24 bit / 192 kHz FLAC to Apple Lossless

[george-london]

Hi!

I have some studio quality audio files from Linn Records that are in 24 bit 192 kHz format.

I have converted these to Apple Lossless using the latest purchased version of dBpoweramp with the latest ALAC codec support.

iTunes does display the resulting file as 24bit 192 kHz at about 5.5 Mbps rate.

My question is: Does really Apple ALAC format support and can play 24 bit 192 kHz format? and if yes, is the conversion from FLAC to ALAC using dBpoweramp resulting to a TRUE 24bit 192 kHz file, or it just keeps the "headers" but in reality has down-sampled the file to 16 bit 44kHz file?

An official answer directly from dBpoweramp from support and not wild guesses would be appreciated since Marantz and Denon insist that these 24bit 192 kHz conversions are not genuine 24bit 192 kHz conversions but down sampled to 16 bit 44kHz.

Also, from a marketing point of view and since iTunes still dominates the market and since big companies like Marantz, Denon, Philips etc now support AIRPLAY, it is interesting to get an answer that might even increase sales of dBpoweramp as you can make this conversion a selling point!

Thank you in advance...

[Spoon]

Re: 24 bit / 192 kHz FLAC to Apple Lossless

>Does really Apple ALAC format support and can play 24 bit 192 kHz format?

Yes ALAC supports 24 192 and dBpoweramp can write those. Airplay would be limited to 16 44.

[george-london]

Re: 24 bit / 192 kHz FLAC to Apple Lossless

Hi Spoon and thank you for your quick reply.

I do trust your answer, but just to re-confirm, I like to make just sure since Apple has (as usual) no published specs for their AirPlay.

I read in an Apple forum that AirPlay will stream 24/192 from iTunes to a capable device, but not from an iPhone or iPod as their DAC only supports up to 16/44

Is that just wrong info?

If my PC audio card does support 24/192 and I play my music from iTunes to an AirPlay enabled Marantz say... NA7004 Network Audio Player, is it still the case that AirPlay downsamples the file automaticly to 16/44?

Just to make sure...

Thank you so much!

[Spoon]

Re: 24 bit / 192 kHz FLAC to Apple Lossless

My information might be a little old, so perhaps airplay does support 24 192, I tend to think it does not because wireless will struggle with such a high bit rate.

[george-london]

Hi and thank you again for your answer.

Airplay is not only used via wireless. For example both my PC and the Marantz unit are connected via 1Gbps LAN.

Also, just a suggestion. The same unit can play FLAC files directly using DLNA directly from either my PC or a server.

But it only supports up to 24/96 FLAC. So today, in order to play my 24/192 FLAC files, I converted them using dbPoweramp from FLAC to AIFF and brought the 192 kHz down to 96 kHz and then converted the 24/96 AIFF back to FLAC so I had a 24/96 FLAC at the end.

As a suggestion can dbPoweramp do a little convertor for downsampling FLAC in an easier way?

[Spoon]

Re: 24 bit / 192 kHz FLAC to Apple Lossless

FLAC >> FLAC and use the DSP effects 'Resample'