Finally Rippin' some CD's to Flac Files

Mike Reeter · January 10

Trying to join the 21st Century one of these days...

audioluvr · January 10

I hope you live near me so you can show me how that's done. I have no clue...

joecoulson · January 10

I have read conflicting things about the outcome of doing that. I have some folks who swear by high end rippers and others who say it can be done with just a normal computer and the right software. What are your thoughts?

Mike Reeter · January 10

audioluvr wrote: »

I hope you live near me so you can show me how that's done. I have no clue...

LOL, I had to enlist my wife to aid in the process. Once you get it down, it's just very repetitious. I only ripped a couple hundred, I'd hate to rip a thousand or so!

Mike Reeter · January 10

joecoulson wrote: »

I have read conflicting things about the outcome of doing that. I have some folks who swear by high end rippers and others who say it can be done with just a normal computer and the right software. What are your thoughts?

Joe, I'm not schooled enough to know the difference. I just did a trial of dbpoweramp and ripped to Flac. Playing through my OPPO UDP-203 and PS Audio DAC.

The files sound just about as good as the CD's, it's more about convenience I guess, I listen to CD's when I'm puttering around the house, doing whatever.

If I want to do some Real Listening, I put on an LP.

joecoulson · January 10

Interesting.
When I compare the FLAC files streamed directly from TIDAL in 44.1 format, they don’t really hold a candle to the CDs played from my Denon/PS audio combo. That’s why I was curious about how the files sounded when Ripped. They must be
Somehow better quality than the streamed version.

Mike Reeter · January 10

joecoulson wrote: »

Interesting.
When I compare the FLAC files streamed directly from TIDAL in 44.1 format, they don’t really hold a candle to the CDs played from my Denon/PS audio combo. That’s why I was curious about how the files sounded when Ripped. They must be
Somehow better quality than the streamed version.

A Streamer of some sort is on the "The List". I'd like to experience what Streaming has to offer.

I'm looking at a Bluesound Node II, then I can do a comparison as well.

BlueFox · January 10

Ripping is easy, but tedious. I have been using iTunes to RIP them to lossless ALAC (Apple's version of FLAC). As far as how they sound that is completely dependent on the player. A PC playing the files is the absolute worst way to play them. With my Lumin they sound superb.

While the CD player does sound good, it is not the equal of the Lumin. Plus, with ripped files you can make playlists of your favorite songs. I have multiple playlists now with a total of over a 1000 different songs. This also contains files I downloaded from HDTracks.

joecoulson · January 10

Do you run the CD through the Lumin for playback ?

BlueFox · January 10

No. The Lumin plays the ripped file. The CD sits on the shelf gathering dust.

Mike Reeter · January 10

Mike Reeter wrote: »

joecoulson wrote: »

I have read conflicting things about the outcome of doing that. I have some folks who swear by high end rippers and others who say it can be done with just a normal computer and the right software. What are your thoughts?

Joe, I'm not schooled enough to know the difference. I just did a trial of dbpoweramp and ripped to Flac. Playing through my OPPO UDP-203 and PS Audio DAC.

The files sound just about as good as the CD's, it's more about convenience I guess, I listen to CD's when I'm puttering around the house, doing whatever.

If I want to do some Real Listening, I put on an LP.

Joe, I should have said "I'm using the OPPO as a Server into the PS Audio DAC"

audioluvr · January 11

BlueFox wrote: »

Ripping is easy, but tedious. I have been using iTunes to RIP them to lossless ALAC (Apple's version of FLAC). As far as how they sound that is completely dependent on the player. A PC playing the files is the absolute worst way to play them. With my Lumin they sound superb.

While the CD player does sound good, it is not the equal of the Lumin. Plus, with ripped files you can make playlists of your favorite songs. I have multiple playlists now with a total of over a 1000 different songs. This also contains files I downloaded from HDTracks.

Ok. So where do you live...

BlueFox · January 11

La la land.

marvda1 · January 11

BlueFox wrote: »

No. The Lumin plays the ripped file. The CD sits on the shelf gathering dust.

you need a top shelf transport.

dragon1952 · January 11

I originally used EAC (Exact Audio Copy) which is a free software but now I just use JRiver. And after a while, and since I have under 400 CD's, plus, since storage is so cheap now days, I started just ripping everything in uncompressed WAV. And I just use my PC's drive. You really don't need anything fancy.

msg · January 11

Nice, Mike, kinda fun, isn't it?

What's not fun, though, is when you're just starting, and testing out different stuff in your process, and ending up having to re-rip.

I ended up Dynamatting my optical drive and bits of the chassis mostly just because it would vibrate the whole chassis during high speed rips.

Next up for you - maybe digital video library?

Mike Reeter · January 12

msg wrote: »

Nice, Mike, kinda fun, isn't it?

What's not fun, though, is when you're just starting, and testing out different stuff in your process, and ending up having to re-rip.

I ended up Dynamatting my optical drive and bits of the chassis mostly just because it would vibrate the whole chassis during high speed rips.

Next up for you - maybe digital video library?

LOL, I don't have enough Video content to make that a worthy project.

I've had thoughts of Digitizing my Vinyl collection one day, but then I think "why put all the Analog Sweetness on a Digital File"

recoveryone · January 21

The conversion/transforming of CD or Vinyl to actual digital format is pretty simple. CD are already in digital format (101010), so you are just making a copy of a digital file. The format you choose and playback unit is where you will hear differences from the source. The software out there today is on par with one another, If it gives you the option to rip to Flac to Mp3 you are covered. The argument of bit perfect copy is more about fuzzy math since all computer data is transferred bit to bit.

Playback is a different deal, if you are using a computer/NAS or some other storage drive it is not the issues anymore as with most software the part you are using (program/files) are stored in a cache memory. Using a computer comes with other parts that can generate hums and vibrations (fans). I would recommend a storage device that you can connect directly to you playback device or to your network. Storage space is so cheap now days its a no brainer. You can pick up 2-4 TB for under a $100 bucks. I have several devices ranging from 350GB to 4TB some acting as backups to others and others as extra storage space so I don't fill up the main drive with photos/videos or music. Ripping is one of the first mind numbing task that comes with digital storage, but like the old days of Dbase I-IV, someone has to enter in the data. The second step is tagging, the music industry likes to get the last laugh and making you tag your collection of CD's or Vinyl that you have collected over half if not more of your life time is a task for the dedicated audio fan. I just posted a video on this subject, so go check it out if you are a beginner or a long time digital fan that never took the time to tag each and every song you have. Downloaded tracks are nice as most are already tagged properly, but some CD's are not or don't have any info at all on the disk, all you get is track 1,2,3,4..... Classical music is notorious for such things, also Greatest hits CD's play this game. Its a labor of love, but once you done it you will truly enjoy your music on a level that you never dreamed of.

Playback, as with any part of your system what you hear is dependent on the ability of your equipment. Most important fact is this, a good recording will sound good on most systems, a bad recording will sound bad or worst on better gear.

mhardy6647 · January 21

Mike Reeter wrote: »

Trying to join the 21st Century one of these days...

highly overrated.

Mike Reeter · January 21

mhardy6647 wrote: »

Mike Reeter wrote: »

Trying to join the 21st Century one of these days...

highly overrated.

From a Sonic stand point, quite possibly. From the convenience side, a worthy endeavor.

mantis · January 21

Sonically it's usually better and for convenience worth all the effort.

mhardy6647 · January 21

Oh, I meant joining the 21st Century.

Mr_Hz · January 23

As recoveryone stated: "Storage space is so cheap now days its a no brainer."

I have a NAS with several bays to add additional HD's... so when I rip my CDs, I keep them in WAV format, uncompressed - the 'full meal deal.' They say that FLAC/AFLAC, (and even WMA to some extent) are great compression formats, but with storage cost per TB so inexpensive, I don't bother, thinking that the 'full snapshot' is the best format, no matter how clever the compression algorithms are.

Now, if/when I need to keep a library of files for mobile devices - phone or ipod type devices, then I'll look more into having a special library of condensed files for those.

tophatjohnny · January 23

Mike Reeter wrote: »

audioluvr wrote: »

I hope you live near me so you can show me how that's done. I have no clue...

LOL, I had to enlist my wife to aid in the process. Once you get it down, it's just very repetitious. I only ripped a couple hundred, I'd hate to rip a thousand or so!

There are some great programs out there and tried a good handful of them to come to understand ez CD convertor was hands down above all that I experimented with. There is a nice formula that does improve sound of standard 16bit 44.1k cds without taking up much more Hard drive space but one would have to do their own homework trial n error to figure that formula out. Some 25k plus albums later I am proud to say all of my ever growing collection is ripped at ear candy levels and when I want to do some serious listening I just play one of those files!😃

Fun Hobby 4 sho.

BlueFox · January 23

Some 25k plus albums later I am proud to say all of my ever growing collection is ripped

Where in the world did you find the time to rip 25,000 CDs?

Mike Reeter · January 23

BlueFox wrote: »

Some 25k plus albums later I am proud to say all of my ever growing collection is ripped

Where in the world did you find the time to rip 25,000 CDs?

I would be Bat $hit Crazy after the first 1000 or so

Hermitism · January 23

I bet he forgot a decimal point.

Mike Reeter · January 23

Hermitism wrote: »

I bet he forgot a decimal point.

Maybe 25,000 Songs

Hermitism · January 23

2.5k albums, I bet. That's a respectable number! More than me, I ripped about 550gb of music to flac. I'm not sure how many albums that is.

Hermitism · January 23

The sad part is that was the second time I did it. Many years ago I had ripped everything to MP3. D'oh!

Mike Reeter · January 23

Hermitism wrote: »

2.5k albums, I bet. That's a respectable number! More than me, I ripped about 550gb of music to flac. I'm not sure how many albums that is.

That's a lot of work in anybodies book!

Finally Rippin' some CD's to Flac Files

Comments

Howdy, Stranger!

Finally Rippin' some CD's to Flac Files

Comments

Howdy, Stranger!

Quick Links