software to listen and manage large library of FLAC files

[nycaleksey]

Hi,

I have recently completed the switch from PC by replacing my home office PC with Mac Pro and I just love the experience however one issue remains. I am using EMU 0404 USB DAC with high quality headphones and I have a large library of FLAC audio files some of which are in 24/96 quality. In PC world I have used Foobar2000 talking via ASIO to 0404 and was able to playback FLAC files including 24/96 ones, manage the library and see the artwork embedded into the tracks. I am struggling to find the software solution in OS X. Does anyone have a similar task accomplished (managing lots of FLAC files including hi-rez ones and playback in full sample/bitrate on a quality USB DAC)?

Thank you!

 

[TwoBytes]

same soundcard! How's yours? Are you getting any pops/crackles? I have a few issues...

Anyway, try http://blowintopieces.com/fluke/
i haven't looked into it but i wanted to play my flac's with itunes. Other than that, you have VLC http://www.videolan.org/vlc/ which is great but not pretty.

 

[Teej guy]

In my experience, songs loaded into the iTunes library using Fluke take ages to load and the tags aren't read correctly.

Check out http://getsongbird.com/

Open source player called Songbird. I haven't installed it in awhile but it might be what you're looking for.

 

[ChrisA]

Hi,

I have recently completed the switch from PC by replacing my home office PC with Mac Pro and I just love the experience however one issue remains. I am using EMU 0404 USB DAC with high quality headphones and I have a large library of FLAC audio files....

You can convert the FLAC file to Apple Lossless format. There will be no reduction in quality as both formats are lossless. Once the files are converted they can go into iTunes. "XLD" will to the conversion for you automatically and place them in iTunes as they are converted.

iTunes can use your EMU box for output.

 

[andrei.barbuta]

You can convert the FLAC file to Apple Lossless format. There will be no reduction in quality as both formats are lossless. Once the files are converted they can go into iTunes. "XLD" will to the conversion for you automatically and place them in iTunes as they are converted.

iTunes can use your EMU box for output.

I also have a pretty collection of Flac files and this is an awesome solution. Thanks.
I do have one question, does Apple Lossless support 24/96? Sorry if it's a dumb ass question...i am not into technical musical stuff.

 

[nycaleksey]

You can convert the FLAC file to Apple Lossless format. There will be no reduction in quality as both formats are lossless. Once the files are converted they can go into iTunes. "XLD" will to the conversion for you automatically and place them in iTunes as they are converted.

iTunes can use your EMU box for output.

That's something I am seriously contemplating. However we are talking about close to a terabyte of FLAC files that are tagged with cover art/lyrics. Converting all of it will be quite a project. Moreover I am listening to the same FLACs using Popcorn Hour device that is connected to receiver in a different room and PCH does not support Apple Lossless unfortunately. I am thinking of converting music to ALAC and keeping FLAC originals. It will be kind of backup plan for the music. HDDs are so cheap these days that extra TB of storage is not a problem.

I am sure I will find some kind of a solution, I'm just surprised that I encounter this kind of problem in the Mac world which is supposed to be much more multimedia-friendly than PC. Foobar2000 with ASIO is an excellent music player that fits all my needs and I expected to find something even better in OS X.

 

[nycaleksey]

same soundcard! How's yours? Are you getting any pops/crackles? I have a few issues...

Anyway, try http://blowintopieces.com/fluke/
i haven't looked into it but i wanted to play my flac's with itunes. Other than that, you have VLC http://www.videolan.org/vlc/ which is great but not pretty.

Thanks, I'm using VLC now but I miss the ability to browse by Artist/Genre/Album/etc and to see the artwork during the playback.

I did not encounter any problems with USB 0404 working on Mac Pro1,1 - it worked fine from the beginning. I had so many issues on PC before I configured it to work without cracks/pops that I decided never to buy USB interfaces and only go with PCI ones. Fortunately in Mac environment it "just worked".

 

[gatepc]

If I was you I would convert them too apple lossless and manage in iTunes. There is some software out there that does this but I forget the name.