I should have said that I can't use lossy compressed audio, I have no
problems with lossless compression. Much of my tracks I process for
karaoke, and mp3's wipe out the phase relationships that allow the
vocal part to be removed, the center phase is lost even at high bit
rates. IOW I can remove vocals just fine from CD's or wma lossless
files, but that becomes impossible with mp3 or other lossy compression.
I entertain as a dj, karaoke host and solo guitarist with backing
tracks. In general mp3's sound pretty ice-picky through PA systems and
I avoid that format for more than the karaoke issue.

I understand your need for bit-perfect reproduction given that lossy
compression can adversely affect phase.


The problem is that I already ripped a couple thousand CD's to wma
lossless because the quality was so good. I also proved that I can
convert lossless wma back to wav flawlwssly, IOW the original and
converted wav files checksum to each other and are identical, using the
undocumented Microsoft wma lossless to pcm converter utility. I guess
I just assumed that I would one day find a player for wma lossless. In
after thought I probably should have maybe gone with flac as there are
more players for that. As it is now I still have to bring a laptop to
gigs, there are situations where I dont want a laptop and would prefer
a player (like coffee shop gigs where all I need is amp, guitar and
player).

So the ideal player right now would be one that can do wma lossless and
flac (a high-end audiophile player if you will).

I still don't follow your requirement for flac and wma lossless. By
definition, all lossless codecs produce the exact same results since
they are by definition lossless and will sound exactly the same as the
original CD. For example, the Apple ipod series has lossless
compression. I don't have an ipod but apparently you can import wave
files to the apple lossless format. Its very easy to convert any wma
format file to wave format so you would not have to re-rip everything.
Here is a link to players that support lossless compression:

http://reviews-zdnet.com.com/4520-64...5622801-1.html


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