dbpoweramp reference vs. EAC

[Dude]

Hi,

I have read this about dbpoweramp reference: http://www.dbpoweramp.com/secure-ripper.htm

I was wondering if it's true that dbpoweramp reference (so not the "normal" version of dbpoweramp) is better then EAC for secure ripping of audio cd's?

thanks in advance!

[EliC]

Re: dbpoweramp reference vs. EAC

It depends on what features make it "better" for you. The performance of dBpoweramp, in my testing, has been:
-better at obtaining accurate and secure rips from problematic discs,
-faster
-more stable
-supports AMG metadata (could be improved - see my thread on Advanced Tagging tool in the wishlist forum)
-far superior interface
-dBpoweramp is not free: as much a plus as a minus. It means spoon actually works on the project, while EAC has not had a significant update as long as I can remember.
-better accuraterip integration
-CD TOC can be written to tags, as well as AccurateRip ID

On the downside, there are things that dBpoweramp cannot currently do:

-Read HTOA files (hidden first track): the plan is to introduce this when disc image ripping (also missing in dBpoweramp, but used by a small number of users) is introduced in R13. There has been no indication of when alpha/beta testing may begin.

-verify the first x number of frames of the first track and the last x number of frames of the last track. I dont remember the exact number of frames, but the problem is that dBpoweramp relies heavily on AccurateRip which does not include these frames because not all drives can read them. If there is an error in these frames, but no error in the rest of the file and the disc is in accuraterip it is VERY possible that there could be an error in the track and dBpoweramp would tell you the rip is accurate. I have proposed 2 solutions to the problem:
1)an option to force secure/ultra-secure ripping on these frames
2)add separate AccurateRip entries for these frames when drives are able to overread them - it may be possible to verify this by finding CDs with non-zero data in these frames, and having them act as overread key discs.

-dBpoweramp is not free: see the upsides. I do think that the pricing of the reference version may be a bit high. It may be reasonable to bring the price down to the powerpack price since users do not get free lifetime upgrades.

Overall, dBpoweramp is a GREAT tool, and with the addition of a few more features will be clearly better then EAC.

[Dude]

Re: dbpoweramp reference vs. EAC

-verify the first x number of frames of the first track and the last x number of frames of the last track. I dont remember the exact number of frames, but the problem is that dBpoweramp relies heavily on AccurateRip which does not include these frames because not all drives can read them. If there is an error in these frames, but no error in the rest of the file and the disc is in accuraterip it is VERY possible that there could be an error in the track and dBpoweramp would tell you the rip is accurate. I have proposed 2 solutions to the problem:
1)an option to force secure/ultra-secure ripping on these frames
2)add separate AccurateRip entries for these frames when drives are able to overread them - it may be possible to verify this by finding CDs with non-zero data in these frames, and having them act as overread key discs.

thanks for your answer, but I don't the things you tell above here.
How can there be errors in the first or last frames when the CRC of the whole track is compared with the CRC from accuraterip?
If there would be an error in the first or last frames, then this CRC would mismatch the CRC in accuraterip?

You also told "an option to force secure/ultra-secure ripping on these frames". If I look here: http://www.dbpoweramp.com/secure-ripper.htm (Functional Ripping Methods), I can see those optional ultra passes are only executed when accuraterip is not verified (dbpoweramp R12 (with C2)).
Are those optional ultra passes, as a consequence, always executed when accuraterip is disabled, because the accuraterip verify check will always be false? So the problem only occurs when accuraterip is enabled?

thanks in advance!

[LtData]

Re: dbpoweramp reference vs. EAC

AccurateRip doesn't use the first frames from the first track and last frames from the last track, as many CD drives can't read this data.

As for how this is treated by dMC itself, that is to be left up to Spoon

[Spoon]

Re: dbpoweramp reference vs. EAC

5 frames from the start and end, not too much when an average CD might have 40,000 frames.