[flac-dev] Higher compression modes from Flake

[rappard at dds.nl]

On 16 March 2013 09:25, Brian Willoughby <brianw at sounds.wa.com> wrote:
>
> On Mar 14, 2013, at 13:24, Declan Kelly wrote:
>> I want the tightest possible compression, while remaining 100%
>> compatible with the subset that all known FLAC decoders can
>> successfully
>> stream or play now in cars, Hi-Fi units, "MP3 players" and cell
>> phones.
>> The out and out most widely supported lossless audio format could (and
>> should) have a better "bang for the buck" to the average user (who has
>> possibly been tempted away from MP3 or WMV or some Apple format).
>
> I have a vague recollection that going beyond -4 is incompatible with
> certain hardware players. Sorry I don't have a reference for this,
> but it seems like even -8 or --best are not 100% compatible with all
> decoders. Going beyond that to -9 or even -12 seems like it would be
> far less than 100% compatible.

I think you're referring to an old Squeezebox forum thread (now long
gone*) in which it was mentioned and consequently shown that anything
higher than the default of -5 could potentially run into playback
difficulties. Especially -8 was bad for some reason.

That said, I can't recall if a later firmware update solved the issue.
Also, are Squeezeboxes even being sold/manufactured anymore?

*: I thought the (now dead) link was mentioned somewhere on
Hydrogenaudio, but can't find it.

--Martin