Apple Lossless (ALAC) playback

[Luke Spacehopper]

Hi,

Simple question really: does HiFi Cast play ALAC files? By which I mean Apple Lossless (ie lossless .M4A files, not the lossy .M4A versions)?

I've looked on the HiFi Cast page on Google Play and searched this forum but can't find a straight, definitive answer.

I don't think it does, because I've copied files as a test onto my phone (LG Nexus 5x) and HiFi Cast just doesn't see them at all.

However, if there's something I'm missing - an option I need to enable or something - it would be great to know.

I'm just talking about storing and playing local files, no servers involved or anything.

Thanks.

[shell...@gmail.com]

FWIW and pending an official answer ...

I tested - it's not playing ALAC.

[Hi-Fi Cast Developer]

Hi,

The app tries to play them but it will only work if the manufacturer of the phone/tablet has included an ALAC decoder. This depends on the make/model of the device.

[shell...@gmail.com]

FWIW - some other players do have in-built ALAC decoding. Bubble has transcoding.

[Luke Spacehopper]

Thanks everyone.

I've been using the BubbleUPNP for its transcoding of ALAC to WAV, so that I can play lossless to Chromecast Audio, but that doesn't do gapless for Chromecast Audio.

I really, really like the gapless feature of HiFi Cast for Chromecast Audio, but it would be ideal if it could also do this with ALAC.

I guess gapless from lossless would just be beyond the capabilities of most mobile devices currently.

I'm just one of those weird people who, despite not being able to tell the difference between lossless and 320kbps MP3, still prefers lossless for that smug placebo effect!

[Luke Spacehopper]

OK so I just tested my Lenovo Tab 4 and amazingly, that does play ALAC via HiFi Cast, so it must have native ALAC support.

Given that BubbleUPnP does transcoding into WAV from Chromecast Audio, It seems to me that I'm just a step away from getting lossless and gapless into Chromecast Audio.

Is there any way to route the gapless output from HiFi Cast, into the (local, on the Android device) BubbleUPnP renderer, and in turn have that output to Chromecast?

I have tried this, selecting the BubbleUPnP local server, but it either plays from HiFi Cast to the local renderer or, if I then select Chromecast, plays the file locally from BubbleU, not HiFi Cast. So I can do HiFi Cast to Bubble, or Bubble to Chromecast, or HiFi Cast to Chromecast, but HiFi Cast to Bubble to Chromecast.

I know this is probably a crazy notion but then I'm sort of learning about this as I go along, much like a chimpanzee in a rocket pressing random buttons until something goes bad.

[shell...@gmail.com]

I gotta get some sleep but ...

Where's you music stored - local on phone or on a Mac/PC?

I was thinking ...
1. Setup a UPnP Server (e.g, Asset or Minim) on your Mac/PC to transcode ALAC to WAV or FLAC.
2. Use HiFi-Cast / gapless as your controller ... Source from your UPnP Server ... Playback to Chromecast Audio.

Big collection of ALAC huh? Can't rerip to FLAC?

If it is local on the phone - I think you can set Bubble up as the Server(?) teanscoding(?) Plex(?)... But perhaps too demanding as both Server/transcoder and Gapless engine.

[Luke Spacehopper]

All stored on a local machine (ideally the tablet - which I just got a 256GB micro SD card for).

The ideal is that all this is handled on that device. I'd rather not have servers in addition to this - I just want to switch the tablet on, and go. 

And I just prefer ALAC because it's convenient via iTunes, stores all the ID3 tags, and I'd rather not convert 5000+ tracks! I know 320kbps MP3 is indistinguishable, but I just like knowing I'm listening to lossless because I'm an idiot.

I already have a working system based around a netbook (ie old school with HDD, not a new-fangled Airbook-type thing) going into a USB-SPDIF converter, then into a DAC, then into the amp. Problem is, again, I'd just rather not have that thing running in the background, plus it's a bit clunky. I just like the idea of the tablet being my complete, self-contained system.

I can set up Bubble as the server on the tablet, and route HiFi Cast to it, but it just doesn't seem to want to play. The sound just comes out of the local renderer, not the Chromecast.

Given that my current system works ok, it's really just an excuse to play around with stuff since I learned Chromecast Audio had an optical out. Plus, I want to be able to fully control my audio system from the bath, again, because I'm an idiot. 

I'm thinking I'll probably just run two systems - one from the netbook for full-on gapless and lossless, and one from the Chromecast bypassing the DAC, going into an AUX input, for quick and easy but less high quality listening (ie from the bath).

Anyway, appreciate the help. Get some sleep. :)

[Luke Spacehopper]

Just thought I'd tie this one off by saying I decided to jump ship from ALAC and convert everything to FLAC using MusicBee. Given that I've been using iTunes for over 20 years this was quite a big step, but MusicBee is fantastic - also does on-the-fly transcoding so I don't need to maintain multiple libraries for different devices. So, I'm just going straight from the mobile device into Chromecast via Hifi Cast using a native format. All good.