Distortion After Ripping CDs

[Holden4th]

I've just ripped my nearly 2000 CDs to an external HDD and it took some time. I ripped them to FLAC level 5 using the CD drive of my 2011 iMac. A number of these rips distort, specifically in the lower registers. When I first heard this I checked my headphones and swapped them out for another pair with the same result. Next I wondered if my DAC/Amp had an issue so I listened to a couple of tracks on Tidal Master and had no issues.

This leaves me with the conclusion that there can only be three possible issues.

1. The CD player of my iMac is faulty
2. The external HDD (a LaCie Mobile) is faulty
3. My version of dBpoweramp has an issue.

Has anyone experienced any of these issues using dBpoweramp?

It looks as if I might have to go back the beginning. If the issue is dBpoweramp (V17.1) then I need to know. Are there ways I can compare two rips say dBPA and iTunes?

[Spoon]

Re: Distortion After Ripping CDs

If you rip them without any DSP effects (which can change the audio), and you have an accuraterip verification, then your tracks are 100% the same as the CD, so you would need to look at the playback.

[Holden4th]

Re: Distortion After Ripping CDs

That means that I might have to check my DAC/Amp. I have another one I can use to see if the same thing happens. I'll report back.

EDIT: OK, this is only on some of my CDs and not on others. I have a smallish collection of pop/rock/EDM/etc and it is some of these CDs which distort. I ripped all of these CDs right at the end of my marathon 2000 CD ripping project. Some of them play perfectly well so I suppose that I've eliminated the DAC/Amp as the culprit.

Interestingly, the distortion sounds very much like 'clipping'. The only part of the DSP that is active is Audio deemphasis.

[Spoon]

Re: Distortion After Ripping CDs

Try ripping those cds without deemphasis.

[Holden4th]

Re: Distortion After Ripping CDs

OK, problem solved. One thing I hadn't taken into account was the media player. After eliminating everything else, playing via Quicktime showed that the issue was my player. I use VLC because it will play just about anything. VLC has an interesting volume set up in that you can set it to 125%. I'm used to setting everything to full and then control volume via my amp. I must have set the volume to full a few weeks ago (the %age doesn't show unless you hover your cursor over the volume indicator). So it really was clipping that I was hearing. I've dialed the volume back to 110% and everything is working fine. I hope this post helps someone else.