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Thread: Audio duplicate programs

  1. #1
    GeorgeButel's Avatar
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    Audio duplicate programs

    I have several different versions of a number of songs, from different compilations, and I am wondering if there is a good program that would tell me HOW different these versions are. I could, of course, listen to them, difficult, in the middle of the night, without headphones, to play loudly enough to detect fine differences. I can open them up in Sound Forge and look at the wave forms, but even in that case, sometimes they sound slightly different even though the wave forms look the same. In some cases, the difference is that they are different mixes, i.e., different re-recordings, and in others, one version may be stereo, the other mono. Sometimes, one file seems to encompass a broader frequency spectrum than another, which might be the result of overzealous "cleaning," or might simply be the result of using low quality source material. I'd like a program that would tell me this without relying on the bit rate, since some of my files were made by ripping at CBR insane, others at VBR extreme, while a few, like those from Amazon, are from lower quality sources. A simple-minded program might very well look only at the bit rate and tell me that the CBR insane was automatically a better quality sound file than another, which is not true, except when compared with the identical file ripped at a different setting. I am thinking about buying audiodedup, but there are several similar programs, and I am wondering if anybody has any experience with those programs.

  2. #2
    dBpoweramp Guru
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    Re: Audio duplicate programs

    perhaps something like foobar2000, with this component.
    http://www.foobar2000.org/components...foo_bitcompare
    I believe this can tell you whether the audio of the two files are different, but once you know they are different, not sure what else you can learn. But you can try this for free to see what it might help with.

  3. #3
    GeorgeButel's Avatar
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    Re: Audio duplicate programs

    This picture, https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/phot...full-exif=true, shows what Sound Forge sees of three different Everly Brothers duplicate tracks, from two different multiple artist compilation and one E.B. compilation. They are clearly different, and sound slightly different, but were all ripped by dB 14.2 at the same VBR extreme using the Lame 3.98r encoder. The Foobar add-in bitcompare shows no difference at all between any two of those three files other than a "length mismatch." Strangely enough, comparing two different Nat King Cole "Nature Boy" tracks, one a mono American recording, converted at CBR using FHG encoder, the other a stereo Italian recording converted at VBR using Lame 3.98r, shows only a length mismatch, so I do not believe that bitcompare gives any useful information at all. I am appreciative of the suggestion to look at the foobar components, since I just recently started using foobar, and I see that it may be useful in ways that I never expected.
    Last edited by GeorgeButel; 02-07-2012 at 11:15 AM.

  4. #4
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    Re: Audio duplicate programs

    Quote Originally Posted by GeorgeButel View Post
    This picture, https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/phot...full-exif=true, shows what Sound Forge sees of three different Everly Brothers duplicate tracks, from two different multiple artist compilation and one E.B. compilation. They are clearly different, and sound slightly different, but were all ripped by dB 14.2 at the same VBR extreme using the Lame 3.98r encoder. The Foobar add-in bitcompare shows no difference at all between any two of those three files other than a "length mismatch." Strangely enough, comparing two different Nat King Cole "Nature Boy" tracks, one a mono American recording, converted at CBR using FHG encoder, the other a stereo Italian recording converted at VBR using Lame 3.98r, shows only a length mismatch, so I do not believe that bitcompare gives any useful information at all. I am appreciative of the suggestion to look at the foobar components, since I just recently started using foobar, and I see that it may be useful in ways that I never expected.
    hmmm, very odd. I've not used bitcompare so can't really say, but I'm shocked that there hasn't been more reports of this sort of outcome on the foobar forums as they are a pretty technical group. And I have seen plenty of posts where the bitcompare function has been used to show that files are the same/different. You should really post your findings above at the forum below and try to get some feedback from the foobar gurus....

    http://www.hydrogenaudio.org/forums/...act=SF&s=&f=28

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