First Time User - FLAC

[adydula]

Hello,

In process of ripping 300+ cds for SlimDevice on Network and high end audio.

So having read many posts I have many questions answered but like many novices have many more!!

I want to set up the rip settings and start the process knowing as best possible that what I rip will be a FLAC file that in all essence should sound as good as the original all things being equal.

My concern is that being a novice that I rip and then find out I should have done this or that in the settings etc...that would have made my rips sonically 'better'.

Maybe this is not a concern if I follow the setup guide etc..

So my experinces so far is to try ripping with all defaults for FLAC and did 10 cds and it went rather well...(not knowing about the settings)...it tool 2-3 min per cd and I tried the min/max compression settings...avg cd was 550mb went down to 300 or 330 ( high to low).

Files played back sound ok.

Then I discovered the Spoon Setup Guide and I went down the path, checked for C2 ( my drive detected C2 errors a few minutes into the test). So i bascially setup all the settings based on the guide.

Then I went back and re-ripped the 10 cds, the time went from 2-3 min to 5 min - 6 min.

I noticed from the initial rip in BURST mode all cds ripped with accuraterip ok.

Now in secure mode some rip with accuraterip ok and others go thru a laborioulsy secure and ultra secure rip process ...the rips sound ok?

So my questions:

If I use burst mode, and I see accurate ok, the nice little checkmark ok then do i need to run in secure mode at all?

Why is there a secure mode?

Why is there a scure mode and then an ultrasecure mode??

If there is a section in the FAQ's that has this info, I missed it.

Anyway I enjoy the product so far and will most likely register and purchase..which leads me to these questions:

1. Right now I only want to RIP. So the Free version is ok.
2. Later if I wanted to burn back from FLAC to CD...What version would I get?
3. I have i7 940 cpu with mulitple cores. What version would i get?

I think the answer is the $36 reference. Which is fine.

This is a one time charge and minor verison updates are included. But major ones are not?

So in summary it would be nice to have a novice FAQ that would say do this and do that..and if the output is "xxx" then burst is ok for you with your drive.

IF not then you need secure mode with these settings.

Thanks in advance !

Alex

[Spoon]

>If I use burst mode, and I see accurate ok, the nice little checkmark ok then do i need to run in secure mode at all?

No need,

>Why is there a secure mode?

This should work as burst if AccurateRip can verify, but it sounds like the c2 pointers might be stopping your drive from working...

[adydula]

Will the crc's be the same in burst vs secure?

I did the c2 test and it detected the sharpie black triangle like you indicate in the setup guide.

I am ok with burst if its faster and ok...but your saying that secure should be like burst if all things are ok...

i will retry with secure with c2 and no c2.

Most of my cds have never been touched by human hands and are very clean..etc...I thought the c2 stuff was from scratches and dirty cds...and the occaisional real 'built' in pressed c2 error?

Alex

Note: If the file size from both burst and secure are the same is this saying they are identical and ok?

[Spoon]

If the rip is accurate then both burst and secure would have the same crc.

[adydula]

Hello,

Can you tell me what might be wrong with the rip below?

I have tried with C2 on and off...but i see is says Inaccurate? but confidence 3
Is this a problem, the flac plays fine?

Information ripping to FLAC, 'Track 1' to 'F:\Music\Richard Elliot\Take to the Skies\Richard Elliot - 01 - I'm Loving You.flac'
Track 1: Ripped LBA 0 to 18215 (4:02) in 0:57. Filename: F:\Music\Richard Elliot\Take to the Skies\Richard Elliot - 01 - I'm Loving You.flac
AccurateRip: Inaccurate (confidence 3) Secure [Pass 1 & 2, Ultra 1 to 2]
CRC32: 8CF0D493 AccurateRip CRC: 153A5131 [DiscID: 010-000f8889-007d495d-7409f30a-1]

thanks
alex


AccurateRip: Inaccurate (confidence 3) Secure: Yes [153A5131]

[Spoon]

The other tracks are verified by accuraterip?

[adydula]

All the other tracks are the same.

I have ripped 20 cds last night and all but this one cd all ripped with no errors and the status is Accurate etc..

Only this cd so far does this...could it be a different pressing? etc??

Alex

[Spoon]

Yes a different pressing.

[adydula]

Ok so far so good, I have a few cds that seem to be problematic:

The CD Spyrogyra - Catching the Sun MCA Recods...The first track is showing alot of frames to be re-ripped (28) or so,which takes time.

The third track shows 319 franes to be re-ripped. This seems odd to me. The discs are clean etc..

Is this normal in the course of events, that you find some cds, that are just a pain?

These are older cds and dont seem to be in accurate rip.

If I try to use rip method other than secure it rips but it X Inacurate(6).

I have tried c2 on and off etc..

Is there a database of cd's that ared problematic with any settings changes to help?

Thanks
Alex

[adydula]

Adding to the last post:

I have 20 or so Spyrogyra cds that rip to flac ok.
The problemmatic one is the Catching the Sun cd that has hundreds of frames that have been identified as needed to be re-ripped across several tracks and then the result is inaccurate. The cd plays well in a cd player for years? I wonder if buying another cd like this would solve the problem or is this the way it is? This cd is not in accuraterip?

Again thanks for any ideas, thoughts etc...

oh i tride to rip to wav and the same thing...

[Spoon]

Can be normal, yes.

[EliC]

Do you have a different drive you can try ripping it in? Sometimes different drives just work better.

[adydula]

I tried this cd with an external Samsung USB drive and the first track ripped and it has 765 frames to be re-read!!

I will get a second retail cd and re-try to see if its the physical disk...

I wonder if MCA way back then was mucking with DRM and this is the problem?

I would think there would be a listing or dbase somewhere on the net that would list the real problematic cds...

Thanks for the help
Alex

[adydula]

Ok I tried to rip Santana "Abraxas' its a 24 bit HDCD with the FLAC HDCD feature the rip went ok and accurate checked but all the files are showing as 16 bit?? Isnt this supposed to detect HDCD and rip to 20 or 2 bit?

Alex

[Dan H]

I'm new to dbpoweramp cd ripper and I haven't been able to get HDCD's to play back in HDCD. I'm ripping to FLAC and I've installed the HD DSP. When I rip the same discs using EAC, the HDCD works fine. Any help would be appreciated.

[Porcus]

dBpoweramp will do the HDCD decoding and save the 20-bit audio to a 24-bit file (just because 24 bits seems to be better supported).

EAC, I think, will (or may be set to?) save to a 16 bit file without decoding HDCD, but will write to the cue sheet that this is a HDCD file, and then if your player supports it, it will decode.

With all reservations for errors here, I have never actually tried EAC's HDCD capabilities.

[Porcus]

Ok I tried to rip Santana "Abraxas' its a 24 bit HDCD with the FLAC HDCD feature the rip went ok and accurate checked but all the files are showing as 16 bit?? Isnt this supposed to detect HDCD and rip to 20 or 2 bit?

Yes it is supposed to. Try to display the Track Technical column in the ripper interface, and see whether it is actually a HDCD. (Display by right-clicking on the tab and then scrolling sufficiently long to the right if necessary.)

[Dan H]

Thanks for the suggestions. The Track Technical Information says that it is HDCD. Also when I verify the audio properties of the output flac file using explorer it shows the Sample Size as 24 bit. However on playback, the HDCD indicator on my DAC does not illuminate.

[Spoon]

It would not, the file has already had the HDCD applied to the audio. The HDCD logo only lights when the DAC is doing the applying of HDCD.

[Dan H]

Thanks, Spoon. I just figured that out myself. Pretty cool feature!

[adydula]

Dan,

What HDCD are you ripping?

I am wondering if i really have a hdcd...in the explorer hover over and display the file contenst its says 16 bit for me. The cd is a remastered Santana cs in 24 bits.

When I play it inmyu new OPPO BD83 player its shown as a normal CD, not HD CD?

I do have a few cds that do show up in the OPPO as HDCDs and will try to find them and play..

Thanks
Alex

[adydula]

Ok I just found one of my HDCD's its recognized as that in the OPPO player and I ripped the CD and in the file details its showing up as a 24 bit file.

So the 24 bit cd I have for Santana obviously is not a HDCD, but still a 24 bit file unless i didnt get what it says on the label!!

Nice

Anyway its working!
Alex

[Dan H]

You learn something new everyday!

[adydula]

Thought I would share this..of the 2 cds that I cant RIP to flac, both are MCA labels with SpyroGyra, Carnaval and Catching the sun.

Both when ripping after ultra secure with C2 option on, tried on multiple drives internal and external have massive bad frames that are re-read and are Inaccurate after hours and hours of re-reading.

So...I made a copy of both. I ripped ok, the other ripped ok but with many pops and ticks!!

I will buy another copy of the one that still exhibits issues and try, try again!

Alex

[dypsis]

I changed to Secure Mode.
Would it have been better to stick with Burst Mode?

Also.
I used to use EAC and ripped to FLAC Level 8 and it played on my iriver E100 fine, but since I started using dBpoweramp to rip to FLAC Level 8, they won't play on my E100. The E100 just skips over all the tracks.

Could it be that dBpoweramp has a higher compression Level 8 than EAC?
Or what is the problem?

By the way. The FLAC Level 8 files ripped by dBpoweramp work fine on my computer.

[garym]

I changed to Secure Mode.
I used to use EAC and ripped to FLAC Level 8 and it played on my iriver E100 fine, but since I started using dBpoweramp to rip to FLAC Level 8, they won't play on my E100. The E100 just skips over all the tracks.

Could it be that dBpoweramp has a higher compression Level 8 than EAC?
Or what is the problem?


Probably something with the tags that the player doesn't like. What sort of tags are you adding with dbpa vs. with EAC.

[dypsis]

Probably something with the tags that the player doesn't like. What sort of tags are you adding with dbpa vs. with EAC.
I am tagging the same way. The same info.
But as to how dBpoweramp tags as opposed to EAC, I cannot tell you.

[adydula]

After 250 cd's there are now approx 8-10 cds that have large amounts of frames to be re-read at the end of ripping.

A techniques that is about 90% successful is copy the cd and use the copy to rip and its for the most part works ok, no bad frames to re-rip.

Anyone explain this?

Alex