2. pc-audio
  3. 1147217537

MP3's and the audiophile

I am sure this subject has been discussed abnauseum here. is there ONE single format, whether it is mp3, AIFF, or whatever, that will give me an ACCURATE bit by bit copy of any red book cd? I am planning on loading up my entire collection on my server and later download any album I feel like listening to my ipod which will be plugged to my reference system. I know some will frown at the idea. but I am thinking of something more practical here. something like streaming data from the server via a wireless card into my main stereo. I like the idea of sitting in front of my stereo and being able to control what song i want to hear via the itunes interface or something similar. i've done it before, thing is now I am thinking the next logical step would be to convert every album I own to whatever format gives me the best quality, and I mean by best, exactly how i hear it via CD. I am using CD-DA extractor 9.0 for this task. anyone knows if there's a similar app under OSX that works as well as the CD extractor under winxp?
128x128proghead

Showing 2 responses by jamscience

jamscience
95 posts
 

Check out Max. It is freeware and is IMHO the best ripping software for OSX. It uses cdparanoia to control the ripping process. Max can convert to over 20+ formats including all Apple formats. BTW, there is nothing wrong with iTunes as a player interface. I am exeremely paranoid when it comes to my ripping software.

Ckorody is correct. Use Apple Lossless format for your collection. It will save you space on your HD (about half the space of AIFF or WAV) without losing any quality. It has been said before but, depending upon the size of your collection, be sure to backup your music HD (I would use an external FW for the main music drive and another FW HD, tape or DVD for backup). Nothing is forever but there are precautions you can take so you won't need to rerip your CDs.

Computer to DAC is now. Enjoy your new setup!
jamscience
95 posts
 

All RedBook CDs are encoded in the PCM format (patent owned by Philips). AIFF files (developed by Apple and Electronic Arts) are PCM files that are readable by Motorola CPU computers (Macintosh and (old) Silicon Graphics). WAV files (developed by Microsoft and IBM) are PCM files that are readable by Intel CPU machines. There is no difference in the information contained within the PCM part of the files.

Lossless files (like Apple Lossless) contain all of the information of the original PCM file but are compressed by algorithms designed to compress the bits WITHOUT losing any of the original information. i.e. instead of writing a byte as 00000001, a lossless file might look like 7x01 where the compression algorithm will expand the seven 0's back to the original 00000001 on playback. This saves space on the HD but in no way degrades the "sound" of the file.

IOW, no. the quality of AIFF and Apple Lossless are the same.
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