Best settings for lossless rips?

[BrodyBoy]

Re: Best settings for lossless rips?

I did click another hyperlink in the menu which brought up the stuff that schmidj mentions, re "ultra secure" rips as well as maximum number of re-reads. Ultra secure isn't ticked by default and the re-reads is set to x34 by default. Any consensus on settings here?

Do you have a lot of bad CDs? (i.e., scratched, damaged, etc.) Unless a CD is a different pressing that doesn't match what's found in AccurateRip, these settings generally won't come into play. So the defaults are more than adequate in most cases.

Sort of related, on AccurateRip section, mine states that it's "unconfigured (waiting for key disc to find offset)". What's that all about.

Accurate needs an initial setup for your particular drive. Use any fairly well-known CD in good condition....the configuration is very quick.

I do see more hyperlinks in the menu...truck loads...default okay?

Hyperlinks?

Almost lastly, I was asking about lossless etc not so much because of space considerations but more because I was wondering if any of these default settings or changes to them might make the PC work harder to play them. Not sure if that is a real issue or not.

No, it's not an issue. With a few exceptions,* playback devices have the clock that sets the timing in the DAC....the clock info and the digital music data are sent into the DAC together. It's the quality of these components, the timing clock, the DAC, and anything downstream (amp, speakers, etc.) that determine playback quality, not the relatively insignificant processing the computer/CD transport/streamer/etc did in opening the file package.


* Very high-end DACs integrate the timing clock so that they're not impacted by the quality of the clock in the computer or transport.

[Decibel2015]

Re: Best settings for lossless rips?

Hyperlinks?

Thanks for that. re your question, I probably mean the coloured text which is in the menu options of the ripper and which open up when you click on them.

Back to the encoding level number, I get the feeling that it doesn't really matter which you use...but there's about 8 different options! That makes it kind of
confusing, plus the fact that (apparently), there really isn't that much difference as far as space saved with compression goes. I have heard that another
pro ripper product uses the "6" setting for Encoding. Is it the case that the higher the Encoding number, the closer to uncompressed it is? And there's not really
that much difference in the space saved anyway?

So, is it really meaningful to agonise over whether I have the Encoding at 5 or 6? Just wondering why the competition would set it at "6". Would "11" be better? (joke).

My PC's mobo has a Sound Blaster chip or something...presumably the timings on that are goo? I've got a good DAC in any case.

Think I'll ask about tags before I start ripping any CDs. Coming up.

[garym]

Re: Best settings for lossless rips?

dbpa default is "5", but this is all entirely *irrelevant* to creating a bitperfect copy of the CD. Anything from uncompressed to "8" (the maximum), creates a bitperfect copy of the CD audio. The only thing higher compression does is take a bit longer to create and save a bit more space...it has nothing to do with being a perfect bit copy or with sound quality. Personally, I've ripped my thousands of CDs to FLAC using "5" compression.

[BrodyBoy]

Re: Best settings for lossless rips?

So, is it really meaningful to agonise over whether I have the Encoding at 5 or 6?

No, it really isn't. (Personally, I wish that option were left out of the encoder. As you noted, it doesn't even save that much space. And it just causes endless confusion....)

[Decibel2015]

Re: Best settings for lossless rips?

No, it really isn't. (Personally, I wish that option were left out of the encoder. As you noted, it doesn't even save that much space. And it just causes endless confusion....)

Well, that pretty much answers my question! Maybe you should have a setting for "11"? How about "Eleventeen"?

Be interesting to know how much difference there is between uncompressed rips of CDs and the various settings this product has for compressed rips.

[BrodyBoy]

Re: Best settings for lossless rips?

Easy enough to find out....grab a CD and rip it (or just a few ytacks) to uncompressed .FLAC. Then repeat those rips at some of the other .FLAC compression settings, making sure to change the name or location, or else you'll write over the previous rips. Then just compare the file sizes. In my experience, it's not a big enough difference to even matter. I suppose if someone were really cramped for hard drive space, it might be important. But I really think it's a non-factor for most.

[naimconvert]

Re: Best settings for lossless rips?

I have left it on the default setting "5" I use MinimServer on my QNAP I have set this convert the playback to WAV24 into my Linn Akurate (only as I read that WAV24 was the best setting for the Linn) Sound good.
The only trouble with me is I found myself listening to much for sound quality differences rather than just listening to the music.

[Sathlin]

Re: Best settings for lossless rips?

If the lossless level does not matter, why wouldn't everyone use level 8 and save the most space? The difference in time seems to be only seconds?

one song uncompressed was 50 megs, lev 0 30 megs, lev 8 26 megs.

And do you guys use the "after encoding verify written audio" option?

[garym]

Re: Best settings for lossless rips?

If the lossless level does not matter, why wouldn't everyone use level 8 and save the most space? The difference in time seems to be only seconds?

one song uncompressed was 50 megs, lev 0 30 megs, lev 8 26 megs.

And do you guys use the "after encoding verify written audio" option?

yes on the "after encoding verify..."

Why not all at 8? Because many use default settings, which are 5 and simply don't change. Some people (mistakenly) believe that less compression leads to better "sound quality" (the same group that used to use a green magic marker on the borders of their CDs), and there are some players out there (mostly older ones) that sometimes struggled with anything higher than 5 or 6 compression in terms of their decoding (tended to be very, very low powered players).

[Sathlin]

Re: Best settings for lossless rips?

And i'm assuming using secure ripping is just a good idea instead of burst. Is that enough or should we also use the ultra secure ripping option?

[garym]

Re: Best settings for lossless rips?

And i'm assuming using secure ripping is just a good idea instead of burst. Is that enough or should we also use the ultra secure ripping option?

I use ultra secure. Of course if there is an ACCURATERIP match, the program automatically skips all the ultrasecure stuff and moves on to the next track. It's only when there is no ACCURATERIP match that it then does multiple rips and compares the CRCs, etc. Have you read these docs yet:

https://www.dbpoweramp.com/spoons-audio-guide.htm

[Sathlin]

Re: Best settings for lossless rips?

I use ultra secure. Of course if there is an ACCURATERIP match, the program automatically skips all the ultrasecure stuff and moves on to the next track. It's only when there is no ACCURATERIP match that it then does multiple rips and compares the CRCs, etc. Have you read these docs yet:

https://www.dbpoweramp.com/spoons-audio-guide.htm

Ok cool thanks.