Unfortunately the deemphasize tool strips tags so you have to reran after converting to alac or AAC. I use MusicBrainz Picard for that.
Thanks very much for detailed & informative response! I was pretty sure but 100% is always better than 99%. 2nd or 3rd Japanese issues with VJD/VJCP catalog numbers have usually (or always?!) same mastering as their first 32VD pressings thus also PE as showed above. Some 32VD black triangles are 2nd pressings preceded only by earliest VDP-1~109 series which has in my own experience always unique mastering and are much much harder to get.
I always wondered why the first issue Scotti Bros. was so bright. I never thought to check for that.. I can confirm two other Survivor CDs too, both Japan-for-Japan, Canyon label: Survivor - Eye of the Tiger - Japan Canyon D32Y0039 Survivor - Vital Signs - Japan Canyon D32Y0014 dBpoweramp tagged both with pre-emphasis and they definitely needed de-emph'ing.
There are four Mannheim Steamroller titles with PE listed on Lazlo's site (http://studio-nibble.com/cd/index.php?title=Pre-emphasis_(release_list)) that aren't present on this thread's list even though I submitted a couple of them here on the thread.
Picked up a copy of Billy Joel 52nd Street, Japan -> US, matrix - 35DP-1 11 1, that does have pre-emphasis It is NOT in the "crude font" so that is not a requirement for that title.
Here are 3 Denon classical CDs with pre-emphasis I got recently: Huguette Dreyfus - Bach: Works For Harpsicord (38C37-7233) [1984] - PE flag in track subcode only Smetana Quartet - W.A. Mozart: 2 String Quartets, KV 458 "Hunt" & KV 421 (COCO-70792) [1982; 2005 reissue] - PE flag in disc TOC / track subcode A. Nicolet, H.Holliger, C. Jaccottet, et.al.- J.S. Bach / C.P.E. Bach: Trio Sonatas (COCO-70789) [1984; 2005 reissue] - PE flag in disc TOC / track subcode
So... Almost two years later, I've wasted time and income purchasing, trying and discarding multiple gadgets and software, aiming for a home-wide music playback system that can be integrated into a home automation control system. That done - without much success - and coupled with the memory of this pre-emphasis issue, we realised we'll be better off purchasing new remastered editions of our CDs, and hope current recordings are 100% PE-free. There should be a label or something. Back then I also failed at grasping the exact meaning of the word gimmick, using it to qualify a technique which had real purpose at the time and still makes sense if your only medium of music playback is a CD player with or mated to a properly designed DAC. Except times changed and now people are using centralized digital music libraries serving networked client devices, and their mobile phones to listen to music in the car and on the go. The CD is our personal format of choice over digital downloads only because it comes with a printed booklet. Is there a space for pre-emphasis as a technique? Yes, of course, but it should be implemented inside playback equipment, not incorporated within the recording. Right now in 2015, is there any proven software that can detect the presence of pre-emphasis in any form when ripping a CD?
I agree there should have been a label.. I use dBpoweramp that picks up pre-emphasis on most discs. Searching around the forums I've heard that EAC and iTunes also detect it. The problem is the pre-emphasis flag can't always be found in the same place. Someone correct me if I'm wrong but it can be found in the TOC, or in the sub-channel. Not all software can read either, so some discs slip by. Old pressings of Michael Jackson's Thriller come to mind.
DBPoweramp and EAC (maybe Foobar too...not sure) will detect and flag pre-emphasis if the marker is in the TOC of the CD. If the marker is in the CD subchannel, then they will not flag it. (An older version 0.95 pre-beta of EAC will check the subchannel as well, I think). Once you have identified that a disc has PE, you can then use any number of softwares to de-emph the ripped tracks to a normal EQ for playback. I use WaveEmph...I've heard others talk of using Foobar, ITunes, etc. You may lose your tags depending on which software you use. As far as discs with the PE marker in the subchannel....if you find that tracks sound horribly sibilant and really really bright after ripping, you might have a PE disc that was not flagged by your ripper and needs to be de-emphed. If a disc sounds okay in a CD player but horrible in a computer drive that does not decode/apply de-emph upon playback, then you probably have a subchannel HDCD disc.
Current versions of XLD can detect pre-emphasis in the sub channel. Just open the CD, save a cue sheet and look for PRE tags.
I think pre-emphasis detection may be drive specific, as neither DBPoweramp nor EAC will detect it using any of the 3 drives that I have.
There have been many dozens of older Japanese pressings (Columbia, CBS, EMI, etc) plus a few other North American ones which I've seen listed as PE, and they are all the same. As Kevin has mentioned above, I guess I would need an older version of EAC, but I suspect that would be tough to get these days.
Easy to still find if you know where to look. Here's a post with links http://forums.stevehoffman.tv/threads/pre-emphasis-list.121188/page-18#post-10068199
I finally got around to checking my collection for titles with pre-emphasis. I had several on the list, many of which I had ripped and hadn't de-emphasized. Thanks to all the contributors to the list and other details. Here's a couple of titles I have that have pre-emphasis flagged in the subcode but not the TOC (I know they've already been listed here but wanted to point out about the missing TOC flag): Pet Shop Boys - Please (Japanese Black Triangle CP32-5131) Howard Jones - Human's Lib (German Target 2 40335-2)
Hi! Fantastic thread here. I'm amazed at some of the obscure titles that are already on the list. I do have one to add, though: Jean-Michel Jarre - Zoolook Polydor 823 763-2 Printed in West Germany It exactly matches the details and images for this entry at discogs.com, right down to the pressing code imprinted on the disc: http://www.discogs.com/Jean-Michel-Jarre-Zoolook/release/2301398 Only the last track (#7) has PE. It's in the TOC, so current versions of EAC will detect it. I remembered this one because the PE indicator on my 1984 Technics CD player only comes on during this track. It turns out this player is good for a "final answer" on whether or not a disc has PE. If it's in the TOC, the indicator flashes when the disc loads. (On this particular disc, it flashes multiple times.) If it's only in the sub code, it'll still find it and light up during playback.
