HDX Rips vs. iTunes?

quote:

Originally posted by james n:
As Joe will confirm, iTunes and XLD rips sound different and on some tracks there was a preference for different rips i cant say that one was better than the other. I'd just like to understand why.

James

My question to you or Joe would be the same as to PureHiFi. Have you compared the CRC32 checksums of the two rips. If these are different then you have a quite reasonable reason for the rips to sound different. If otoh the checksums are the same, then the rips are the same and if they still sound different to you then you are really going to have to clutch at some straws to explain how you can hear a difference.

quote:

Originally posted by james n:

PS - my car is now stuck at the bottom of our road so let's wait for a thaw first

Rear wheel drive dontcha luv it? Gave it up as main wheels when I moved to the bottom of a steep hill.

quote:

Originally posted by PureHifi:

quote:

Originally posted by winkyincanada:
That's interesting. Looks like iTunes managed 2 identical rips in a row (with different settings). But apparently they are both wrong in an identical manner. What are the odds of that?!

I don't consider one wrong and one correct - they just sound different...fasinating eh!

I guess I always imagined the errors we were talking about were random errors. I'm assuming (apparently wrongly) that it is these errors impact the sound negatively. So, either there we no errors, and the two iTunes rips were therefore identical (can't be true because the iTunes rips sounded worse) or that any errors were uncorrectable by the iTunes error correction algorithm.

Or that there are errors that affect SQ and that iTunes doesn't recognise as errors and at least try to correct.

Errors, in my experience, sound like pops, ticks, clicks, skips, drops etc.... IF they are audible. When I rip a disc, and get errors, I clean it and try again. If EAC cannot make it through (typically it will hang if it cannot correct), I will do a burst-mode/iTunes style rip in Foobar.

In all cases I listen to the offending area of the track listed as having errors to see if I can hear it.

I would say approximately 70% of the time I can hear the error audibly. In those cases I re-rip the track in Foobar and replace the one that had errors. If i cannot hear it, I usually dont worry about it. In FULL OCD moments, ill buy another CD. This is only for essential artists. Ive hade record stores gladly exchange most of them!

I would not NOT say that errors produce lower SQ, outside of the above mentioned pops and clicks.

But then again I would never claim to be able to hear the difference between an EAC/FLAC, iTunes/AIFF, or XLD/ALAC. In my experience and further assumptions, they all sound too similar to discern differences.

Therefore.... the obvious choice is to rip with software that guarantees one of two things:
1) the best possible chance at an exact copy.
2) A way to know if it isn't (log).

Point one includes many things like:
- Rips hidden tracks
- Allows for corrected drive offsets
- Secure mode ripping
- No caching of data
- TEST AND COPY!!!!!!!! Matching CRCs

Point two only requires a log file.

Cynical me would say, "why would Apple give a shit about creating a good ripper when their jobs and bonus checks RELY on people buying low quality MP3s from the iTunes store."

It takes effort to put these things together.

end rant.