Lexicon 17 System - 88khz or 176khz? AIFF or FLAC?

[genr8er]

Picked up a 2012 Genesis w/ tech package a few weeks ago and I'm trying to assemble some good songs. A few questions, as I'm a complete noob when it comes to audio:

I found a site, www.HDTracks.com, where I can download some lossless audio files, but I haven't a clue what the best format is. I'd like to integrate into iTunes, but I used the search feature here and a few people said it's not a good idea to rely on the ipod's decoder. That eliminates AIFF.

Others have said that the FLAC files don't work very well either. Most of those threads are from 2010, however, so I wanted to ask those who have more recent systems.

Is there a preferred choice of FLAC or AIFF, and if so should i download in 88khz or 176khz?

Thanks in advance.

 

[snork]

FLAC is probably the more widely known lossless format. Since you specifically mention iTunes and iPod, neither will natively play/load FLAC or AIFF files. You'd have to convert them to Apple Lossless format first (.m4a). Then as you sort of found out, the limiting factor for sound quality will be your iPod/iPhone's built-in DAC since the Genny's iPod adapter utilizes the line-out (when using the iPod it is taking in an analog signal, not digital)

The long/short of it is basically if you want utilize an iPod or USB type device with digital audio files...your best bet would be to take the lossless file and transcode it to 320kbps mp3 using a good mp3 encoder (ie: Lame with v0 setting). That's the best you'll get from the Lexicon as it will only accept mp3s or wma @ 320kbps max. And then put it on a USB stick so the car does the digital-to-analog conversion, not your iPod.

The absolute best sound quality the Lexicon can produce will need good old fashion discs...DVD-A. If you really do appreciate the sound, purchase a few, you won't be disappointed.