Dbpoweramp Cd Ripper
Sadie
I recently purchased dbpoweramp and was wondering what settings would be optimal for ripping my cd's? I have heard that ripping cd's to .aiff would be the best choice. I have set the Ripping method to the Secure setting. I use J River MC 17 as my music player. So perhaps someone here that has some experience with this combo could comment on the settings that would be best for ripping.
Windows XP/7 > J River MC 20 > Wire World Platinum Starlight USB cable > Peachtree Audio Grand-Pre dac > Straight Wire Crescendo IC's > Odd Watt Audio Odd Block tube amps > custom speaker cables > Galt Audio 2.5 speakers > 15" Aura Sound subwoofer in Ported Reflex Enclosure/1000watt amp
The question of using AIFF or FLAC or WAV, etc., is subjective and has been discussed on the forum quite a bit. Some say there can be no difference and others will say they can tell between different formats. Why not rip some music you know well into different formats and listen for a preference? If you do, try FLAC in compressed and uncompressed modes. In my system, I can hear a difference.
Overall, I think it would be worth working out an overall strategy for managing your digital files: do you plan to have a "base" copy of files which you don't use except as a disaster recovery point? If so, you might use FLAC for that. It has good meta data handling and the wide support for it makes it a good "futures" option for the job. it would be simple to copy that library to make your playing copy if you chose FLAC overall.
I rip to uncompressed FLAC in dbpoweramp. I have listened very carefully for differences between compressed and uncompressed FLAC as well as WAV and on MWF *I think* that uncompressed FLAC sounds marginally better. On TuThSat I hear no difference. On Sun I rest.
Thanks for the info! I tried ripping a couple tracks in flac and then .Aiff. I did hear a difference between the two. I prefer the .Aiff over FLAC. I would like to try the others, but I see that this dbpoweramp program has to have additional downloads for codecs. I am new to this and wanting to know from someone that may have experience with the various settings and such using dbpoweramp, that could enlighten me as to which settings would matter or not.
If you are using AccurateRip (yes, both boxes, and no, you don't have to send new rips to the database; it's just nice to give back, that's all) then it doesn't really matter what ripping speed you use...might as well use the maximum (as per the guide). Yes, use "as source" unless you want to upsample or downsample...your choice!!
I guess my patience was on the low side, I was just a little frustrated with all the settings on dbpoweramp. I was hoping someone could perhaps give me some pointers to which settings would give me the best possible results. As far as trust is concerned, I don't see your point. What does trust have to do with wanting someone experienced to help out with the settings on dbpoweramp?
By trust I meant why aren't you trusting the DBPoweramp's own guide to setup? That's all. But I did give you comments and feedback you requested. Carlton's guide is good, too, especially if you don't mind his quite extensive naming scheme (which works with all types of discs, but adds things like year that I don't care about...easy enough to remove).
One thing I have noticed with using J River MC is that some of my music files have been recorded on the higher db side than other music files. This is annoying when using the shuffle mode when listening to music files. Is there a way I can use dbpoweramp to equal the db level for these added db files?
I was wondering if I could improve my music files that say were in an mp3 format at 320kbps. I have been ripping my cd's using the .aiff format and setting the Encoder at a bit depth of 24 bits and using 96KHz setting for the sample rate. I was wondering if using this same ripping 96KHz/24-bit method would be better when converting music files that are say 16-bit/44.1KHz.
I have also noticed that some of my music files show that they are compressed at around 45%or so. Others vary, and may be higher compressed at around 85% or so. Perhaps someone could comment on this. I thought that 0% compressed was better, but not sure.
I have a couple of questions that perhaps someone can answer. I was looking on the HD tracks dot com website, and found the Michael Jackson Thriller album. It is available for download in Audiophile at 176 kHz/24bit and also 88 kHz/24bit. I had bought this cd years ago, and I would believe that it is a standard 44.1 kHz/16bit format. Here are my questions:
1. Considering that I have J River MC and am using an external dac connected by USB from pc to dac that is capable of up to 196kHz/24bit, would I get the better sound by downloading the 176kHz/24bit file versus the 88kHz/24 bit file?
2. I see that HD tracks are offering an option of downloading in 4 different file formats. Options are aiff, alac, flac, and wav formats. Should I download the flac format as I have Windows XP/7 as OS?
I guess what it comes down to is the SQ I am looking for. I did read over Chris's configuring the dbpoweramp program correctly. I am wondering if I could perhaps rip this Thriller cd to flac, and then convert it to the formats that are offered at HD tracks. I am uncertain if this would be the same. Any help would be appreciated!
In theory yes; in practice you may find there is no advantage of the 176.4 version over the 88.2 version. I believe (from reading on other forums) that the HD Tracks downloads are conversions from the SACD version which in turn was mastered from the original tape. This should in theory give you a higher quality reproduction than the 44.1/16 format CD version.
A "waste of money" is something only you can decide. Some people feel that HD downloads are vastly superior to CDs; others feel that there is barely an improvement. It all depends on your setup. I would think your system should be able to show you the difference.
Hello Eloise, Thank you for your input! I really wish that HD tracks would offer more downloads of single tracks. Most of the music on there requires you to download the entire album. If I decide to download the thriller album, I will get my money's worth as I like all of the songs on the thriller album-LOL
The reason I had mentioned downloading the thriller album in Flac, was after reading through what Chris said about being a good method of ripping music in Flac due to future changes and such. It was my understanding that these Flac files can always be converted. If I remember correctly, Chris mentions ripping at 44.1kHz/16bit for the Archival copy (Flac) then a working copy (wav) and then en edited copy. I hope I have that correct.
1. I have some compressed flac files that are 16-bit/44.1KHz that are compressed at different percentages. One file might be at 34% while another is at 53%. My question is do I use the Flac converter in dbpoweramp to uncompress these files to lossless uncompressed?
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