One for the Rippers!

Magic 99

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Ever since MP3s came out, I felt that one day there would be a use for it all, besides which I was sick of losing CDs, being unable to find same, or finding that the one CD that you really wanted to listen to was in the car, which would miraculously be elsewhere. Anyway, over the years, I kept ripping, pretty much following the falling cost of storage until a few years ago when I started down the FLAC route. I now have around two thirds of my stuff in lossless FLAC and a nice little unit to play it from. Many of those original CDs have been replaced and hopefully, several aged Rock and Jazz Musicians have had a little bit extra to put in their pension portfolios. This doesn't of course apply to the great majority of Classical composers, but hey - You can't please everyone.

Now, if you are still awake, I wonder what gems of advice you can offer. Lossless FLAC is pretty good, but obviously it sin't going to improve on the variable quality of the original CD and this is what gets me. I don't listen too much to internet radio, but their streams, even down to 96KB/S often sound so much better. There is a sparkling presence and clarity that seems pretty consistent across the board and to be blunt, a quality that seems to exceed so many CDs, of which some may have been mastered on a Friday afternoon, but not all, surely?

I rip with DBPoweramp, but have kept clear of any DSP and wouldn't quite know how best to apply it to best effect either. So, how do the Internet radio mob do it and could I improve my own FLACS, whilst I await the release of a 24 bit recording of the Birdie Song?

Cheers in advance!

PS I am getting monstered by the Spam filter on the forum at present and have been trying to report this since Saturday, so I might not get a chance to reply as soon as I might otherwise. Enjoy your Monday, folks!
 

The_Lhc

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Magic 99 said:
I rip with DBPoweramp, but have kept clear of any DSP and wouldn't quite know how best to apply it to best effect either. So, how do the Internet radio mob do it and could I improve my own FLACS, whilst I await the release of a 24 bit recording of the Birdie Song?

How do they do it on the radio? Massive amounts of dynamic compression from what I understand. It doesn't make it sound better, just louder, so the answer to your problem is just "turn it up"!
 

MajorFubar

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The_LHC has nailed it, basically. Custom EQ and compression. Most playback software has EQ settings which might taylor the sound to how you would like to hear it. Don't know of any that have a real-time compressor (anyone else know?)
 

Hi-FiOutlaw

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Sorry, but I rip ALL my CDs with dbpoweramp with 0 compress level, and not ever a intenet radio or spotify at 320 kbs or a Apple 320kbs down load from apple store sound better that any of my ripped CDs!!!

the quality of your digital data is related to the quality of your DAC!
 

Magic 99

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It is actually the quality of the CDs that gets me. Some sound so much clearer, brighter, etc. and I wonder how the internet radio stations pull it off. I have no issues with dB power amp, but on the radio stations, many of which are not well funded, how do they afford to pump it all out, because if not done in real time it must ultimately cost a lot to do and is there is anything to be learned from this?

A lot of the stuff that I listen to is fairly old now. Maybe it is just the difference in mastering techniques, because more modern stuff often has seemingly better reproduction, (to me,anyway) if one can cope with such a wide generalisation:)

Of course, option three, is that I am going deaf, or daft.
 

BigH

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Magic 99 said:
It is actually the quality of the CDs that gets me. Some sound so much clearer, brighter, etc. and I wonder how the internet radio stations pull it off. I have no issues with dB power amp, but on the radio stations, many of which are not well funded, how do they afford to pump it all out, because if not done in real time it must ultimately cost a lot to do and is there is anything to be learned from this?

A lot of the stuff that I listen to is fairly old now. Maybe it is just the difference in mastering techniques, because more modern stuff often has seemingly better reproduction, (to me,anyway) if one can cope with such a wide generalisation:)

Of course, option three, is that I am going deaf, or daft.

I disagree most cd produced or remastered in the last 10 years or so sound worse because of compression for loudness, there are exceptions of course, I tend to go for the 1990s mastered cds if I have a choice. But check reviews first to see which is the best.
 

The_Lhc

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BigH said:
Magic 99 said:
It is actually the quality of the CDs that gets me. Some sound so much clearer, brighter, etc. and I wonder how the internet radio stations pull it off. I have no issues with dB power amp, but on the radio stations, many of which are not well funded, how do they afford to pump it all out, because if not done in real time it must ultimately cost a lot to do and is there is anything to be learned from this?

A lot of the stuff that I listen to is fairly old now. Maybe it is just the difference in mastering techniques, because more modern stuff often has seemingly better reproduction, (to me,anyway) if one can cope with such a wide generalisation:)

Of course, option three, is that I am going deaf, or daft.

I disagree most cd produced or remastered in the last 10 years or so sound worse because of compression for loudness, there are exceptions of course, I tend to go for the 1990s mastered cds if I have a choice. But check reviews first to see which is the best.

I'm getting the distinct impression that Magic 99 likes a lot of dynamic compression.
 

Magic 99

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It is quite possible. Hard for me to say, but likely in that I don't find that this is system dependant. It is just that some sound brighter and appear to escape the speakers more fully than some older stuff. On the other hand, for instance, I have some old Jack McDuff that sounds amazing at 160kb/s. Some CDs you notice more than others, but that presence is really attractive to me.
 

Magic 99

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It is quite possible. Hard for me to say, but likely in that I don't find that this is system dependant. It is just that some sound brighter and appear to escape the speakers more fully than some older stuff. On the other hand, for instance, I have some old Jack McDuff that sounds amazing at 160kb/s. Some CDs you notice more than others, but that presence is really attractive to me.
 

scene

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Don't forget that cheaper / older CDs can be of dubious quality. The quality of, or lack there of, the master recording can impact the quality of the resultant CD.

Older (and cheap) CDs were made from Analogue master tapes, that were converted to Digital, some older CDs proclaim they are "ADD" or even "AAD". Analogue masters degrade. I was watching a program the other day and it said one of the reasons Bing Crosby had re-recorded White Christmas was because the original master tape had literally worn out...

Radio stations, including internet ones, get shiny new copies of tracks from the studios. Remastered tracks are sent, so the quality is improved - they make money from selling music, so they want it to sound good. So often, the tracks you hear will sound better than the cheap CD you picked up years ago - I know - I've got some CDs that sound awful and ripping them to my NAS really highlights how nasty they sound - as you get to hear them cheek by jowl to a really well mastered modern recording.

Oh yes - the dynamic compression that (internet) radio stations use will impact how tracks sound and compensate for your incipient hearing loss :)
 

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