[wide_palate]

Was just wondering.I don't care about the amount of space used.I care about quality.Im not for sure what format really is the best.
And could someone tell me what frequency range I should be looking for?
I have a pair of koss headphones:frequency response->18-20,000 Hz
UR29 - Full Size Headphones - Koss Headphones / Stereophones - Koss
Pair of JBL pro/hewit packard/compaq computer speakers:freq->40- 23,000Hz
HP Compaq JBL Pro 401508-001 Computer Speakers | eBay

I know those are really low end,but thats what I got.I know some of you may ask,why bother?Well I just recently discovered this and it caught my interest.
Hope im not the onely one on here that has a interest for this.

[djl4570]

FLAC (Free Lossless Audio Codec) is a lossless compressed format that supports higher bit rates and more dynamic range, It can handle any PCM bit resolution from 4 to 32 bits per sample, any sampling rate from 1 Hz to 655,350 Hz in 1 Hz increments and any number of channels from 1 to 8.
Free Lossless Audio Codec - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Though a WAV file can hold compressed audio, the most common WAV format contains uncompressed audio in the linear pulse code modulation (LPCM) format. The standard audio file format for CDs, for example, is LPCM-encoded, containing two channels of 44,100 samples per second, 16 bits per sample.
WAV - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Unless you need lossless compression for archival storage Consider the Lame MP3 encoder as an alternative. When ripping set your fidelity as high as practical. Remember that you will never have more resolution than the source material. If the source material is CD Audio then all FLAC or Lame will do is make the files smaller.

PS: I'll rip something today and post the differences in the file sizes.

[djl4570]

Harmonia Mundi
Corelli Violin Sonatas, Opus 5
Andrew Manze - Violin -- Richard Egarr - Harpsichord
Disc 2, track 23. Arcangelo Corelli Violin Sonata XII Follia 12:12

1. wav as ripped by Audiograbber 129,089,564 bytes
2. flac: 71,714,625 bytes (Rendered from the above wav using Audicity.)
3. mp3 Audiograbber using LAME encoder set to VBR0 (Highest quality variable bitrate) Stereo: 21,558,721 bytes
4. mp3 Audiograbber using LAME encoder set to VBR1 Joint Stereo: 19,501,212 bytes.

FLAC will save some drive space but will not improve audio quality since it's just lossless compression of the original signal. You can save far more drive space using a good mp3 codec set to maximum fidelity. Even on a high end system it's unlikely the human ear would detect the difference.