Subsonic Forum

I'm hoping to receive some clarity around a feature of Subsonic (so I can hopefully download/install/contribute/etc.).

This page:

http://www.subsonic.org/pages/transcoding.jsp

Has the quote:

Subsonic's transcoding engine allows for streaming of media that would normally not be streamable, for instance lossless formats.

This, of course, implies that all lossless formats need to be transcoded down to a lossy format (mp3, etc.) in order to be streamed by Subsonic.

However, certain lossless formats are streamable, for example (search for "streamable" in the link below):

http://flac.sourceforge.net/features.html

I guess my question is: Between the phone apps and the Subsonic server, is lossless streaming supported (and I don't mean transcoding it down to a lossy format)? If so, what formats are supported?

By the way, phenomenal product and application set. Very keenly positioned in the marketplace.

There is no lossless streaming in any format as the flash player which is used does not support it.

Sure... understood. But that's if you're using your browser and the embedded flash player to listen to the songs.

Let's say I choose a different client... like for example the iPhone app. Would my music be losslessly streamed then? Or converted down to mp3?

The only way you can choose an external player is by steaming using a web browser (ie, on a PC). I do not think there is any way to stream to a remote device using anything other than the applications designed for that device.

So unless iSub or some other iPhone app decides to try to integrate a phone's built in player, the answer is no.

On a full computer it is definitely possible though... stream to an external player.

Glenn

I think you're answering my question indirectly, in that it sounds like the phone apps just delegate to the native audio codecs, which would make sense.

So, if that's true, I'm guessing the iPhone app would not be able to losslessly stream anything but ALAC (?).

By that same logic, current versions of Android should be able to losslessly stream FLACs though, as FLAC has been natively supported on Android since version 3.1.

Quick, somebody call me crazy.

The upcoming version 3.1 of iSub will support FLAC. But the question is, can subsonic serve that to the client app?

On a different, related note, can subsonic play FLAC natively in jukebox mode?

Subsonic can serve flac if you turn off the transcoding option for the correct player.

If anyone is looking to stream FLAC to their Windows desktop, I'll be including this in the next release of Periscope Player. This will also cache the FLAC files for local playback in the event you're not connected to your Subsonic server. Should be available in a couple of weeks!

iSub supports true lossless streaming since version 3.0.5. Really good I use it with a nice DAC into my hi fi and the sound is pristine.