Author Topic: Resample flac files on the fly during phone sync  (Read 1471 times)

Tom C

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Long time Musicbee user but infrequent forum participant.

I have a pretty large music library almost exclusively flac.  I have a lot of hi-res files at 192K that I listen to on my desktop using WASAPI into a Schiit DAC and Amp.

I also used an LG V35 mobile as my portable listening device.  Since the LG had SD card support, I just synced the music directly to a 512gb SD card and I was on my way.

I am moving to a new Samsung S21 Ultra phone.  It's a nice phone but there is no SD card support so I only have about 180gb of space I can devote to music.

What I would like to do is to resample all of my 192K files down to 96K (maybe 44.1K) on the fly during the sync process to my phone.  I played with the on the fly conversion settings for the device and didn't see a way to make this happen.

The only thing I could think of doing would be to use a third party tool to resample the files in my sync playlist and create a separate library with the "optimized" files and sync from there.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

hiccup

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Have you checked Preferences > Devices ?
Select the device, then 'Configure' and then under the Settings tab you should find what you are looking for.



edit
I think I misread/understood what you are trying to do.
I assumed you wanted to convert your flac, and 192k mp3's to mp3 96k bitrate.
But after re-reading, it looks like you want to keep the flac format, only at a lower sampling rate?
Last Edit: December 22, 2021, 04:52:05 PM by hiccup

Tom C

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Yes, I do want to keep flac.

There did not seem to be any option to "down sample" doing the on the fly conversion when going flac to flac.

hiccup

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Yes, I do want to keep flac.
There did not seem to be any option to "down sample" doing the on the fly conversion when going flac to flac.
MusicBee indeed has no functionality to do sample rate conversion.
Perhaps there exists a plugin for that, but I am pretty sure there isn't one.

btw, If you are going to resample from 192kHz, it would be better to go for 48kHz instead of 44.1kHz.

Tom C

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@hiccup.  Thanks for the quick responses.  I was hoping there was something I wasn't seeing.  I will go with my converted library approach.

hiccup

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I will go with my converted library approach.
Or maybe wait if other forum members have some good ideas and suggestions?

A bit off-topic and on a strictly personal note:
Whenever I encounter any 24bit or dsd format files, I immediately convert them all to 16/44. (or 16/48)
I am personally convinced those formats bring no sound quality improvements whatsoever.
(and I have been accused of being an audiophile in the past, and I do own some 'seriously good' equipment)

And on my portable audio device I am perfectly content using mp3/320kbs or Opus at some lower bitrates.
I am guessing that same as you, the dac and the analogue components of the portable device, and the headphones (and/or lacklustre Bluetooth connection), and the listening circumstances will make it practically impossible to distinguish any relevant differences between e.g. even DSD256 and Opus > 256k.

Going from e.g. flac 24bit/192kHz to Opus 256kbps would result in roughly some 20x smaller file sizes.
So that's twenty times more music on the same available storage space, without losing any noticeable sound quality!
That's not a difficult choice for me…
Last Edit: December 22, 2021, 10:03:51 PM by hiccup

vincent kars

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Never tried it but in the File converter you can set all kind of parameters

https://www.mankier.com/1/flac says

--bps=#
Set bits per sample.

--sample-rate=#
Set sample rate (in Hz).

You might simply try adding these options to the fileconverter or do it manual at the command line to test.

Personally, I would sync to AAC when space is limited.
You might also try a SD card using a USB-C adapter.
Today there are wireless external HD's as well: https://www.amazon.com/Passport-Wireless-Portable-external-Drive/dp/B06X19D3ZB/ref=sr_1_5?keywords=wireless+hard+drive&qid=1640259153&sr=8-5