound card and to get the most out of your sound-card, you need to set up the settings so it will sound 'lush'...First thing is to go into your sound-card settings usually under 'hardware and sound' in your computer settings, then, click on sound.. in the playback section, i have speakers, headphones and digital output... (see pic below)

Since all my listen is done via headphones, click on the headphones tab, it will then highlight in blue, then down the bottom right corner , you will see 'properties' (be sure to have your headphones plugged in)...once done, you will then see 4 or 5 tabs on the open menu, the one you want is the 'Advanced tab', (see pic below)

Once clicked, it will give you a drop down menu.. select in the 'default format' drop down, ' 2 channel - 24bit - 96000hz (studio quality) (see pic below)

And then press 'Apply' then 'OK' to exit out..

And there you have it, you can now listen to sweet sounds the way nature intended it to be...You may also need to shut down and restart your computer to take effect...

Sadly, most computers have whats called a 'High Pass Filter' on your soundcard and cuts off frequencies at 44.1khz

Most mobile phones use a process called 'Niquist Theorem' where the frequency's are cut by half, in theory, the files should play at 48khz (half of 96khz) which is still better that a CD at 44.1khz

The next step to music purity, would be upgrade your headphones, i use Sony Headphones, (MDR-ZX110) mostly because the frequency range the can reproduce.. 

These particular headphones do a frequency range of 12Hz to 22,000Khz... You get the most from your music, i recommend getting ones that do '8-12hz to 24,000hz' if frequency range, 

The lower the first number, the deeper the bass will sound, anything lower than 10hz, you will feel the sound rather than hear.. great in theory but can give you a nasty headache... the other side is the 20,000 - 24,000hz range. this is the high end, the higher, the more crisp it will sound...

Most standard headphones will do a range of 20hz to 20khz which is just basic and its going to sound generic.. Some people couldn't give a shit and are happy with that, but if you want the best, this is what to look for in a set of good headphones..

For mobile users, Android supports FLAC, so you can use VLC player app or something like that...I use the Onkyo music player, it sounds amazing aaaaand, the best thing about android is that most android phones, have Dolby Atmos, but that's another story for another day..

Apple, as far as i know, still does not have FLAC decoding / support but if you use a app like the Onkyo HF Player, it will decode and play FLAC files with ease..(software decode rather than hardware decode)

So there you have it, a quick rundown on what a FLAC file is & What the EXpanded Frequency files are..

As for Why Are We Here??

Well, I Have a Theory, It Goes Like This...