Computer based audio discussion

[Dawg]

Where are they proclaiming that?

Well I must admit I am basing this entirely on this thread because this is my first dip and you must admit that is the overall tone here?

If you really want the best rip, then do a CD to ISO conversion. Then use an ISO mount using say Daemon Tools or Super ISO. Play the ISO mounted file.

Stan

Is Iso an option in EAC? sorry I havnt even used the software yet, I wanted to avoid ripping my entire collection a third time, I am sure people will agree its bloody laborious? As I said I want to use my TivX as a jukebox/media player not the PC, I know the TivX will read an ISO movie but I dont think It is going to be an option for music so I am back to my main desire of 'convenience and quality' ? Should I be ripping all my discs to ISO then use this img to rip again for playback on my TivX? Seems a bit exteme as the ISO will then in affect become purely a 'master' copy?

[Dawg]

I did a search and noticed the TivX has no history here. thought I would post this just incase anyone has missed it, have to say I love this device for playing movies, It's the only hardware I know that will play all HD formats incuding Blueray, ie m2ts. here's a link, http://www.kjglobal.co.uk/acatalog/TVIX_M-6500A.html

[NRG]

rip the tracks using EAC, it's the most accurate way to get the data from the CD to your hard drive...

Some links that might be of use:


http://www.teqnilogik.com/tutorials/eac.shtml

http://www.accuraterip.com/driveoffsets.htm

[sastusbulbas]

I have found EAC to be hit and miss, at least with Windows and such you can get more playable tracks off a damaged CD.

I am also wondering how many hear a difference as opposed to imagine a difference with such rips, and how many reported errors are drive and not disc related?

As a point a heavily damaged double album I have had 21 tracks, my CD transport would play 18 tracks without audible problems, EAC would only rip 16 tracks, and WMP ripped all 21 tracks with only one having audible problems.

It seems there may be more foo than fact going on? I am under the impression that many lossless file rips from various ripping software are identical, and from what I have read, many listeners cannot tell the difference between any of these various rips. EAC in other words seems to be nothing more than paranoid ripping which takes ages and does not make any actual audible improvement? Is this true?

I also feel the same way about Media Players, having used most of them I still prefer WMP and MediaMonkey, but I do not see anything as audibly superior with any factual evidence, just opinion and preference. Both play EVERY type of audio file, WMP has less issues with rarities and art work. All require some set up work, and WMP seems to be judged more due to brand it comes from.

http://www.designwsound.com/dwsblog/?page_id=535

[NRG]

Ive found EAC to be 100% dependable. I suspect any issues with it will be down to settings and the drive used to perform the DAE.

[NRG]

That link failed to test disks with known errors, given a good disk with no C2 errors I'm not surprised at the result.

[sastusbulbas]

So in my above case EAC could not rip the complete 21 tracks due to errors which WMP copied and I found inaudible?

Does EAC correct errors that all other ripping software misses? Or does it fail to rip a track with errors due to an inability of some sort?

What sort of audible differences are we talking of? And to be honest, how big a difference is not hearing the track at all due to an inability to rip?

I have another copy of the above CD, plus various re-issues and re-masters, of various condition, should I rip every single one for comparative tests to measure what data?

I personally got fed up with EAC, 20 minutes it went on for with one track, failing to rip or correct.

[Dawg]

Cheers for the links guys.
sastusbulbas
'EAC in other words seems to be nothing more than paranoid ripping which takes ages and does not make any actual audible improvement? Is this true?'

I have a very good friend who lives too far from me to 'pop' round, I cant defend EAC because I dont have my amplifier back from repair but...... He is going to re rip his rather large cd collection again because he has tried EAC and he thinks its a big enough improvement over his wmp rips. Now he wouldnt do that on a whim or a press release, ive known him long enough to believe him and hense my initial post.
It doesnt really matter to me that EAC can rip damaged cd's because I have 1 that is physically scratched and thats it, I only want the best sound. That article is interesting sastusbulbas, It would have been complete with a blind test though. I see he didnt test wmp either? I think I will get hold of Wavelab though, I really dont want to wait forever to re rip my cd's if there is no benifit, I shall be testing both progs when I get my amp back.

[sastusbulbas]

No worries LOL, I am a little biased anyway.

I prefer PC to overpriced fashion Macs, I think iTunes is sh*t, I prefer the convenience of WMP11 to Mediamonkey which F**ks up the art work and such, and think the best sounding way to record music onto the computer is WAV, but I prefer CD transports to all of them anyway.

Of course I use an old DAC, and everyone knows that such stuff is rubbish.

[Dawg]

No worries LOL, I am a little biased anyway.

I prefer PC to overpriced fashion Macs, I think iTunes is sh*t, I prefer the convenience of WMP11 to Mediamonkey which F**ks up the art work and such, and think the best sounding way to record music onto the computer is WAV, but I prefer CD transports to all of them anyway.

Of course I use an old DAC, and everyone knows that such stuff is rubbish.

Dont get me wrong, my friend and me have high standards, we aint children of the ipod! we both started off buying 'audiophile' CDP's in the 80's, we have a few stacked around, we have had fairly expensive systems and we have wasted god knows how much cash. We also have old DAC's, we are hoping these are going to play a role in a new Hard Disc based audio system but its not going to have a 4 figure price tag per component! My mate is looking at audiophile sound cards, valves on board, I2s connections and I will be using the TivX or something simler, (weres that spell checker )

I got to agree though, I hate Itunes, maybe I just havnt played around with the settings enough but if I cant get it to work without reading a help file then its in the bin! The way it puts all the songs in a massive list on the screen, I love mediamonkey pro though, click on an album in the tree from anywere including usb hard drives and that album appears in the window, I just couldnt do that with Itunes, maybe I am getting old but thats fine, maybe mediamonkey is made for people like me that dont want to spend time reading help files, you look at the GUI and within 5 mins youve ripped, tagged and bagged a few discs, I havn't found any issues with artwork and such, oh... unless your doing box sets, thats a bit of a pain, you have to put all the songs in one folder so it will name them all.