EAC vs CueTools vs. dbPoweramp

Discussion in 'Audio Hardware' started by buzzy, Apr 12, 2020.

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  1. Randoms

    Randoms Aerie Faerie Nonsense

    Location:
    UK
    I would add dBpoweramp's PerfectTUNES to that list, for some this can save a lot of time for those instances you haven't got it right first time.
     
  2. quicksrt

    quicksrt Senior Member

    Location:
    Los Angeles
    I'm sure its good and useful.

    I'm not always a stickler for exact size and exact cover art example. But I often do a scan of the CD art I have on hand, or a scan of the LP cover I have on hand, or a digital photo of an album cover with labels, and work on that with trims and size reductions. My cell phone pics have gotten really great and there is a square photo setting, daylight from 2pm to 5pm in my living room is ideal. Then as a last resort I use the Album Art Archive which is controversial around these parts, but I grab art there when I do not need exact but want authentic art for a given piece of media.

    Does PerfectTurns have a place in my workflow if I'm (currently) ripping Japanese imports with obi and back covers with spines? I'm a little apprehensive about auto anything.

    I also may be getting near the end of the line in another year of so of ripping, mixing, tagging, flagging, encoding, and filing.
     
    Last edited: Apr 18, 2021
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  3. Randoms

    Randoms Aerie Faerie Nonsense

    Location:
    UK
    No it is not universal and probably not for you. I try and get it right first time with correct metadata, an AccurateRip and the cover I want, but it has been useful, though I don't let it auto correct and for many it could be extremely beneficial.
     
  4. quicksrt

    quicksrt Senior Member

    Location:
    Los Angeles
    I’ll check it out since I don’t know too much about it.
    Thx.
     
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  5. GhostEMP

    GhostEMP Member

    Location:
    Maryland
    BTW, a caveat with CueRipper is it may not work on all system drives, even in-built ones where every other ripper including EAC works.
    Though I don't think there's any ripper out there that has as much ripping capability as EAC does, given that index-based ripping ability I mentioned earlier.
     
  6. Ham Sandwich

    Ham Sandwich Senior Member

    Location:
    Sherwood, OR, USA
    EAC is powerful because it has so many options. EAC is confusing because it has so many options. Unfortunately many of the possible combinations of options in EAC will result in sub-optimal or incorrect rips. If you use those options you have to know what you are doing and know why you are choosing those options. Especially options related to gap handling. Choosing the wrong options could cause you grief later.

    I usually recommend CUERipper over EAC because CUERipper is easy to use and only has options that are proper and that you might need. It doesn't confuse people with unneeded options. You insert a CD, make sensible selections in a few drop-down menus, and click the big "Go" button to rip. Most people just want a free ripping program that is easy to use.

    EAC also has many options for drive read commands. You need to select the best read command for your drive to get the fastest and most reliable rips. To find the best one you have to try each of them. What is the difference between the MMC read command and MMC1 and MMC2 and D8? I have no idea. But you have to try them to find the optimal settings for a drive. Same with gap detection There are A, B, and C gap detection methods. What does that even mean? You have to choose the best one to get the fastest and most reliable gap detection for you drive. Have fun testing a bunch of drive read and gap detection methods to optimize a drive.
     
  7. GhostEMP

    GhostEMP Member

    Location:
    Maryland
    Agreed. It’s like operating a manual camera mode rather than auto mode. It won’t just execute all the right settings on its own with the push of one button or two. And it’s more overwhelming as well as demanding of a proper understanding of its functions.
     
  8. Ham Sandwich

    Ham Sandwich Senior Member

    Location:
    Sherwood, OR, USA
    CUETools version 2.1.9 was released a few days ago. It is now considered the current maintenance release.

    Download location: CUETools Download - CUETools
     
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  9. GhostEMP

    GhostEMP Member

    Location:
    Maryland
    Here we go again... it wasn't even that long that I downloaded 2.1.8
     
  10. cdcollector87

    cdcollector87 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Wisconsin
    I used to swear by EAC. For a long time I felt that it produced better sounding rips than dBpoweramp. I now use dBpoweramp because it's faster than EAC and feel confident that it does good enough for it not to matter.
     
  11. krafty

    krafty Forum Resident

    Hi folks.

    I purchased dBpoweramp a few days ago. I must say I am quite impressed with the software suite.

    The reason I made this move was the literal paranoia I was getting with EAC. When I start stepping this paranoia OCD I try to make a move out of it, because I realize the music no longer is the important factor or fun to mess with -- but the intangible "perfect bytes" no one really cares about. And this can really kill your sleep, if you get too paranoid about perfect god-made rips -- something always goes out of the pattern.

    Yes, there are millions of configurations and tweaks. But it happens that I don't have sufficient lifetime to fuss over tagging, album art, file rewrites and 20 minutes ripping a CD in Secure Mode (my drive has to defeat audio data cache). dBpoweramp does everything on the fly, so I switched. CUERipper does a lot of good things such as repairing a spot or two - so I keep this as a secondary tool to handle these problematic CDs (some of them look pristine, the error comes with degradation of the chemicals).

    I would use EAC for keeping CD images with Cue Sheets. But it's over a decade I don't burn any CD anymore and CD-Rs are not the right medium for backups. The primary backup is your pressed CD itself. If it gets totally ruined, you just get another copy. That's what I do.

    @buzzy

    Well, in this case, make sure you don't give a negative for no reason. I happen to buy very brand new CD's, sealed, from the 90s and they do come with time aging. I purchased one CD (AIR - Premier Symptomes, from 1999) and it was a sealed first pressing edition. When I opened it up, the sleeve had considerable spots of mould (foxing). The CD was mint, and even like that there was a rip error. So it's not the seller's fault.

    The only reason I would protest firmly was if I would get a CD that was polished and I stopped buying over Discogs because of this reason -- I even wrote an alarm to this in my profile. It's hard to grasp, but there are people selling "NM" (Near Mint) CDs there after polishing them very well. You can only notice the polish job with a white bright light against the CD reading surface. If you see very discrete scuff marks, the CD was practically polished to death to re-achieve the looks of a new one. I know only buy sealed and selected pressings. I also got "Soundgarden - Superunknown", with a defective track but if you look to the media, there is no one single sign of use -- it looks new -- so it's a corroding thing. CUERipper fixed it to me. I'm not sure it can be heard on a regular hardware player -- I guess it can't be even noticed.

    It happens that the CD is a very fine media, but it does have its aging problems -- as well as vinyl does have its own share of aging factors (dust, warping, humidity, etc, etc.)

    Cheers.
     
    Last edited: Dec 7, 2021
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  12. hvbias

    hvbias Midrange magic

    Location:
    Northeast
    My experience is EAC in secure mode/test and copy has the most powerful ripping engine. I've had dbpoweramp fail quite regularly not just on CDs that are scratched but on CDs that don't have a single scratch on them, this is one from just a few days ago that ripped flawlessly within 30 minutes in EAC without ever bringing up any red blocks, as it should as it's a brand new CD. Some other people seem to have the same experience: dbpoweramp vs EAC for scratched discs?

    dbpoweramp is my go to when I want to hear a disc ASAP (hopefully there are AccurateRip entries already so it doesn't go into UltraSecure mode slowing it down to EAC times), but for archival use I delete it make an EAC secure test and copy rip.

    [​IMG]
     
  13. Ham Sandwich

    Ham Sandwich Senior Member

    Location:
    Sherwood, OR, USA
    Generally I do find EAC to be better at ripping scratched or scuffed discs than dBpoweramp. But not always. I've had some discs that EAC wouldn't rip but dBpoweramp would. So is one really better at ripping problem discs than the other? I find it necessary to have both and also have CueRipper and CueTools in the bag of tools. All so I can better success at ripping any CD I get, including the scratched up used ones from Goodwill or the scuff bin at the record store.

    The trick with dBpoweramp is to tell it to slow down the ripping speed if the disc is scratched or won't rip with EAC.

    The big advantage with dBpoweramp is the tagging and how it gets tagging from multiple sources and is able to format that tagging info correctly. I recently ripped a collection of Max Reger's complete organ works. 17 discs. dBpoweramp saved me from having to manually type in the track names for almost 200 tracks.
     
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  14. patient_ot

    patient_ot Senior Member

    Location:
    USA
    A lot depends on the drive you are using. This is old news though for anyone that has been ripping CDs for a long time. I keep both programs on hand but rarely have any issue with dBPoweramp. Typically if a disc has a fatal scratch both programs will report errors for me. In that case I usually just get another copy.

    As I have mentioned before many times, there are certain plants that have known issues with CD pressing. Some of these are in operation still and don't make the best quality CDs. Not all CDs meet redbook standards either.
     
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  15. quicksrt

    quicksrt Senior Member

    Location:
    Los Angeles
    No, the link you provided does not support your claim that dBpoweramp has failed to accurately rip a seemingly perfect disc where EAC sailed through it with no problem. The link shows one other person claiming EAC worked through heavily marred copies of a couple CDs, and was almost perfect (not quite). The conversation is exceptionally short and speaks of EAC by one other person, says virtually nothing about dBp. You are the only one saying dBpoweramp was less successful, not one other of the two comments agreed with you in that point. One person suggests different settings, not dBp shortcomings.
     
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  16. krafty

    krafty Forum Resident

    I don't why or how, but dBpoweramp just performed some f***** miracle here...
    Track Spoonman wouldn't rip for the life of me in EAC or CUERipper.
    I just went and re-ripped this tonight to find out it GOT IT RIGHT the second time!
    The drive went like a F1 racing car on the spot so I can't be more happy than this...
    Yes, I'm using ALAC because of my Apple TV 4K. I will even recognize the SoundCheck gain tags!
    I was always a fan of FLAC (still am) but on hardware things really suck big time.

    [​IMG]
     
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  17. Randoms

    Randoms Aerie Faerie Nonsense

    Location:
    UK
    I would just add one word, on Apple hardware things really suck big time with FLAC. This is Apple's fault, not FLAC.
     
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  18. krafty

    krafty Forum Resident

    Well, let's not judge like that. First of all, ATV4K does support FLAC but not in Apple Music. You need to install VLC and it will play FLACs normally no problem. The only thing I say is that VLC has a (emphasis here) horrendous interface - can't read RG tags and can't display album art -- so in a way, these guys could do something to make VLC better? I don't see the issue here. It's fair enough Apple puts its faith in ALAC only, and it's all lossless anyway. Believe me, I tried VLC for 4K a couple of times and it can't even do playlisting. So this is not entirely Apple's fault. Now with Apple Music, there is the nagging home sharing and the need to use iTunes Shares, which sucks -- that I will give you. It really sucks, but the experience of Apple Music with ALAC, SoundCheck Tags, Album Art and playlist -- there's nothing to beat it. I tried a few things like PLEX and Infuse (I think that was the name) and they failed miserably.

    I thought I would include the log file for the last time I ripped this Soundgarden CD in EAC. It was not exactly Spoonman that was troublesome track back in January this year, but only some other tracks. Not even in secure more it would do. In Burst Mode (EAC), it is Spoonman that gives problems. Just look at this mess of a log... so if one is really concerning with CDs, I mean... these applications are just a complement to what DBPA is now. I must add that this rip from January/2021 took about 35 minutes to complete in Secure More.

    Code:
    Exact Audio Copy V1.6 from 23. October 2020
    
    EAC extraction logfile from 13. January 2021, 21:12
    
    Soundgarden / Superunknown
    
    Used drive  : ATAPI   iHAS122   F   Adapter: 1  ID: 0
    
    Read mode               : Secure
    Utilize accurate stream : Yes
    Defeat audio cache      : Yes
    Make use of C2 pointers : Yes
    
    Read offset correction                      : 6
    Overread into Lead-In and Lead-Out          : No
    Fill up missing offset samples with silence : Yes
    Delete leading and trailing silent blocks   : No
    Null samples used in CRC calculations       : Yes
    Used interface                              : Native Win32 interface for Win NT & 2000
    Gap handling                                : Appended to previous track
    
    Used output format              : User Defined Encoder
    Selected bitrate                : 896 kBit/s
    Quality                         : High
    Add ID3 tag                     : No
    Command line compressor         : D:\SYSTEM\BIN\FLAC\flac.exe
    Additional command line options : -T "artist=%artist%" -T "title=%title%" -T "album=%albumtitle%" -T "date=%year%" -T "tracknumber=%tracknr2%" -T "genre=%genre%" -T "composer=%composer%" -T "performer=%albuminterpret%" -T "comment=%comment%" -8 %source%
    
    
    TOC of the extracted CD
    
         Track |   Start  |  Length  | Start sector | End sector
        ---------------------------------------------------------
            1  |  0:00.32 |  3:51.73 |        32    |    17429
            2  |  3:52.30 |  5:12.00 |     17430    |    40829
            3  |  9:04.30 |  4:42.32 |     40830    |    62011
            4  | 13:46.62 |  4:25.60 |     62012    |    81946
            5  | 18:12.47 |  5:06.23 |     81947    |   104919
            6  | 23:18.70 |  6:08.72 |    104920    |   132591
            7  | 29:27.67 |  5:18.03 |    132592    |   156444
            8  | 34:45.70 |  4:06.27 |    156445    |   174921
            9  | 38:52.22 |  5:47.23 |    174922    |   200969
           10  | 44:39.45 |  5:19.35 |    200970    |   224929
           11  | 49:59.05 |  1:34.10 |    224930    |   231989
           12  | 51:33.15 |  4:16.00 |    231990    |   251189
           13  | 55:49.15 |  5:08.22 |    251190    |   274311
           14  | 60:57.37 |  2:14.23 |    274312    |   284384
           15  | 63:11.60 |  7:01.62 |    284385    |   316021
    
    
    Track  1
    
         Filename D:\EAC\01 - Let Me Drown.wav
    
         Pre-gap length  0:00:02.32
    
         Peak level 95.3 %
         Extraction speed 2.0 X
         Track quality 99.9 %
         Test CRC BA6AC249
         Copy CRC BA6AC249
         Accurately ripped (confidence 177)  [B1E3DE34]  (AR v2)
         Copy OK
    
    Track  2
    
         Filename D:\EAC\02 - My Wave.wav
    
         Pre-gap length  0:00:01.05
    
         Peak level 95.3 %
         Extraction speed 2.5 X
         Track quality 99.9 %
         Test CRC CDCCA25F
         Copy CRC CDCCA25F
         Accurately ripped (confidence 178)  [1731A46A]  (AR v2)
         Copy OK
    
    Track  3
    
         Filename D:\EAC\03 - Fell on Black Days.wav
    
         Peak level 95.3 %
         Extraction speed 3.7 X
         Track quality 100.0 %
         Test CRC 6198F2C0
         Copy CRC 6198F2C0
         Accurately ripped (confidence 173)  [D86ED195]  (AR v2)
         Copy OK
    
    Track  4
    
         Filename D:\EAC\04 - Mailman.wav
    
         Pre-gap length  0:00:00.50
    
         Peak level 95.3 %
         Extraction speed 3.9 X
         Track quality 100.0 %
         Test CRC F00A00AC
         Copy CRC F00A00AC
         Accurately ripped (confidence 176)  [28C0F258]  (AR v2)
         Copy OK
    
    Track  5
    
         Filename D:\EAC\05 - Superunknown.wav
    
         Peak level 95.3 %
         Extraction speed 4.3 X
         Track quality 100.0 %
         Test CRC D09ECD6D
         Copy CRC D09ECD6D
         Accurately ripped (confidence 179)  [D5BB206D]  (AR v2)
         Copy OK
    
    Track  6
    
         Filename D:\EAC\06 - Head Down.wav
    
         Peak level 95.3 %
         Extraction speed 4.7 X
         Track quality 100.0 %
         Test CRC 69939AD9
         Copy CRC 69939AD9
         Accurately ripped (confidence 176)  [BF159759]  (AR v2)
         Copy OK
    
    Track  7
    
         Filename D:\EAC\07 - Black Hole Sun.wav
    
         Peak level 95.3 %
         Extraction speed 3.5 X
         Track quality 99.9 %
         Test CRC FF3077E1
         Copy CRC FF3077E1
         Accurately ripped (confidence 175)  [EC820732]  (AR v2)
         Copy OK
    
    Track  8
    
         Filename D:\EAC\08 - Spoonman.wav
    
         Peak level 95.3 %
         Extraction speed 4.8 X
         Track quality 100.0 %
         Test CRC DAF64E56
         Copy CRC DAF64E56
         Accurately ripped (confidence 177)  [92984C9E]  (AR v2)
         Copy OK
    
    Track  9
    
         Filename D:\EAC\09 - Limo Wreck.wav
    
         Peak level 95.3 %
         Extraction speed 5.3 X
         Track quality 100.0 %
         Test CRC D400E988
         Copy CRC D400E988
         Accurately ripped (confidence 169)  [89A6E109]  (AR v2)
         Copy OK
    
    Track 10
    
         Filename D:\EAC\10 - The Day I Tried to Live.wav
    
         Peak level 95.3 %
         Extraction speed 5.4 X
         Track quality 100.0 %
         Test CRC 8FD7B960
         Copy CRC 8FD7B960
         Accurately ripped (confidence 177)  [045AA9C5]  (AR v2)
         Copy OK
    
    Track 11
    
         Filename D:\EAC\11 - Kickstand.wav
    
         Peak level 95.3 %
         Extraction speed 4.2 X
         Track quality 100.0 %
         Test CRC 134E599D
         Copy CRC 134E599D
         Accurately ripped (confidence 182)  [BE2A136F]  (AR v2)
         Copy OK
    
    Track 12
    
         Filename D:\EAC\12 - Fresh Tendrils.wav
    
         Pre-gap length  0:00:00.40
    
         Suspicious position 0:04:15
    
         Peak level 95.3 %
         Extraction speed 1.9 X
         Track quality 99.6 %
         Test CRC A3851719
         Copy CRC AF83C9B5
         Cannot be verified as accurate (confidence 143)  [99268350], AccurateRip returned [2C2775FF]  (AR v2)
         Copy finished
    
    Track 13
    
         Filename D:\EAC\13 - 4th of July.wav
    
         Pre-gap length  0:00:00.15
    
         Suspicious position 0:00:00
    
         Peak level 95.3 %
         Extraction speed 2.9 X
         Track quality 99.6 %
         Test CRC 66410B1C
         Copy CRC AD0941B4
         Cannot be verified as accurate (confidence 138)  [42DB4E3B], AccurateRip returned [35DC2648]  (AR v2)
         Copy finished
    
    Track 14
    
         Filename D:\EAC\14 - Half.wav
    
         Peak level 95.1 %
         Extraction speed 5.1 X
         Track quality 100.0 %
         Test CRC EF04FB4D
         Copy CRC EF04FB4D
         Accurately ripped (confidence 171)  [B65C67BE]  (AR v2)
         Copy OK
    
    Track 15
    
         Filename D:\EAC\15 - Like Suicide.wav
    
         Peak level 95.3 %
         Extraction speed 6.4 X
         Track quality 100.0 %
         Test CRC D439C164
         Copy CRC D439C164
         Accurately ripped (confidence 161)  [0BA929D5]  (AR v2)
         Copy OK
    
    
    13 track(s) accurately ripped
     2 track(s) could not be verified as accurate
    
    Some tracks could not be verified as accurate
    
    There were errors
    
    End of status report
    
    ---- CUETools DB Plugin V2.1.6
    
    [CTDB TOCID: RQTx27TjZapRgIeOZRdfkQOfAxQ-] found
    Submit result: insufficient quality
    Track | CTDB Status
      1   | (1464/2069) Accurately ripped, or (1/2069) differs in 23 samples @03:12:45,03:48:09,03:48:74
      2   | (1466/2069) Accurately ripped, or (1/2069) differs in 44 samples @01:51:01,01:51:35,01:51:57,01:52:05,01:52:27-01:52:28,01:52:39,01:52:61
      3   | (1396/2069) Accurately ripped, or (1/2069) differs in 7 samples @04:41:39-04:41:44
      4   | (1471/2069) Accurately ripped
      5   | (1463/2069) Accurately ripped
      6   | (1454/2069) Accurately ripped
      7   | (1465/2069) Accurately ripped
      8   | (1000/2069) Accurately ripped, or (410/2069) differs in 2 samples @01:44:32
      9   | (1450/2069) Accurately ripped, or (1/2069) differs in 30 samples @01:46:30
     10   | (1447/2069) Accurately ripped, or (1/2069) differs in 145 samples @04:31:36-04:31:37,04:32:57,04:33:58,04:34:40,04:40:28
     11   | (1467/2069) Accurately ripped, or (1/2069) differs in 316 samples @00:01:01,00:04:05-00:04:06,00:05:64-00:05:65,00:09:71,00:43:56,00:54:39,01:00:33,01:26:41,01:28:46,01:29:29,01:30:12,01:31:14,01:31:34,01:33:00,01:33:58
     12   | (410/2069) Differs in 970 samples @04:15:61-04:15:63, or (616/2069) differs in 970 samples @04:15:61-04:15:63, or (1/2069) differs in 1244 samples @00:00:51,00:01:14,00:01:33-00:01:34,00:02:36,00:03:19,00:04:41,00:07:09-00:07:10,00:09:34,00:09:73,00:10:56,00:36:67,00:37:69-00:37:70,04:15:61-04:15:63, or (50/2069) differs in 968 samples @04:15:61-04:15:62, or (5/2069) differs in 970 samples @04:15:61-04:15:63, or (2/2069) differs in 2630 samples @04:15:60-04:15:63, or (2/2069) differs in 2470 samples @04:15:59-04:15:62, or (2/2069) differs in 968 samples @04:15:61-04:15:62, or (3/2069) differs in 970 samples @04:15:61-04:15:63
     13   | (410/2069) Differs in 212 samples @00:00:51-00:00:52,02:49:35, or (616/2069) differs in 210 samples @00:00:51-00:00:52, or (1/2069) differs in 211 samples @00:00:50-00:00:52, or (50/2069) differs in 210 samples @00:00:51-00:00:52, or (5/2069) differs in 210 samples @00:00:51-00:00:52, or (2/2069) differs in 210 samples @00:00:51-00:00:52, or (2/2069) differs in 210 samples @00:00:51-00:00:52, or (2/2069) differs in 188 samples @00:00:51-00:00:52, or (3/2069) differs in 210 samples @00:00:51-00:00:52
     14   | (1450/2069) Accurately ripped, or (1/2069) differs in 59 samples @00:27:23-00:27:24
     15   | (1385/2069) Accurately ripped, or (1/2069) differs in 216 samples @03:19:72,04:02:56,04:03:45,04:03:67,04:04:35,04:07:03,04:38:40-04:38:41,05:45:67
    If you are sure that your rip contains errors, you can use CUETools to repair it.
    
    
    ==== Log checksum FE599D1682B452B20D2811B66678E362FBBB57F16376AB990CB297769E9D9FA5 ====
    
     
    Last edited: Dec 8, 2021
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  19. quicksrt

    quicksrt Senior Member

    Location:
    Los Angeles
    Thread title is:
    EAC vs CueTools vs. dbPoweramp
     
  20. hvbias

    hvbias Midrange magic

    Location:
    Northeast
    I agree with you on the tagging, but dbpoweramp still has no way to submit tags to the CueTools database that took over Freedb, and Spoon has made no indication that he intends to update that. I'm getting in a lot of new classical CDs (long vacation = emptying the wallet :D ) where the tags are not in any of the four databases that dbpoweramp connects to. I am still on CueTools 2.1.6 and this too still has FreeDB as the site it connects to submit tags to. For discs I want to hear ASAP with no AccurateRip entries CueTools is the fastest at ripping in secure mode.

    As for setting up EAC it is indeed not trivial. I have not had to format one of my ripping PCs and still have it setup using a really thorough guide. Secure mode test and copy CRC, matching to AccurateRip database and CTDB essentially gives you three different types of checks. This is why it's my archival ripper, aside from being superior on stratched or problematic new CDs.
     
  21. Ham Sandwich

    Ham Sandwich Senior Member

    Location:
    Sherwood, OR, USA
    GnuDB is the tagging database that took over the tagging database project after FreeDB shut down.

    CueTools/CueRipper 2.1.9 switched over to using GnuDB instead of FreeDB. Update to version 2.1.9

    The latest version of dBpoweramp also uses GnuDB now. Make sure you have the latest dBpoweramp and you can grab tagging data from GnuDB.

    The CUETools Database does get new releases added to the ripping database faster. And seems to get more submissions. Which I find a bit odd. Because I suspect that AccurateRip is used in more projects and gets used to rip more discs than CUETools/CUERipper. But for some reason most of the people using AccurateRip don't submit the rip results, while the people who use CUETools/CUERipper do submit the rip results.

    Both databases are useful for verifying rips. But CTDB tends to be the more useful one, especially for new releases.

    I use a mix of rippers and tools as needed to do ripping and tagging. As an example, I recently got a pipe organ box set. No tagging in MusicBrainz or GnuDB/FreeDB. But did have tagging in Discogs. So I used dBpoweramp to rip and grab the tagging from Discogs. Copied and submitted those tags to GnuDB using dBpoweramp. And now that the tags are in GnuDB I can use CUETools/CUERipper to rip or tag those discs. And I'm submitting those to MusicBrainz using MusicBrainz Picard and other tools. Adding new classical releases to MusicBrainz is a PITA, but someone has to do it or it never will get done.
     
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  22. hvbias

    hvbias Midrange magic

    Location:
    Northeast
    Updated to 2.1.9 and it allows me to submit tags to GnuDB! Ripped a few releases that came out in Europe last week but still haven't made their way to US distributors and discs ripped in about 5-8 minutes with no AccurateRip entries, this is with CueRipper set to secure, so this is very fast :)
     
  23. Ham Sandwich

    Ham Sandwich Senior Member

    Location:
    Sherwood, OR, USA
    The CUETools repair function is so amazing. The repair function makes it possible to perfectly rip discs that would otherwise be impossible to get a clean rip from.

    My local library sells donated CDs through their Friends of the Library organization. And some they even put out for free. Plus they also put out some ex-library circulation CDs for free. But often those CDs are in poor condition and challenging to get a clean rip.

    Picked up a Yo-yo Ma Silk Road Journeys CD yesterday. An ex-library circulation CD that has an obvious significant scuff marks that was obvious to me was going to be challenging to rip cleanly. And sure enough, EAC, CUEtools Ripper, and dBpoweramp were not able to get a clean rip. So I set EAC to fast synchronize mode and ripped the CD with the errors. Two tracks had errors. A total of 2484 errors. Ran that rip through the CUETools reapair and every error was corrected. The result a perfect rip and free music for me.

    EAC rip log with the errors:

    Code:
    Exact Audio Copy V1.6 from 23. October 2020
    
    EAC extraction logfile from 9. April 2022, 15:27
    
    Yo-Yo Ma / Silk Road Journeys [PLEXTOR fast]
    
    Used drive  : PLEXTOR PX-891SAF   Adapter: 1  ID: 1
    
    Read mode : Fast
    
    Read offset correction                      : 6
    Overread into Lead-In and Lead-Out          : No
    Fill up missing offset samples with silence : Yes
    Delete leading and trailing silent blocks   : No
    Null samples used in CRC calculations       : Yes
    Used interface                              : Native Win32 interface for Win NT & 2000
    
    Used output format : Internal WAV Routines
    Sample format      : 44.100 Hz; 16 Bit; Stereo
    
    
    TOC of the extracted CD
    
         Track |   Start  |  Length  | Start sector | End sector
        ---------------------------------------------------------
            1  |  0:00.00 |  1:47.13 |         0    |     8037  
            2  |  1:47.13 |  2:59.59 |      8038    |    21521  
            3  |  4:46.72 |  7:05.62 |     21522    |    53458  
            4  | 11:52.59 |  1:22.01 |     53459    |    59609  
            5  | 13:14.60 |  1:18.15 |     59610    |    65474  
            6  | 14:33.00 |  6:08.56 |     65475    |    93130  
            7  | 20:41.56 |  3:24.53 |     93131    |   108483  
            8  | 24:06.34 |  3:59.55 |    108484    |   126463  
            9  | 28:06.14 |  4:36.48 |    126464    |   147211  
           10  | 32:42.62 |  4:08.20 |    147212    |   165831  
           11  | 36:51.07 |  1:48.03 |    165832    |   173934  
           12  | 38:39.10 |  7:56.10 |    173935    |   209644  
           13  | 46:35.20 |  5:06.40 |    209645    |   232634  
           14  | 51:41.60 |  6:56.65 |    232635    |   263899  
           15  | 58:38.50 |  5:29.49 |    263900    |   288623  
    
    
    Range status and errors
    
    Selected range
    
         Filename C:\RIP\EAC\Yo-Yo Ma - Silk Road Journeys [PLEXTOR fast].wav
    
         Peak level 100.0 %
         Extraction speed 29.4 X
         Copy CRC D72EA352
         Copy OK
    
    No errors occurred
    
     
    AccurateRip summary
     
    Track  1  accurately ripped (confidence 49)  [0B22C1CA]  (AR v2)
    Track  2  accurately ripped (confidence 50)  [9D99C83B]  (AR v2)
    Track  3  accurately ripped (confidence 49)  [F6AE32E4]  (AR v2)
    Track  4  accurately ripped (confidence 50)  [5DB23D66]  (AR v2)
    Track  5  accurately ripped (confidence 50)  [E977CF1F]  (AR v2)
    Track  6  cannot be verified as accurate (confidence 50)  [AFA30F51], AccurateRip returned [F647BE72]  (AR v2)
    Track  7  accurately ripped (confidence 50)  [11E9C83F]  (AR v2)
    Track  8  cannot be verified as accurate (confidence 50)  [948F2A8A], AccurateRip returned [9088A486]  (AR v2)
    Track  9  accurately ripped (confidence 50)  [BE9D02F8]  (AR v2)
    Track 10  accurately ripped (confidence 50)  [4C5DB8D7]  (AR v2)
    Track 11  accurately ripped (confidence 50)  [DF9C8A5B]  (AR v2)
    Track 12  accurately ripped (confidence 48)  [936B4075]  (AR v2)
    Track 13  accurately ripped (confidence 50)  [E35BE822]  (AR v2)
    Track 14  accurately ripped (confidence 48)  [C0169A82]  (AR v2)
    Track 15  accurately ripped (confidence 48)  [F9B1F9F3]  (AR v2)
     
    13 track(s) accurately ripped
     2 track(s) could not be verified as accurate
    
    Some tracks could not be verified as accurate
    
    End of status report
    
    ---- AcoustID Plugin V1.2.0
    
    Total fingerprints: 0
    
    
    ---- CUETools DB Plugin V2.2.0
    
    [CTDB TOCID: 4J5obD5dF.hHT1xFF.kpgj__vNw-] found
    Submit result: insufficient quality
    Track | CTDB Status
      1   | (149/153) Accurately ripped
      2   | (148/153) Accurately ripped
      3   | (148/153) Accurately ripped
      4   | (149/153) Accurately ripped
      5   | (149/153) Accurately ripped
      6   | (136/153) Differs in 29 samples @05:57:10,05:57:38,05:57:53
      7   | (149/153) Accurately ripped
      8   | (136/153) Differs in 2455 samples @00:19:25-00:19:26,00:19:40-00:19:41,00:23:39,00:23:69,00:27:09-00:27:10,00:35:69-00:35:70,00:38:10,00:38:25,00:38:40,00:42:41,00:43:11-00:43:12,00:43:26-00:43:27,00:43:41-00:43:42,00:43:56-00:43:57,00:43:72,00:44:12,00:44:27,00:44:42,00:44:57,00:44:72,00:45:12,00:45:27,00:45:42,00:45:57,00:45:72,00:46:12,00:46:27,00:46:42,00:46:57,00:46:72-00:46:73,00:47:27-00:47:28,00:47:42,00:52:14,00:52:59,00:52:74,00:53:29-00:53:30,00:53:44-00:53:45,00:53:59-00:53:60,00:53:74-00:54:00,00:54:15,00:54:30,00:54:45,00:54:60,00:55:00,00:55:15,00:55:30
      9   | (147/153) Accurately ripped
     10   | (147/153) Accurately ripped
     11   | (149/153) Accurately ripped
     12   | (148/153) Accurately ripped
     13   | (148/153) Accurately ripped
     14   | (146/153) Accurately ripped
     15   | (144/153) Accurately ripped
    If you are sure that your rip contains errors, you can use CUETools to repair it.
    
    And the CUETools log after doing the repair:
    Code:
    [CUETools log; Date: 4/9/2022 8:30:41 PM; Version: 2.2.0]
    CUETools DB: corrected 2484 errors.
    [AccurateRip ID: 001ecaae-0167e33b-d40f080f] found.
    Track   [  CRC   |   V2   ] Status
     01     [01ac7f8c|0b22c1ca] (36+49/93) Accurately ripped
     02     [4334319e|9d99c83b] (36+50/94) Accurately ripped
     03     [c0ef3958|f6ae32e4] (35+49/92) Accurately ripped
     04     [cc02ff99|5db23d66] (36+50/94) Accurately ripped
     05     [b5ba2220|e977cf1f] (36+50/94) Accurately ripped
     06     [14149154|f647be72] (36+50/94) Accurately ripped
     07     [3bef6a9f|11e9c83f] (36+50/94) Accurately ripped
     08     [e4ef8dfc|9088a486] (35+50/93) Accurately ripped
     09     [3bdf377f|be9d02f8] (36+50/94) Accurately ripped
     10     [cebfe79f|4c5db8d7] (36+50/94) Accurately ripped
     11     [c2547499|df9c8a5b] (36+50/94) Accurately ripped
     12     [27228e70|936b4075] (36+48/92) Accurately ripped
     13     [88ece970|e35be822] (36+50/94) Accurately ripped
     14     [ce0dfd29|c0169a82] (35+48/91) Accurately ripped
     15     [0d3b8a92|f9b1f9f3] (31+48/87) Accurately ripped
    Offsetted by 635:
     01     [37a13961] (02/93) Accurately ripped
     02     [9a5cf0e8] (02/94) Accurately ripped
     03     [94d48ad1] (02/92) Accurately ripped
     04     [12caf8c8] (02/94) Accurately ripped
     05     [f3fd4335] (02/94) Accurately ripped
     06     [549f3d63] (02/94) Accurately ripped
     07     [1826a311] (02/94) Accurately ripped
     08     [e64ce0bf] (02/93) Accurately ripped
     09     [9644ecac] (02/94) Accurately ripped
     10     [1b871eb2] (02/94) Accurately ripped
     11     [28fc2714] (02/94) Accurately ripped
     12     [b7859924] (02/92) Accurately ripped
     13     [4eabf93e] (02/94) Accurately ripped
     14     [4b1c75d9] (02/91) Accurately ripped
     15     [45b03f6b] (02/87) Accurately ripped
    Offsetted by -30:
     01     [ee1859b4] (00/93) No match (V2 was not tested)
     02     [f86966fa] (00/94) No match (V2 was not tested)
     03     [cb681e4e] (00/92) No match (V2 was not tested)
     04     [24c2dfae] (00/94) No match (V2 was not tested)
     05     [73d88d88] (00/94) No match (V2 was not tested)
     06     [f07ade9d] (00/94) No match (V2 was not tested)
     07     [75640204] (00/94) No match (V2 was not tested)
     08     [f1c9ad11] (00/93) No match (V2 was not tested)
     09     [1dd422c2] (00/94) No match (V2 was not tested)
     10     [49b9b041] (00/94) No match (V2 was not tested)
     11     [89082108] (00/94) No match (V2 was not tested)
     12     [d77e4fb6] (00/92) No match (V2 was not tested)
     13     [ac50fc92] (00/94) No match (V2 was not tested)
     14     [14bf4a9c] (00/91) No match (V2 was not tested)
     15     [16be810e] (00/87) No match (V2 was not tested)
    
    Track Peak [ CRC32  ] [W/O NULL] [  LOG   ]
     --  100.0 [8D9A2E57] [FC9C8AAD] [D72EA352]
     01   98.9 [985494D1] [97156F59]          
     02   72.2 [DD3CA245] [3D6D9D41]          
     03   98.9 [3098E755] [993B71F2]          
     04   54.0 [EC9FD71A] [DF28C8D0]          
     05   19.5 [762AC5EB] [F5EED2D0]          
     06   98.9 [3B39E088] [18F89AE7]          
     07   64.1 [042B30D4] [8BABEBE6]          
     08   98.9 [1C265CFC] [0A7CBD09]          
     09   39.5 [DBC0ED92] [2FC241F0]          
     10  100.0 [2EF3CA1E] [41F8B137]          
     11   98.8 [0211982D] [7CA52702]          
     12   98.8 [B8912305] [F60C2576]          
     13   98.8 [D26DD39E] [7993D101]          
     14   98.9 [2985F016] [28234703]          
     15   53.2 [D31B767C] [4180205B]          
    
    The algorithms that CUETools uses to do these corrections is amazing. I do a little geek dance every time it rescues an otherwise unrippable CD.

    My understanding of what CUETools is doing is that it is similar to the PAR Files (parity archive) that allow for data recovery and correction that was common in the old days when downloading from newsgroups using a modem. It's pretty neat math and algorithms to do all that. The kind of math and algorithms that PhDs in computer science develop. Wikipedia article on parchive: Parchive - Wikipedia
     
  24. harby

    harby Forum Resident

    Location:
    Portland, OR, USA
    You will notice in the code of yours above, you will see the results of other's rips, and how well they match up with what has been identified to be yours.

    For all but two of the tracks on the disc, the number that ripped the same as you: 148 out of 153.

    However, for the two tracks where it thinks there are wrong samples, only 136/153 were able to create identical rips to the "reference" recording.

    I suspect that you, along with thirteen others, have a slightly different pressing of this CD recording that was not identified as being different by CueTools. This can be that they had to create a new glass master from the digital tape. It is unlikely that two tracks were identically difficult to rip by the same amount by different users. You've instead converted one mastering into another. (only a C2 disc quality scan will tell you if they were actually read errors).

    A lot of what goes on in the backend of CueTools is pretty obtuse. I've had it refuse to correct a (1/200) recording - because that "1" match, which was my own auto-submission to the database when I ripped it, was seen as OK. I've since disabled the CueTools plugin from EAC so it doesn't try to submit every time I rip over and over. Also discs with just a few bad sectors in one or two tracks that refused to be identified so they could be corrected.
     
    Blue Gecko and Randoms like this.
  25. Ham Sandwich

    Ham Sandwich Senior Member

    Location:
    Sherwood, OR, USA
    This CD has a very obvious and very deep scuff. The data under the scuff is unreadable. Attempts to do a secure rip with EAC would fail. EAC would abort the rip. CUETools ripper and dBpoweramp would also fail to get a rip. The only way to get a rip of the CD was to put the ripper into burst mode or fast mode and ignore the errors.

    The user interface and operation of CUETools to do a repair can be confusing and confounding. I've also had the CUETools repair function refuse to do a repair because it saw one good rip that was my rip. You have to get creative to work around that behavior. Getting CUETools to do a repair when it thinks you have a good match with your own bad rip can be confounding. Fortunately this disc didn't present any of those confounding problems because EAC or CUERipper was never able to complete an accurate rip of the disc that would submit bad data to CTDB.

    One possibility to consider is that the reason those two tracks have 136 good rips instead of 140-something is because a previous person(s) checked out that same disc from the library and tried to rip it with EAC a half dozen times and failed while submitting bad data to CTDB each time.
     
    Last edited: Apr 10, 2022
    Blue Gecko and Randoms like this.
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