Playing FLAC on the Lexicon

[Genesiswannabee]

I need an education on FLAC and my iphone and playing on the Lexicon .

Previous posts have indicated that what is coming out of the iphone into the Lexicon is a analog signal which was converted from digital by the iphone. Does that mean that I am kidding myself and wasting space by putting FLAC files that are in excess of 900K bitrate on my iphone and then playing them through a direct connect cable to a car audio system like the Lexicon even with an integrated cable.

What is the purpose then of lossless on a iphone?

 

[jkohn]

Do the ipod/iphone even support FLAC? I thought Apple only supported their own lossless codec.

The fact that the iPhone uses both the AUX and USB connectors leads me to believe USB is used only for control, and audio is piped through the analog AUX input. That means there's a digital-to-analog conversion happening at the iPhone, and then the analog signal is output through the headphone jack and into the Lexicon. I'm not sure what the internal path is from there, but I strongly suspect the Lexicon converts the signal back to digital for DSP processing (surround, EQ, volume, etc).

So you're not getting a "pure digital" audio path, by any means. That doesn't necessarily mean an MP3 would sound the same as lossless; but I would guess that given the multiple analog/digital conversions, along with the fact that a car is far from being an optimal listening environment in the first place, a high-bitrate MP3 such as Lame's VBR encoding would be pretty much indistinguishable from FLAC in that environment. And I say this as someone who prefers FLAC for more serious listening on my home stereo or headphones.

In fact I would guess that from an audio quality standpoint, your best option would be using a USB stick of VBR MP3's instead of the iPhone. That way the music is decoded directly by the Lexicon and you don't get the needless analog/digital conversions.

 

[rv65]

The audio is actually being routed through the iPod's analog line outs not the headphone jack.

 

[Genesiswannabee]

Is the audio analog as it is routed though the USB connection not the headphone jack? I thought it was digital?

I typically will put FLAC music into itunes with Fluke and then convert to Apple lossless format so it will synch with my iphone.

 

[jkohn]

Is the audio analog as it is routed though the USB connection not the headphone jack? I thought it was digital?

If the audio was digital, there would be no reason to use the Aux input connector on the Genesis, so I think the audio must be analog. Analog line-out from the iPod/iPhone is better than headphone output, but it still means extra analog/digital conversions taking place.

 

[Genesiswannabee]

I picked up my new iphone4 over weekend and asked tech at Genius Bar in Apple store what comes out of connection on bottom of phone. He said it was digital.