flac 24/192

[arsdreamer]

Is it possible to rip in flac in 24bit and 192 kHz (the same as in wav)? When yes how can i do it in dbpoweramp. I find only the compression-button.

thx and a lot of greetings

ars

[Spoon]

Re: flac 24/192

If you use the DSP effects:

Resample
Bit Depth

[arsdreamer]

Re: flac 24/192

spoon... Yes!!! Its work... Wonderful and many thx.

ars

[Sossity]

Re: flac 24/192

If you use the DSP effects:

Resample
Bit Depth

I have just ripped most of my CD collection in the default 5 compression, without any effects, have I lost audio quality? how can it be lossless if the bit depth is 16 bit as opposed to 24 bit? is 24 bit original CD quality? can one go to 24 bit later with their 16 bit ripped albums in flac? should I have increased the bit to 24 bit through the DSP? or will the default settings I used be ok? I am a little confused, I hope I have not wasted a whole bunch of time ripping, when I could have used a better quality.

[Topsy]

Re: flac 24/192

CDs are 16bit 44.1KHz, you've not lost any quality ripping them with the
standard settings. On the other hand you won't gain any quality ripping them
at 24bit 192KHz.

[Porcus]

Re: flac 24/192

- Upsampling is without any quality gain whatsoever.

- Upsampling to something non-integer times the original (i.e. to 96 instead of 88.2 etc.) depends a bit on the quality of the software, doesn't it? Besides, if you are later to downsample (e.g. in order to play from a DAC which does not support that bit rate) it does again depend a bit on how well done.
Bottom line: you may even lose quality, and you will never gain.

- Expanding the word length from 16 to 24 bits does not gain any quality. It only pads up the additional eight bits with zeroes.



A note on HDCDs: As far as I know, they can be converted afterwards. I regret a bit that I added the HDCD DSP on ripping.

[matt_t]

Re: flac 24/192

A note on HDCDs: As far as I know, they can be converted afterwards. I regret a bit that I added the HDCD DSP on ripping.

Can they really be converted afterwards? (I would never have guessed.) And if so, how?

Also, is it therefore possible to go through already-ripped FLACs to see if there are any HDCDs that one didn't realise were HDCD at the time of ripping?

Thx

[Spoon]

Re: flac 24/192

Convert Flac >> Flac and include the DSP effect HDCD

[matt_t]

Re: flac 24/192

Just to clarify, for a simple, complete-non-expert mind like mine(!):

What's the benefit of delaying using the HDCD DSP? Why would Porcus regret using it when ripping? What's the difference?

[Porcus]

Re: flac 24/192

Just to clarify, for a simple, complete-non-expert mind like mine(!):

What's the benefit of delaying using the HDCD DSP? Why would Porcus regret using it when ripping? What's the difference?

I'd like to keep the 16-bit original, as I could for example burn it to a CDR if I want to; I could also retro-check AccurateRip in case it was not in the database in the first place, something which is impossible if decoded. Decoding cannot be reversed.

Now there is a HDCD decoder plugin for my media player of choice (Foobar2000), I don't need to convert later either.


Possible disadvantages:
- How does Replay Gain work?


Edit: To answer your question on how it is possible to detect afterwards: HDCD files are somewhat special in the least significant bit. There is a repeating pattern therein, which could be recognized by the HDCD decoder. It tells the decoder WHETHER to process. This pattern is very-Very-VERY unlikely to ever occur by chance, so you don't need to worry that it might encounter & process a file which was not intended to be processed.

[matt_t]

Re: flac 24/192

Thanks for the info. One more question: when converting to a lossy format (Nero AAC in my case) is it best to convert from a 16-bit FLAC or a decoded HDCD FLAC? I notice that Nero converts HDCD FLACs to 16-bit AACs anyway.

[EliC]

Re: flac 24/192

I thought some discs HDCDs where 24bit. I thought the DSP checked and recorded these discs in 24bit and all others are 16 bit. Is this not the case?

[matt_t]

Re: flac 24/192

Slightly rephrased question (since I've just had a quick playaround):

For HDCDs is it best to go 16-bit FLAC -> Nero AAC with or without the HDCD DSP? (And just for reference, the same Q replacing Nero with LAME or any other lossy codec)

I tried it with one track (not a huge sample, I know...) and even with the HDCD DSP the output .m4a file is still 16-bit, but slightly smaller/slightly lower bitrate than the one without using the DSP. Haven't had time to actually *listen* to them, of course...

[Porcus]

Re: flac 24/192

I assume that if you want a 16-bit file out of a HDCD, then process with hdcd.exe and dither down -- but if Nero gives that out anyway, I assume you can just feed it the 24-bit file.

I am not sure what lossy formats have a fixed word length, though. AFAIK mp3 has not.


@EliC: HDCD gives a theoretical word length of appr. 19 bits. dBpoweramp uses 24 bits because (1) 20 bits is somewhat uncommon and might not be as well supported, and (2) for compressed formats, the last four nils won't make the file bigger.

[EliC]

Re: flac 24/192

Porcus, yes, I mis-spoke, but don't you need to use the HDCD DSP to capture the 19bits? I realize there is some wasted space on these few discs.

Is there a downside for regular CDs? One downside is that I believe the way the DSP is currently implemented in has to encode 2x for non-HDCDs slowing the process significantly.