[BMWL0VE]

Good day everyone,

I have a bowers and wilkins system in my G05.

I really want to utilize the system to the best of its abilities.

I do not have a CD Player in the car as it is a standalone option that cannot be later retrofit.

What's my best option? I have CD's at home in FLAC but without the CD player I don't know what I should do.

Thank you for your input and ideas.

[Tlon]

Probably the best thing to do is to rip your CDs to FLAC or another lossless format (I use DB Poweramp to convert to Apple Lossless for this purpose but it also does FLAC), put them on a flash drive (This one works really well and is available at 512GB), plug it into your center console.

Under Media, you'd select the drive and you're good to go. One note, you can find playlists, genres, etc under search.

[AndroidRobot]

USB flash drive with FLAC audio is what I use in 24/32bit

[3to5toX5toX7]

If you are in the Apple ecosystem, rip CD's to ALAC and import to iPod without compression. Connect iPod via USB and you will have full bit for bit lossless.

[BMWL0VE]

You've all been such great help. Thank you so much.

Have a great day

[AndroidRobot]

Originally Posted by baca8302

If you are in the Apple ecosystem, rip CD's to ALAC and import to iPod without compression. Connect iPod via USB and you will have full bit for bit lossless.

will it actually play FLAC over usb? The issue I have with my iTunes music is how they aren't natively high bitrate tracks so upscaling them isn't the same as ripping from a CD

[3to5toX5toX7]

I don't believe an iPod will play FLAC but only ALAC. However, if you already have FLAC there are converters available to convert FLAC to ALAC. To your point, for music I care about, I buy the CD and import into lossless files.

I've read many times that one can't hear the difference between compressed and lossless music, but it's very clear to me if you have a good system. My wife can even tell in my car quickly if something is compressed, and she doesn't really care.

[3to5toX5toX7]

Originally Posted by AndroidRobot

will it actually play FLAC over usb? The issue I have with my iTunes music is how they aren't natively high bitrate tracks so upscaling them isn't the same as ripping from a CD

I think you were asking if an iPod will play lossless files over USB. Yes, but only ALAC and not FLAC. ALAC is just Apple's Lossless Encoder, but the output is bit for bit with WAV or FLAC. This will work with 24 bit files as well, but CD's are all 16 bit.

[AndroidRobot]

Originally Posted by baca8302

I think you were asking if an iPod will play lossless files over USB. Yes, but only ALAC and not FLAC. ALAC is just Apple's Lossless Encoder, but the output is bit for bit with WAV or FLAC. This will work with 24 bit files as well, but CD's are all 16 bit.

no 32bit? I'm not sure the car even supports it. some of my music is 32bit but I don't recall if those were files which didn't work

[3to5toX5toX7]

The CODEC supports 32 BIT, but i've never actually found a 32 bit file for anything I listen to. I would doubt the DAC in the Bowers and Wilkins supports 32 bit. My McIntosh home DAC supports 32 bit, but i've never been able to test it.

[AndroidRobot]

Originally Posted by baca8302

The CODEC supports 32 BIT, but i've never actually found a 32 bit file for anything I listen to. I would doubt the DAC in the Bowers and Wilkins supports 32 bit. My McIntosh home DAC supports 32 bit, but i've never been able to test it.

It should but who knows. I use a Schiit DAC on my custom build PC, works wonders with some quality headphones

[mcdbirdman]

Any tips or tricks to get the best sound for the driver? I find my sound is okay but I don’t think I am getting all I can from the rear speakers. Best sound profile etc. I’m more interested in what sounds best for the driver since 95% of the time that is the only person in the car.

[Supraman66]

So all of you bowers owners out there, isn’t better to listen to compressed on the Harmon or the Bowers?

Or another way, is it limitation of the system on the Harmon vs limitation of the media on the Bowers?

I ask as there is no way you will have a lot of lossless music in today’s day and age, heck, I don’t have much of my CD collection anymore and old classic rock was never on a CD to begin with

Just askin for a friend! ��

[TheHitchhiker]

For any CarPlay and B&W system owners here,

As far as I understand (some fast internet research):

• The Music app on the iPhone can't play 96kHz ALAC files.
• It will play 24-bit 48kHz ALAC files just fine.
• CarPlay is based on AirPlay which has no compression (i.e. lossless)
• Not sure if wired and wireless are both lossless (anyone knows?)
• For full blown 24/96 you need TIDAL or other FLAC players.

Basically, from what I understand, to achieve pretty good quality, using 24bit ALAC with even wireless CarPlay should be fine. There are a couple unclear points, but hopefully one day it will be answered.

The ultimate thing is to have high bit-rate FLACs and play via USB. But I think ALAC with CarPlay (wired/wireless) should be as close as possible with minimum inconvenience.

Feel free to correct any points that could be wrong.

[edtreo]

Is there an auxiliary jack? I plan to use my DAC to connect.

[AndroidRobot]

Originally Posted by edtreo

Is there an auxiliary jack? I plan to use my DAC to connect.

Yes, but why would you use a DAC with the B&W system? It already has one...

[edtreo]

Originally Posted by AndroidRobot

Yes, but why would you use a DAC with the B&W system? It already has one...

Because my DAC has the superior ESS Sabre32 Reference ES9028-Q2M DAC chip.

[AndroidRobot]

Originally Posted by edtreo

Because my DAC has the superior ESS Sabre32 Reference ES9028-Q2M DAC chip.

What chip is in the car natively from B&W?

I can see there being some difference but I'd need to try one of my DAC's to see if it's enough to warrant using one

[edtreo]

It's a simple setup and definitely worth a try.

[Supraman66]

Does anybody have an electronic copy of the B&W owners manual? Dying to get all the details on the system!

[Supraman66]

Originally Posted by AndroidRobot

USB flash drive with FLAC audio is what I use in 24/32bit

When you load your FLAC files the usb, what is the file structure needed for proper search and playback? Do I need to create folders for artist and album similar to how iTunes stored data on the computer?