Can you take Digital Out from a CD player into your PC?

Michael8it
Michael8it Posts: 192
edited August 2011 in Electronics
I am looking at a few different CD players in the Sony ES line and Pioneer Elite. All of the ones I am looking at have digital out. Can I take that digital output and run that straight into my PC? Would that give me a better "rip" than using the CD/DVD combo in my PC? Or is looking for a digital output on a CD player unnecessary. I do not have digital capabilities on my preamp (Carver CT-7).

Thanks!
Carver C-1, M-500 MKII, Yamaha HTR-5835, Polk RTA 12BM's (M-for mod'd).
Post edited by Michael8it on
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  • falconcry72
    falconcry72 Posts: 3,580
    edited August 2011
    Does your PC have a digital input? If not, then no. And if yes, I'm still not sure how you'd rip it that way... it seems like it would have to go at a 1x speed which would certainly get annoying real quick.

    To my knowledge, the best way to ensure an accurate rip is to use EAC (exact audio copy) or another comparable progam to rip the CD from your disk drive.

    Having a digital out is still advantageous so you can use an external DAC inbetween the cd player and the preamp. Almost all cd players come with digital outs; it's pretty standard.

    Not sure if you've been welcomed or not, but if not...

    Welcome to Club Polk!:biggrin:
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  • EndersShadow
    EndersShadow Posts: 17,598
    edited August 2011
    falconcry72 wrote: »
    Does your PC have a digital input? If not, then no. And if yes, I'm still not sure how you'd rip it that way... it seems like it would have to go at a 1x speed which would certainly get annoying real quick.

    To my knowledge, the best way to ensure an accurate rip is to use EAC (exact audio copy) or another comparable progam to rip the CD from your disk drive.


    First off, welcome.

    Second off falconcry is totally correct. Your CD burner in your computer can give you extremely accurate bit perfect recordings in a format called FLAC using EAC.

    You can use a program like dbpowerrip (which I did) for free for 30 days that will ensure you get the CD in bit perfect format. After 30 days its 40 bucks for the program (which honestly is well worth it).

    There are other programs like MediaMonkey (also free) which will also rip your CD's in FLAC but it doesnt use EAC like dbpoweramp.
    "....not everything that can be counted counts, and not everything that counts can be counted." William Bruce Cameron, Informal Sociology: A Casual Introduction to Sociological Thinking (1963)
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  • Michael8it
    Michael8it Posts: 192
    edited August 2011
    Thanks for the tips. I wil try this recording method and see how it goes.
    Carver C-1, M-500 MKII, Yamaha HTR-5835, Polk RTA 12BM's (M-for mod'd).
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  • Gatecrasher
    Gatecrasher Posts: 1,550
    edited August 2011
    EAC doesn't normally support FLAC, although you can convert to it.

    EAC converts CDA (CD Audio) to WAV lossless format as well as a few lossy formats.

    EAC is a free software that anyone can download.

    Here's the link to the EAC (Exact Audio Copy) website:

    http://www.exactaudiocopy.de/

    Here's the link to the FLAC (Free Lossless Audio Codec) website:

    http://flac.sourceforge.net/

    FLAC was developed in the 90s and has now become the most-popular lossless format, and best of all it truly is "free". Some artists are releasing material direct to FLAC now.

    With the dramatic increases in hard drive capacity, MP3 doesn't make as much sense as it used to except for smaller portable devices with limited memory capacity. Lossless is the way to go.

    You can take a 6,000 disc CD collection, convert it to FLAC and fit it all on a 2 terabyte hard drive.
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