Questions On Using dBpoweramp

stogie

I just downloaded the trial version of dbpoweramp and have some questions on setting up the CD Ripper.

The default FLAC Encoder Setting is "Level 5". Has anyone compared the other options like "Level 0" and "Level 8"?

I've read somewhere on this forum that "ReplayGain" should not be used. Could someone explain?

Is dbpoweramp just a ripper? In other words, do I need another program to use as a player for the ripped files?

Any advice/guidance/suggestions would be appreciated. thanks, don

SCompRacer

The compression level makes the files smaller. The higher the compression level, with 8 being the highest level, the smaller the file. It does take longer to compress the file more and longer to expand it. However, quality with all flac levels is the same as the original file.

Take a read on this thread from dbpoweramp forum about Replay Gain.

https://forum.dbpoweramp.com/showthread.php?25099-Not-sure-I-understand-ReplayGain-options-when-ripping

Quote from post 5.

"Almost all RG adjustments will LOWER volume as most CDs these days are suffering from the loudness war in mastering. So that is normal. Keep in mind that the basic RG DSP simply adds RG fields to the tags of a file AND DOES NOT CHANGE THE AUDIO CONTENT. In my opinion this is what you want. Otherwise you are modifying the actual audio and your FLAC files are no longer lossless relative to original CD. Many players USE these RG tags to automatically adjust the volume (there are album and track RG tags, you want to add both when ripping).

Volume Normalization will take the RG info and actually change the audio stream (no longer equivalent to original). This is used when your player can't read the (nondestructive) RG tags. This could be true for your car player. Don't know. But I would never use volume normalize on my primary lossless files. You might want to create an MP3 library from these FLAC files, use volume normalize on these, and then use these in your car. It is fairly rare to be able to ABX a good high bitrate mp3 file from a lossless file in optimum situations. So mp3 files should be more than enough for a car, no matter how good the car system.

EDIT> if your ARCHOS player can read RG tags, you do NOT want/need volume normilization, simply add the RG tags, and turn on the setting in the Archos to use RG tags. "