Buying FLAC files online seems harder than it should be

[AdamR]

This has probably been covered many times elsewhere, but here we go again.

 

Today I had a frustrating experience. I decided I wanted to buy an album online. (David Gray's "Mutineers", to be precise)

 

I already have Spotify Premium and I can stream this whenever I like. But I decided I wanted a copy, and in FLAC no less.

 

I don't much care about 24/196 or other HD formats, since my hearing is that of a middle-aged human, not a dog. But I digress. 16-bit 44.1KHz FLACs are just fine by me.

 

Do you think I could find anywhere that would take my money? 

 

A couple of years ago, I dug out the 500-odd CDs from the boxes that I'd stored them in back in 2005 when I ripped them all to MP3.  I re-ripped them all to FLAC (well, all the ones that over the passage of 30-odd years I'm still not embarrassed to admit to ownership of!). I would have thought "in this day and age" (the rallying cry of animated fossils the world over) it would not be necessary for me to actually go to the store and buy the CD so I could get a FLAC copy.

 

This still seems to be harder than it needs to be. I've built all my own gear and I don't want to be putting compressed audio through it, if at all avoidable!

[Marc]

You're not alone, and I have found similar problems recently.

I put it down to the rise of Spotify, and in particular Tidal. We're heading towards a cloud based music system now whether we like it or not.

Music download sites (legal) will continue to disappear I think.

 

I do find a lot of good artists on Soundcloud and buy albums from there still. But generally they're very little known independent artists.

[Guest Proshchay]

For me, personally, physical media will always be king. That said, I will eventually buy a high end server/streamer, connect that to the excellent dac in my Vitus cdp & rip my library. But that means I still own the physical media, can read and enjoy the liner notes & play the cd in my car or just for fun whenever I like. Downloads are soulless imho. 

Edited July 6, 2018 by Proshchay

[AdamR]

If I want something with soul, I'll buy the vinyl. If I go to a live gig I'll buy the vinyl - usually in such cases there's a card with a download code, and you can get the download in FLAC or MP3.

 

Having the vinyl and the FLAC is the best of both worlds. I don't much care for having the physical CD though, a FLAC download would be fine for me. I put all that stuff on my media server anyway, then I can stream it.

 

Just seems to be a bit difficult to find somewhere that'll let you download FLACs unless they're on Bandcamp. Which some but not all are.

[Guest Proshchay]

If you want to own the music, buying physical media is still the gold standard imho. However streaming services like Tidal provide a good size music catalogue and good sound if you're happy to pay a subscription fee & not own the music. Personally i'm a bit old school & haven't thus far haven't got on the streaming bandwagon. Though I rip my favorite albums via AIFF to my laptop/Iphone for background music & music 'on the go'. As I mentioned, I may buy a high end server one day when my cd collection starts to get out of hand. But till then i'm happy to keep spinning those shiny silver discs :).

[AdamR]

Yep. I run a plex mediaserver at home and ripped all my CDs into it. Around 500-odd. Works well. Streams FLAC files uncompressed within my network and transcodes to 192kbps on the fly for streaming out to the internet.

 

At the moment, I'm just using a Chromecast Audio (with a homebrew power supply) as the client (don't knock it until you try it, these things punch above their weight, and you can also take a diigtal output from them and add a DAC if you want.)

 

The FLAC files sound noticeably better through it than compressed, no surprise there. (You have to make sure you go into the settings for it and enable "full dynamic range" else it compresses the audio suitable for tiny speakers)

One thing I don't need is more CDs filling up my environment. I am entirely happy to have local copies of the FLAC files without a physical media to carry them... I save my possessiveness and nostalgia for my vinyl collection. Now THOSE are my treasures!

Edited July 8, 2018 by Adam Rosner
corrected typo

[Dunnersfella1553552754]

I buy from HD Tracks from time to time, but I have to utilise my VPN to do so.

I still buy CD's and rip them to AIFF / Flac and MP3 (for my partners car) and run them via Plex if I need to stream through out the house / while I'm away from home. It's actually a very handy way for me to double check my digital music library when I'm in Real Groovy etc, as Plex and its content can be accessed anywhere you can get 3G/4G or WiFi.

I will move to a Roon server at some point, the software is truly excellent.

[Guest Proshchay]

Interesting @AdamR. You've obviously thought that setup through thoroughly & got it working for your brilliantly. Congrats! If it draws you into the music and makes you happy, you're job's done.

 

I understand where you're coming from with your extensive collection of cd's and vinyl, hence I can understand your interest in downloads. My cd collection is a lot smaller, so i'm happy to keep buying audiophile and garden variety rbcd's to build up my collection.

 

I know vinyl collections are generally treasured more than cd collections, which get sold off in cheap lots or given away. Though in recent years there have been some amazing releases on Mofi Gold, UHQCD, XRCD24, SHM, K2HD & DXD which have amazing SQ. Some of my audiophile cd's can mix it with decent vinyl pressings in terms of resolution, meat on the bones & realism.

I digress. Though buying a media server is a low priority for me, I would go for a high end server/streamer transport as I mentioned & use the excellent dac in my Vitus cdp. If I were in the market today, i'd probably go for a Digibit Aria Piccolo + which I tested in my recent review of the Vitus RI-101.

[AdamR]

9 hours ago, Bodhi said:

Interesting @AdamR. You've obviously thought that setup through thoroughly & got it working for your brilliantly.

 

Well, up to a point. Thanks for your kind words but at the end of the day a Chromecast's still just a Chromecast. I would like to have a better digital front-end, but I've been focussing on my vinyl up to now. That and building amps.

 

I need to try a few different things. In the early days of digital I noted a lot more difference between components than there is now, in terms of sound quality. In 1990 I upgraded from a Technics CD player to a Denon costing 3x as much and the sound was night-and-day. (The music grew "corners and edges") Then I added a Musical Fidelity "Digilog" (one of the earliest ones in the black box) and experienced the same uplift again. Now, the humble Chromecast (with my own power supply on it) will easily eat that combo alive.

 

Maybe when I get finished the next amp, I'll experiment with digital sources again... never ending journey

[Guest Proshchay]

@AdamR Yes most of us have to prioritise our audio purchases. Still I recall I got 18 years use out of my JVC XL-Z1050 cd player. That spinner only cost me about $1.5kAUD back in 1992. The JVC was well built, had a good transport mech and JVC K2 processing. It had a very smooth, clean sound & brought me mega joy. It's not always about the bucks you spend, but being content with what you have & just playing music!

 

You're right, there are a lot more manufacturers, and less inovation today compared to the heady days of digital audio in the 80's and 90's. Though it's fair to say technology has significantly advanced in the last 26 years; engineering tolerances, dac chips, parts quality and psu's have all taken a big leap forward.

Edited July 9, 2018 by Proshchay

[audiofeline]

Ten or more years ago I made a prediction (to myself) that by, or before, the year we are in that with fast internet speeds and ultra-big-and-cheap disk space that mp3 would be a historical oddity, and FLAC (or another truly lossless format) would be standard.  Well, where I live we are still living with the promise that fast internet will be delivered and mp3 still rules.  I guess I forgot to factor in that people like us who appreciate quality music are in the minority, and the vast majority simply don't care.