transferring HD Tracks to iPod--utility to dowsample to 24/48?

I've recently starting accumulating hi-rez FLAC files, mostly from HD Tracks.

As an iPod does not (at least with standard settings) play sample rates above 48 kHz, I would like to downsample hi-res Apple Lossless files to 24/48 for iPod use.

I have been converting my FLAC files to Apple Lossless using dbPowerAmp, but do not see a way to downsample 24/96 (etc.) to 24/48.

Does anyone know of a Windows utility that will do this?

I do have a few albums such as Achtung Baby remaster that I purchased in 24/48 and copied to my iPod, and they sound fantastic. To my ears 24/48 is nothing to sneeze at and certainly much better than an Apple Lossless CD rip.

Thanks in advance for any advice.

 

I use this Windows tool - it's free for personal use and has a resample and gain option. I use it for hi-res FLAC to 48khz AAC transcodes:

http://www.mediacoderhq.com/audio/

Note: Their web site seems to be down, atm. It was definitely up last week as I had started using this only a week ago. The gain option is nice as it helps corrects clipping when the source is brickwalled - I usually drop the gain either .5 or 1dB for most contemporary pop/rock CD rips. One con I found with this program is that it freezes on occasion, for reasons unknown. I use the x64 version.

In Linux, I was using gnormalize for this same process but I recently moved my main system back to Windows.

 

The web site is back up and I was able to download the 32 bit version (I have to use that version on my XP PC). I'm receiving some errors and may have to reinstall or reboot.

I'll probably have to wait until tonight to look at it some more, but, if working properly, certainly should work for me.

Thanks.

 

Keep in mind that the Ipod/iPhone downsamples 24/48 files to 16/48 before it hits your ears.

I do all my vinyl rips in 24/48 so I can easily dump them onto my iPhone as well as play them on my home system.

When I obtain 24/96 recordings, I simply dump each track into Audacity and then save them as 24/48 files...Easy breezy!

Kevin

 

i use 'r8brain' for just such emergencies.

 

r8brain is working well for me. It's a few extra steps converting FLAC to WAV, then downsampling, then converting to Apple lossless, but r8brain is easy to use, as is dbPoweramp (used for the transfers to/from .wav.)

I find it surprising the iPod downsamples 24/48 to 16/48, simply because the hi-res files on iPod sound significantly better. I have a 24/48 version of Tom Petty's Mojo on an old iPod Classic (downloaded as a bonus from the Blu-Ray purchase), and it blows away the Apple Lossless CD rip.

I may research this a bit....maybe some iPods don't downsample(?)

 

Second this one, great utility.

 

If the 24/48 download "blows away" the CD rip on an iPod of all devices, either it's a different mastering or there is something wrong with your CD ripping setup.

 

if iphones/ ipods just output at 16-48 anyway, would it make sense to just convert it to 16-48 instead of 24-48 to save disc space? I use XLD to convert any high res files. thx

 

iPhones & iPods will deliver 24/48 if you send the signal through the Lightning/30-pin connector, it's only limited through the headphone out.

 

thank you!

 

Mojo was mastered completely differently for hi-rez than it was for CD. I suspect you are hearing the differences in mastering (which are pretty obvious) rather than differences that are attributable to bit depth, at least in this case.

http://floweringtoilet.blogspot.com/2010/07/tom-petty-heartbreakers-mojo-play-it.html

 

48khz is a huge improvement over 44. That's why all your digital recordings that sound better on vinyl do...,they were cut from 48khz machines. The but depth is mostly meaningless for pop/rock distribution (but huge for the recording end of it)....16/88 is basically the smallest lossless file one can deliver, IME....but, 16/48 is closer to that the it is to 16/44.

As to the tool, it looks like you're handled...I personally would use something that uses SOX on the backend. xLD is what I use on the Mac, or there's a few SOX GUI apps....certainly some freebie on Windows uses it, no?

For the Petty--yes, it's the mastering changes that make the bigger diff vs CD....but, there's also no reason to ever deliver 44.1 as a file unless the fool engineer used it to record. it should die with the legacy discs that required it. Even when they do a MFiT 48khz AAC, it beats the CD. so, the sample rate isn't trivia.

Part of why I think Pono (device not store) is doomed is that every iThing is already capable of 24/48, and I'm not sure that for portable headphone listening, there's any point in going above that. We should be tracking at 88 or 96....delivering the full 24/88 as the HD download....and 48khz AAC (which dynamically allocates bits as needed) as the convenience format. There's really no good excuse for anything else. Redbook FLAC is bigger than the 48khz AAC and doesn't sound as good....and never sounds as good as the studio master on a good system.

/mini rant off

 

foobar2000 can do it, so can dBpoweramp, but I'm not sure if these are on the same quality level as r8brain.

 

I'm pretty sure all files sold in the iTunes Store are 16-bit, 44.1khz. As to whether or not 48khz is a huge improvement over 44.1khz, what evidence is there to prove that? I don't think I'd say Pono is doomed either. The hardware is much better than any iPod, just as my two FiiO players are. Again, I'd like to see a proper ABX test proving that 48khz AAC sounds better than CD-quality FLAC.