Does a "CD Quality" ALAC file sound as good as a CD...

Posted by: Ismaningerman on 04 November 2012

...when an audio CD is made of it?

 

The reason I'm asking is because I purchased an album that sounded wonderful when I previewed it online, but it doesn't sound quite as tip-top now I've made a CD of it (it's still good; just not as good).

 

And before you ask, the reason I burned a CD is because my Mac Mini is still in my study, connected to my second system, and won't be moved into the lounge to act as my music server until next year (or not at all if my desire for a SuperUniti wins out and streaming becomes the source du jour).

 

By the way, the CD was Berlioz's Symphonie Fantastique

 

Nigel

Posted on: 04 November 2012 by George Fredrik

I'd say that it depends on the quality of your CD player and the quality of the mech that you used to burn the CD.

 

It's not merely an academic question, though you seem to have answered it yourself in your own specific case.

 

ATB from Georeg

Posted on: 04 November 2012 by Guido Fawkes

However, i didn't know you could buy ALAC on line. Are you sure it is not AAC? Just a thought.

 

i would not expect any CD player sound as good as Mac Mini feeding a Naim DAC/555PS. 

Posted on: 04 November 2012 by Ismaningerman
Originally Posted by Guido Fawkes:

However, i didn't know you could buy ALAC on line. Are you sure it is not AAC? Just a thought.

 

i would not expect any CD player sound as good as Mac Mini feeding a Naim DAC/555PS. 

I downloaded the album from Linn. According to them it's ALAC.

 

My preview system was a Mac Mini - analog O/P into Rotel RA930AX amplifier with Heybrook HB1 speakers - this system tends to sound a bit bright bright and gives a good first impression.

 

My CD replay system was a CD5i, NAC202/HC2/NAPSC, NAP140/ nSats/nSub, which, frankly, I expected to be far better than my other system. I suppose I should know better - this system does not elicit such a immediate reaction, but tends to sound better with repeated listenings.

 

Nigel

Posted on: 04 November 2012 by Guido Fawkes

Nigel

 

i'm surprised the CD did not sound better ... Try ripping the CD to see if you get the original ALAC back .. Just to make sure the burn was OK. iTunes should burn the CD without problem, but you could try XLD to see if it does a better job. 

 

I' m guessing it was 

 

ALAC 16bit 44.1kHz 227.6MB  

 

This should give you a good quality CD ... Drop Linn a line I am sure they'll advise. 

 

Good luck .... It looks a really good recording

 

Guy

Posted on: 04 November 2012 by gert

If the algorithms that unpack the audio file to the raw binary stream work correctly the result should always be the same. So it should not matter if your CD burning application does this job or a naim streaming device. But there might be other differencies:

 

1) The audio file could be of a higher resolution than the CD. A CD always just uses 16bit 44.1kHz. An audio file can be better certainly.

2) Burning a CD is a very fragile thing to do. If the burning device is not working properly, or the device does not work together with the used CD medium, or the CD medium is bad, you can loose binary information in this process. The problem is that an audio CD does not offer full checksums to check if the content is really error free.

3) When reading a CD some read errors can happen. (Maybe the CD is not burned very cleanly, or the device has problems with the used CD medium, etc.)

 

So as long as the binary stream is interpreted by the same DAC, the chance is higher that the direct playback of the audio file is better.

 

Gert

Posted on: 05 November 2012 by Simon-in-Suffolk

The key question is 'sound as good'..

 

The way different tecniques work to produce the PCM data can produce different side effects (which has nothinng to do with the PCM data values).

 

Therefore in some systems although the PCM is the same, they may well sound different due to electrical noise superimposed onto the digital clock or analogue signal.

 

Simon