FLAC/Apple lossless back to WAV

[basshound]

If you rip a cd into Flac or other lossless format with error correction turned on and then burn back to a cd in WAV will that create a bit perfect copy? or does the very act of burning then playing back via CDP introduce errors?

 

[Anonymous]

It's perfect.

Lossless is lossless.

You can test this yourself with such tools as WAV COMPARE in EAC.

A WAV ripped with EAC will be exactly the same as an ALAC ripped in iTunes, and converted back to WAV with iTunes.

It proves that products like Naim's HDX are baloney.

 

[basshound]

What I was really getting at is would doing this make playback on a CDP easier on the player as I understand that CDP do error correction "on the fly" or is it read errors they correct rather than errors on the disc itself?

 

[VoodooDoctor]

It's read errors not errors on the disc.

 

[John Duncan]

To be fair, it's easy enough (discuss) to create a bit-perfect copy from lossless files, but much less easy to create a bit-perfect readable CD from them afterwards....

 

[Anonymous]

basshound:What I was really getting at is would doing this make playback on a CDP easier on the player as I understand that CDP do error correction "on the fly" or is it read errors they correct rather than errors on the disc itself?

I'm sure in reality you'll hear little difference, but if you use the computer as a transport you'll know it's "perfect".

You should be able to buy a nice DAC from the sale of the CD player, if you already have a laptop to use.

 

[basshound]

VoodooDoctor:It's read errors not errors on the disc.

Yeah,I kinda thought that,didn`t fancy copying my entire cd collection anyway!!

 

[basshound]

Eddie Pound:
basshound:What I was really getting at is would doing this make playback on a CDP easier on the player as I understand that CDP do error correction "on the fly" or is it read errors they correct rather than errors on the disc itself?

I'm sure in reality you'll hear little difference, but if you use the computer as a transport you'll know it's "perfect".

You should be able to buy a nice DAC from the sale of the CD player, if you already have a laptop to use.

Don`t have a laptop at the moment but trying to persuade my missus that she needs one and then when/if she gets one persuade her that she doesn`t need it ;-)Would a Beresford or Dacmagic give the same quality sound as the Dac in the Kandy cdp I have at the moment?

 

[manicm]

Ok, here's what my conclusions on my Vista laptop are:

FLACs are perfect to decompress the WAV files - just download the free FLAC front-end tool. I've purchased FLACs and the WAVs sound brilliant - I will be copying these unconverted to my iPod.

Now for ALC, and just using iTunes, I have some doubts. I initially ripped some CDs for my iPod Classic in ALC and WAV/Aiff and the latter generally sounded better.

I then did another experiment - I then converted the ALCs to WAVs to test the sound quality and this time the WAV, well sounded like the ALC and not like the original WAV. I may be wrong here but my ears are telling me iTunes on Windows does not really decode ALCs to WAVs - it makes a new copy.

Results may be different from other tools like dbPoweramp or MediaMonkey which I haven't tried yet.

Also iTunes on a Mac may well be different too.

Edit: I have error correction on in iTunes.

Edit: I welcome ridicule and uncontrollable laughter behind my back (or in front) as I rip my CDs to Aiff on my iPod Classic, as I will connect this to my hifi, and anything to make the world a better place in these gloomy times.

 

[Anonymous]

Basshound,

I believe your CDP has a fancy Burr-Brown in it.

The DM should be close enough but won't be it convincingly. Try an 840C - it's a CDP and a DAC.

 

[basshound]

Eddie Pound:
Basshound,

I believe your CDP has a fancy Burr-Brown in it.

The DM should be close enough but won't be it convincingly. Try an 840C - it's a CDP and a DAC.

Damn,wish I`d realised that before getting the Kandy,the 840 sounds a neat solution,now to think of a way to make a good argument for changing a cdp that is only 5 months old!

 

[Anonymous]

CD players without digital inputs are on dangerous ground these days.

 

[manicm]

basshound:If you rip a cd into Flac or other lossless format with error correction turned on and then burn back to a cd in WAV will that create a bit perfect copy? or does the very act of burning then playing back via CDP introduce errors?

I'm totally convinced by extracting WAVs from the FLAC (see my earlier post here - I use the brilliant free tool to decode).

However burning CDs is another painful matter entirely, and I do it under duress for my car stereo only (have factory fitted double-din).

Also, different brands of blank CDs and different software give different results - burning is a pain in the *** simply put. And from years of experience burned copies won't sound as good as the original - overcome this fact as an audiophile and you'll be ok. However, if you have a CD-Rom instead of a DVD-burner you're one step better off.

And no, errors will not be introduced.

 

[Alec]

manicm:

Edit: I welcome ridicule and uncontrollable laughter behind my back (or in front) as I rip my CDs to Aiff on my iPod Classic, as I will connect this to my hifi, and anything to make the world a better place in these gloomy times.

HahahahahahahaHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA......OOOOoohhhhhhhhhhhh HEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEEHEHEhehehehehheehehehehehehehe...Will ya look at him?! I mean, would you ever believe such a thing?! MWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA..........................

 

[Alec]

Sorry, but it amused me, if thats any concellation

 

[manicm]

al7478:Sorry, but it amused me, if thats any concellation

You're welcome, and I'm also reaching for the unattainable as the Classic appears to be the worst sounding current iPod.