Originally Posted by Island Soul
I just read that the 2025 BIAB Installed size is 750 GB (FLAC files) which is off since 2024 was 2.0 TB of AIFF files. Is there a reason for this? I buy the audiophile edition because of the higher quality sounds.
FLAC compression is very different from MP3/WMA/M4A compression.

MP3, WMA, and M4A are considered "lossy" compression - that means that the original waveform cannot be reconstructed perfectly. In simple terms it's been described that these algorithms remove frequencies that humans "cannot hear", although it has been proven many times that humans can in fact hear the difference or at least can hear artifacts of the compression. Lossy compression can compress as far as 90:1 (with absolutely abysmal sound quality), however the minimum "acceptable" quality is around 11:1 and "best" quality is 4.5:1 (however still lossy).

FLAC is considered a "lossless" form of compression - that means that the original waveform can be reconstructed perfectly bit-for-bit. This is similar to putting a document in a Zip file - once the audio is extracted from the FLAC and saved as a WAV or AIFF the new file is exactly identical to the original, with no means of determining which is which (other than modification/creation date, file header information, or other non-audio metadata). FLAC typically compresses down to 2.5:1 - much bigger than lossy formats, but also much smaller than uncompressed. The only drawback to using FLAC over WAV/AIFF is that it takes a tiny bit more CPU power to decode the files when played - any modern computer is easily capable of that.

In short, the new FLAC Audiophile has the exact same sound quality as the previous WAV/AIFF Audiophiles. Neither humans nor machines can tell the difference.

Originally Posted by philyoo
if you choose to receive the SSD by physical mail, where all the files are in FLAC...if I understand correctly.
That is correct.

Originally Posted by philyoo
But what about add-ons that you reinstall afterwards (XPro, XPak, etc.)? How is that handled?
The Xtra Styles PAKs do not include any new RealTracks or RealDrums - they include only style files, which use whatever RealTracks/Drums are installed.

The XPro Styles PAKs include some RealTracks/Drums in lossy WMA or M4A format, however these RealTracks are already included in the Audiophile in FLAC format, so there will be no reduction in quality.

The 49-PAK includes RealTracks that are not included with the Audiophile, and these can be downloaded in FLAC format.

Originally Posted by AudioTrack
Meaning that FLAC is a lossless file compression format.
That's in the name actually - FLAC stands for Free Lossless Audio Codec.

Originally Posted by Mike Halloran
BIAB 2025 Audiophile has 300 new RealTracks and Drums
Correction - 200. Including the 49-PAK there are 222 new RealTracks/Drums for 2025.

Originally Posted by Mike Halloran
My only concern was that I could not see how to download the legacy tracks.
It depends on which package you purchase. As I understand:

If you purchase the download-only Audiophile then all 4900+ RealTracks are downloadable in FLAC format.
If you purchase the SSD then all 4900+ RealTracks are downloadable in the compressed format.
If you purchase the Audiophile PlusPAK then only the new 2025 RealTracks are downloadable in FLAC format (this package does not include any RealTracks or styles from previous years).

Originally Posted by Mike Halloran
I could have converted the RTs and Drums to FLAC as I have apps that will do this including TwistedWave but I wanted to see what the new deliverable is like. Now that I know, I will likely go to download only next year.
TwistedWave is a great app for that, however it is costly, as audio conversion is just one feature out of many. I use a free app called XLD for bulk audio conversion, which does a great job. I've also used a very neat app from Zynaptiq called Myriad, which is not only a bulk audio converter but can do a ton of bulk editing tasks (trim, gain, apply a plugin, etc).

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