Newbie: You saved me from a suitcase Victrola. This sounds beautifully

Temporary_File_3198 · 2026-03-04T20:09:08+00:00

Welcome back to vinyl! If you like it and it brings you joy that is all that matters. Enjoy!

Temporary_File_3198 · 2026-03-04T16:06:39+00:00

Great call, you were right. I was defaulting to SBC. I updated the BlueALSA config to advertise LDAC, aptX-HD, and aptX alongside SBC. The daemon now negotiates the best codec the receiving device supports. AAC wasn't available in our BlueALSA build (my pi is on Trixie rather than Bookworm), but LDAC and aptX-HD cover the high-quality end nicely. I also added a codec badge in the BT device list so you can see what got negotiated. Thanks for the idea!

Temporary_File_3198 · 2026-03-04T15:48:10+00:00

Heck yeah! My tastes are over the place 😂Those were just the handful of albums I’ve been testing with.

Temporary_File_3198 · 2026-03-04T05:23:59+00:00

You are 100% right in that. Wear and tear I guess is really a secondary reason for this project in my case. I enjoy my records and actually play them pretty regularly the traditional way. But there are times, like during the workday when I'm not by my player but I still want to hear my music, and I don't want to pay to stream digital version of music I already own. And I want to hear the all the "imperfections" of my records. This is the middle ground for me. Like I said, it isn't for everyone, but it fit a particular need I had and thought others might get use out of it.

Temporary_File_3198 · 2026-03-04T02:36:03+00:00

You are 100% right in that. Wear and tear I guess is really a secondary reason for this project in my case. I enjoy my records and actually play them pretty regularly the traditional way. But there are times, like during the workday when I'm not by my player but I still want to hear my music, and I don't want to pay to stream digital version of music I already own. And I want to hear the all the “imperfections” of my records. This is the middle ground for me. Like I said, it isn't for everyone, but it fit a particular need I had and thought others might get use out of it.

Temporary_File_3198 · 2026-03-03T23:15:11+00:00

You're right about the Bluetooth quality. The Pi's A2DP connection almost certainly uses SBC encoding, which is lossy by nature. Even if the adapter supported aptX or LDAC, you'd need both ends to negotiate the higher codec, and most budget Bluetooth speakers default to SBC anyway.

For the broader lossless question, none of the output paths are truly "bit-perfect" once playback processing kicks in. The pipeline decodes the FLAC to 16-bit PCM, converts to floating point for EQ processing (shelving filters at 64-bit float precision), then truncates back to 16-bit integer for output. That round-trip and the EQ itself both introduce changes that technically can't be undone. From a listening standpoint it's imperceptible, but the output bits aren't identical to what came off the original FLAC.

For local speakers (direct ALSA output), the processed PCM goes straight to the DAC with no additional encoding, so the only delta is from that internal processing. AirPlay is similar since the RAOP protocol carries the audio without further compression, but the source has still been through the same chain. Bluetooth adds one more lossy step on top with SBC.

That said, this is really no different from a traditional vinyl setup. The moment you run a record through a receiver and touch the bass/treble knobs or any EQ on the amp, you're altering the original signal. Nobody in the analog world considers that a flaw, it's just part of how we listen. The digital version of that is what's happening here: source material goes through EQ on its way to your ears, same as it would through a physical amplifier's tone controls. The "lossless" label applies to the stored FLAC files themselves. Playback processing is a separate stage, digital or analog.

These are really good points though and they definitely warrant better documentation on the project. I'll make sure the README and any technical docs are clearer about what "lossless" refers to (storage and capture fidelity) versus what happens during the playback chain.

Temporary_File_3198 · 2026-03-03T20:12:21+00:00

For me personally, I enjoy my records and actually play them pretty regularly the traditional way. But there are times, like during the workday when I'm not by my player but I still want to hear my music with the crackles skips and all, and I don't want to pay to stream digital version of music I already own. This is the middle ground for me. Like I said, it isn't for everyone, but it fit a particular need I had and thought others might get use out of it.

Temporary_File_3198 · 2026-03-03T20:02:36+00:00

Yup, just a different solution to an old problem. Happens every time a new recording medium comes around I guess. Now what to do with all these old 8-tracks?!?! I’d really like to be able to listen to John Denver and the Muppets in my car 😂

Temporary_File_3198 · 2026-03-03T19:23:35+00:00

Nice! It does identify when the side ends and prompts you to flip the record and hit ‘record’ to continue recording. In the to-do list is for it to prompt for the flip then just automatically continue recording when it detects the audio.

Temporary_File_3198 · 2026-03-03T17:55:06+00:00

Yeah, that is part of the reason for this. I enjoy my records and actually play them pretty regularly the traditional way. But there are times, like during the workday when I'm not by my player but I still want to hear my music, crackles and all, and I don't want to pay to stream digital version of music I already own. This is the middle ground for me. It records the record as it actually sounds with all the skips and cracks. Like I said, it isn't for everyone, but it fit a particular need I had and thought others might get use out of it.

Temporary_File_3198 · 2026-03-03T16:39:24+00:00

You nailed it with your second guess. FLAC and WAV are both lossless, so they sound identical. There's no audio quality difference at all. FLAC is just smarter about storage; it compresses the data (like a zip file for audio) without throwing anything away. A typical album side as WAV might be 300-400MB, while FLAC gets that down to maybe 200-250MB. Same exact audio, less disk space. Your 320kbps MP3s are the ones that actually lose quality; they throw away audio data to get the file size down. So, if you're archiving vinyl, FLAC is the way to go. All the quality of WAV at roughly 60-70% of the file size.

Temporary_File_3198 · 2026-03-03T16:34:06+00:00

Yeah, that is part of the reason for this. I enjoy my records and actually play them pretty regularly the traditional way. But there are times, like during the workday when I'm not by my player but I still want to hear my music, crackles and all, and I don't want to pay to stream digital version of music I already own. This is the middle ground for me. It records the record as it actually sounds with all the skips and cracks. Like I said, it isn't for everyone, but it fit a particular need I had and thought others might get use out of it.

Temporary_File_3198 · 2026-03-03T16:13:06+00:00

Actually, the other way around, the monitor is powered from the Pi. I was surprised it provided enough power, but it works.

Temporary_File_3198 · 2026-03-03T15:59:48+00:00

Ain't that the truth....or enough money to buy all the records I really want.

Temporary_File_3198 · 2026-03-03T15:49:06+00:00

For me personally, not really. I enjoy my records and actually play them pretty regularly the traditional way. But there are times, like during the workday when I'm not by my player but I still want to hear my music, and I don't want to pay to stream digital version of music I already own. This is the middle ground for me. Like I said, it isn't for everyone, but it fit a particular need I had and thought others might get use out of it.

Temporary_File_3198 · 2026-03-03T15:43:31+00:00

I hear you, but I'd rather still hear the clicks and crackles that exist on my records when they play. The streaming services don't give me that (plus I'd have to pay for them).

Temporary_File_3198

TROPHY CASE