NancyJohnson Posted April 12, 2019 Share Posted April 12, 2019 I was wondering whether any of my learned friends would be able to help me out with an audio conversion problem. Recently, I was given a drive containing audio files encoded in FLAC format at 24 bit/96khz, while I can listen to these on my PC without issue, I'd love to shoot them around my house and listen on my assorted Sonos units, but Sonos only supports 24 bit/48khz maximum. Any idea how to downconvert; MP3/320kbps is fine. I have dropped the files into my DAW but while I can batch convert/output/save to MP3, the maximum bitrate I can save to is 128kbps, despite forcing the DAW to encode at a CBR of 320kbps. Curiously, I can save the FLAC to a WAV, but the files are unplayable on the Sonos system (despite other WAVs playing fine). Anyone got any ideas? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BassBunny Posted April 12, 2019 Share Posted April 12, 2019 (edited) There are tons of free converters available. A quick trip to Mr Google with "flac to mp3 converter free" will give loads of choice. I use Media Human as it's a simple Drag and Drop interface. The saving method you mentioned in your post might not have saved the "tags" and that might have an impact on Sonos. you may have to do some tag editing anyway after the conversion but from memory Media H does the job fine. Edited April 12, 2019 by BassBunny Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jean-Luc Pickguard Posted April 12, 2019 Share Posted April 12, 2019 (edited) Mediahuman audioconverter works well for me & is free to use. I use the MacOS version, but a windows version is also available. https://www.mediahuman.com/audio-converter/ Edited April 12, 2019 by Jean-Luc Pickguard Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dannybuoy Posted April 12, 2019 Share Posted April 12, 2019 Not sure what's going on with your DAW then, perhaps installing the LAME MP3 encoder might help. Can your DAW encode to 24-bit/48khz FLAC at all? If you save the FLAC direct to WAV, it will probably still be 96khz, hence why the Sonos will still have trouble with it. You DAW should be able to downsample to 48khz though, then I would still recommend FLAC over WAV has it saves a lot of space with no affect on quality. For most, using a DAW for this would be overkill, but if you already have one you may as well try and get it working! I have a copy of dBPowerAmp that I use for ripping CDs and converting to FLAC, but it's not free. MusicBee is my favourite music player app and that supports ripping and conversion, perhaps give that a shot? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KevB Posted April 12, 2019 Share Posted April 12, 2019 Format factory is a free bit of software that will do conversion of many audio and video formats, including flac to mp3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NancyJohnson Posted April 12, 2019 Author Share Posted April 12, 2019 1 hour ago, dannybuoy said: Not sure what's going on with your DAW then, perhaps installing the LAME MP3 encoder might help. Can your DAW encode to 24-bit/48khz FLAC at all? If you save the FLAC direct to WAV, it will probably still be 96khz, hence why the Sonos will still have trouble with it. You DAW should be able to downsample to 48khz though, then I would still recommend FLAC over WAV has it saves a lot of space with no affect on quality. For most, using a DAW for this would be overkill, but if you already have one you may as well try and get it working! I have a copy of dBPowerAmp that I use for ripping CDs and converting to FLAC, but it's not free. MusicBee is my favourite music player app and that supports ripping and conversion, perhaps give that a shot? I have an age-old version of Winamp (go me!) that I use; I'm just comfortable with everything about it. Amazingly, it seems to play just about everything and I doubt it's had any kind of plug-in update for a decade! Ripping used to be Audiograbber, but I needed to update tags all the time (MP3Tag), now I use Windows Media Player. Can't actually remember the last time I actually ripped a CD to be honest. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fleabag Posted April 12, 2019 Share Posted April 12, 2019 Would something like Format Factory convert them ok ? I use FF for a lot of stuff, including vid files Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NancyJohnson Posted April 12, 2019 Author Share Posted April 12, 2019 Media Human works fantastically. So easy to use. Thanks to @BassBunny and @Jean-Luc Pickguard for the heads up. I am in NIN - The Fragile; Deviations 1 heaven. Maaaaaarvelous! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Balcro Posted April 13, 2019 Share Posted April 13, 2019 (edited) AUDACITY - If you haven't already done so, you need to install the "lame" encoder for Audacity. Go here :- https://manual.audacityteam.org/man/installing_and_updating_audacity_on_windows.html#winlame Once up & running, Import the FLAC file --> Select "Export as MP3". When "Save" dialog box appears with "Format Options", select "Insane" or "Extreme" quality. Other options:- Ashampoo (ashampo.de English) - Music Studio 2018 - the free version should do it. Alternatively, Music Studio 6 or 7 - short term trial versions. Edited April 14, 2019 by Balcro Even more detail 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tauzero Posted April 13, 2019 Share Posted April 13, 2019 Also Switch Sound File Converter, free for home use. You can do batch conversions with that. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnR Posted April 13, 2019 Share Posted April 13, 2019 dBpoweramp. You have to pay for it but it is well worth it. https://www.dbpoweramp.com/ 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaveFry Posted September 21, 2020 Share Posted September 21, 2020 Good old VLC can do this : https://www.vlchelp.com/convert-audio-format/ 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BassTractor Posted September 21, 2020 Share Posted September 21, 2020 (edited) 15 hours ago, Heith said: 7i'm using this tool called [...], it works really good and supports many formats and platforms, may be you want to tyr it This must be spam. This is an old thread, so I guess the honoured new member did a text search just for spamming us. Edited September 21, 2020 by BassTractor Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oxnard Montalvo Posted September 22, 2020 Share Posted September 22, 2020 Here’s a list of batch conversion applications. Maybe something here will suit you. https://listoffreeware.com/software-batch-convert-flac-to-mp3-windows/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WinterMute Posted November 15, 2021 Share Posted November 15, 2021 XLD has always work very well for converting FLAC from my Bluesound Vault 2 to either ALC or AAC for the MacBook Pro. https://tmkk.undo.jp/xld/index_e.html 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
i.clarke Posted November 17, 2021 Share Posted November 17, 2021 https://www.dbpoweramp.com/ Conversions to almost all formats just a right-click away Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
12stringbassist Posted November 18, 2021 Share Posted November 18, 2021 I use freeac. Never had an issue. Drag and drop your flacs into the program and press one button and they go to the format you choose. All you have to do is set it up once under options to do mp3's @ 320. https://www.freac.org/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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