Convert HiRes to Redbook?

[deaconblues74]

Hi folks. Longtime user, first-time poster.
Is Winamp able to convert high-resolution (24 bit, 96 khz and above) FLAC files down to 16/44 Redbook standard FLAC files? I've tried the basic conversion, but the files remain 24 bit... which my portable device doesn't support, of course.

[kzuse]

Try the WAV converter and check the "convert to format" box. There select 16 bit/44 kHz. You will then get a WAV file which you can then convert with the FLAC converter to FLAC.

It's not quite comfortable, but I guess it will work. Note that the PCM format converter of Windows is used for the conversion to 16 bit and the downsampling, and this converter has a miserable quality, compared to professional audio software, which does dithering and noise shaping etc.

But it is worth a try. Be sure to listen to the resulting interim WAV files before encoding them to FLAC to ensure that there are no significant noises/hisses and no Aliasing / "Imaging" artifacts (ringing sounds in the higher frequencies).

If so, the Windows PCM format converter is simply unusable for this purpose.

If you notice ringing aliasing frequencies, you could also try to use the PCM converter just to do the 24bit -> 16bit conversion but leave the 96 kHz Sample rate untouched. Then do this downsampling in the FLAC converter itself (as you already did). Maybe this is better quality.

This is all I can say how to achieve this goal with Windows and Winamp on-board facilities.

Good luck!

Best regards,
kzuse

[deaconblues74]

Well, dumb-ass me. Of course that's how to do it!

Thank you for your response; the shamed, idiot feeling I now have is all on me.

[deaconblues74]

Well, now I'm getting an error message when I try to convert to .wav: Cannot open encoder. I've never seen this before. Does anybody have any ideas?