Lossless file VS CD

Discussion in 'Audio Hardware' started by beppe, May 22, 2018.

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  1. klockwerk

    klockwerk Forum Resident

    Location:
    Ohio USA
    I only listen to my digital files, but that doesn't stop me from buying CDs and ripping them. Not going to sell them just because I have them on a hard drive. The house isn't full yet. Oh ok, I still play SACDs (can't rip them).
     
    billnunan likes this.
  2. Claude Benshaul

    Claude Benshaul Forum Resident

    I keep my CD for redundancy. I never felt that a digital rip sounds different than a CD player, unless something was wrong with it.
     
  3. John Dyson

    John Dyson Forum Resident

    Location:
    Fishers, Indiana
    I agree and fully understand how CDs, DVDs, etc all work. There is NO WAY that a CD rip can be different than playing a CD with a competently designed player. There is no magical jitter -- you can realtime pass the same data over the internet with its horrible jitter, and as long as it is properly buffered -- the results will be the same. The real causes for 'differences' in the realization of the audio has to do with the final clock stability, the DAC behavior/quality and proper handling of the audio. All too often, there is a conflation with jitter being digitally propagated vs. conducted errors from the digital to the analog circuitry. CDs, DVD, setc all have self-clocked data that doesn't become unsynchronized with the clock. Now, back in the old days with laser disk, the data (analog data) was not intimately synchronized with platter rotation. In the case of digital storage, the situation is different, and there is an intimate synchronization, where the data can be either passed directly through internal CD player hardware, or theoretically routed through the almost infinite jitter internet. As long as the jitter is handled by proper FIFO buffering, there is no difference. (Well, there would be a constant delay due to allocating enough buffering to handle the worst case conditions.)
    There is SO MUCH sophistry about 'jitter' nowadays, and again -- mostly due to conflation with conducted and radiated digital noise being directly injected into the audio -- or distorting the digital clock going to the DAC. Those problems are a matter of shielding and competent design. 'Fixing jitter' is mostly a matter of 100yr old shielding to avoid upsetting analog stuff (clocks are included as 'analog', because they really are.) Don't upset your clock with noise, then it won't synchronize to the noise source!!! (A clock/oscillator is essentially a super high gain amplifier which can be upset by outside noise sources.)
     
  4. Chris Schoen

    Chris Schoen Rock 'n Roll !!!

    Location:
    Maryland, U.S.A.
    An iPod Classic 160 on "shuffle" works for me. 7,000+ songs, always a surprise...
     
  5. Claude Benshaul

    Claude Benshaul Forum Resident

    Last year I decided to EQ the head unit in the car. After getting the calibrated microphone I followed the instructions to fold the screen down and imagine my surprise when I discovered that beside the Mic jack there was also a whole DVD slot drive hiding there all the time.
     
  6. eric777

    eric777 Astral Projectionist

    I have two CD players (three if you count the car stereo) that I never use. The only time I buy CDs now is when I can not find a FLAC version online. When I do buy a CD I rip it and store the disc away. I don't need a physical object to feel connected anymore. I just want the music. My Fiio and my iPod sound good enough to my ears.
     
    mozcho likes this.
  7. dkmonroe

    dkmonroe A completely self-taught idiot

    Location:
    Atlanta
    I have ripped most of my CDs and quite a few of my LP's as well. When I buy anything now, one of the first things I do is rip it. I usually listen to my FLAC files but also I still spin CDs quite a bit. For some reason I can't really understand or qualify, the CD playback sounds ever so slightly better than my FLAC files of the same albums. It's not a night and day difference and it may be psychological, but the CD has a tiny edge for me over FLAC.

    I don't like the pile of CD's that I have to re-file after I'm through listening though! :laugh:
     
  8. ron325

    ron325 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Rockaway Beach, NY
    Following.
    I’m trying to decide what to do with my cds that are sitting in storage. (I live in NYC, so space is always an issue.)
     
  9. Strat-Mangler

    Strat-Mangler Personal Survival Daily Record-Breaker

    Location:
    Toronto
    You're probably not going through the same DAC so the difference is most likely not psychological.
     
    dkmonroe likes this.
  10. Strat-Mangler

    Strat-Mangler Personal Survival Daily Record-Breaker

    Location:
    Toronto
    Get CD booklets. That's what I did a long time ago. Saved tons in storage space and didn't miss the jewel cases at all.
     
  11. ron325

    ron325 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Rockaway Beach, NY
    I got rid of the jewel cases years ago. I’m trying to get rid of (stop paying for) storage and I’m wondering if I really need these. I don’t have near as many as most folks around here (less than 1000), but it still occupies a lot of space and I haven’t touched them in years.
     
  12. Strat-Mangler

    Strat-Mangler Personal Survival Daily Record-Breaker

    Location:
    Toronto
    CD wallets don't take much room at all. Sounds like you're probably using some other storage solution which takes more room. They fit more 336 CDs each. You'd just need 3 of those and would be set.

    https://www.bestbuy.com/site/case-l...t-black/7041907.p?skuId=7041907&intl=nosplash
     
  13. PATB

    PATB Recovering Vinyl Junkie

    Location:
    SF Bay Area
    I started ripping my CDs to a NAS but then got tired doing it; too much work! I now only rip hard to acquire CDs and those I play a lot.

    I find it is easier and more enjoyable to browse CDs on my Boltz rack than going through files. It is faster to check files only if I already know what I am looking for, not when looking for what to listen to. This is why I keep a relatively cheap CD player attached by SPDIF to my DAC.
     
    ArneW likes this.
  14. Bingo Bongo

    Bingo Bongo Music gives me Eargasms

    Location:
    Ottawa, Canada
    I did one better and sold off my CD's. They were just collecting dust..... :magoo:
     
  15. ron325

    ron325 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Rockaway Beach, NY
    That’s similar to what I’m using- a 1000 cd holder (aluminum suitcase) with hanging sleeves, but I kept all the cd booklets, so that’s not helping. I have a second, smaller suitcase for the rest.
    The wallets would definitely use less space, but I’d have to toss the booklets.

    I didn’t mean to hijack the thread.
     
  16. Strat-Mangler

    Strat-Mangler Personal Survival Daily Record-Breaker

    Location:
    Toronto
    I've always put the booklets into the pocket. Never had trouble with them fitting. Just a thought...
     
  17. ron325

    ron325 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Rockaway Beach, NY
    And you can still fit the advertised qty (336) with the booklets?
     
  18. Strat-Mangler

    Strat-Mangler Personal Survival Daily Record-Breaker

    Location:
    Toronto
    I was able to but be advised the thickness is expanded a little bit which can make the zipping up operation to be a bit of a chore. I'd suggest buying a single one and giving it a try. If there are no issues, you could buy a couple more.

    Since this is through Best Buy, you could return it if it doesn't pan out and you opt not to go that route.
     
  19. Wally Swift

    Wally Swift Yo-Yoing where I will...

    Location:
    Brooklyn New York
    I can't think of anything I would want to occupy my home surroundings in place of shelves and shelves and piles and piles of physical media and obnoxiously large stereo gear. Fish tanks? Nope. Exotic plants? Nope. Stuffed grizzly bear? Maybe........atmosphere is everything. It nurtures psychological well-being which makes the music sound better.
     
  20. luckybaer

    luckybaer Thinks The Devil actually beat Johnny

    Location:
    Missouri
    I'm used to sticking a disc in my PC's optical drive and using a program like Media Monkey, EAC, etc. to copy the disc's contents to a folder on my hard drive - in a format of my choosing (FLAC, ALAC, etc.).

    My DAC is completely out of the ripping/copying phase and only comes into play on playback. Please describe your process. Maybe I'm missing out on something.
     
  21. Doug_B

    Doug_B Time Traveler

    Location:
    New Jersey
    I started down the file ripping path about two years ago and prefer playing the files versus the optical discs that still provide the source of most of the content. I have a somewhat small collection, less than 600 albums (not including alternate masterings), so it didn't take very long to convert my collection. I probably would not have done it to this point except for the discovery that certain Oppos and a couple of other brands of SACD players support ripping SACD discs, as a significant percentage of my collection is SACD.

    Since I am still using an Oppo 105D (modded) as both the media server and DAC, I still use a remote and the local Oppo interface to play files, very similar to playing optical discs, except easier now to make selections (though I am still very album-centric). I do use a NAS to store the files.

    To support the likely DAC upgrade down the road (beyond the Oppo 205 that I was able to get recently), I will likely need to migrate to a different media server architecture and will likely go the tablet route for control / file selection.

    By the way, this is something of which I haven't seen much mention on the forum: digitizing the CD inserts. Yes, I have started the process of scanning in the booklets and related info that comes with the discs, given that my collection is not large. I started late last year, and I believe I'll have it done by the end of next year or so. Definitely a longer process than ripping. I probably have either never read the liner notes or don't remember the info that accompanies a majority of the albums I have.

    Doug
     
    mozcho likes this.
  22. ron325

    ron325 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Rockaway Beach, NY
    Thanks for the info; I may try this.
     
    Strat-Mangler likes this.
  23. Stone Turntable

    Stone Turntable Independent Head

    Location:
    New Mexico USA
    I love all the ways I listen to music — vinyl, vinyl rips, CDs, CD rips, SACDs, 24/96 files, cassettes, AAC downloads, streaming — and am surprised that polymorphous perversity like mine appears to be becoming rare. It seems you're supposed to pick a team and extoll its superiority or frictionless ease of use or uncluttered simplicity....

    Pick some music, grab it and cue it up, hit play, don't sit there obsessing about analog vs. digital or other neurotic audiophile distinctions, enjoy. In general, CD ripping for portability only. That's how I roll.
     
  24. Laservampire

    Laservampire Down with this sort of thing

    I'm working my way through my 4000 or so CDs to get them all backed up properly to FLAC. The issue is that I keep filling my hard drives with downloaded music instead!


    I recently retired my iPod Classic 160, moved all 30,000 mp3s to my 256gb iPhone instead. Now I can ask Siri to play a particular song or album in the car.
     
    Chris Schoen likes this.
  25. Chris Schoen

    Chris Schoen Rock 'n Roll !!!

    Location:
    Maryland, U.S.A.
    That's cool! :righton:
     
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