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PCM Format

post #1 of 8
1/16/10 at 10:44am
Thread Starter 
Good morning Head-Fi,

I was wondering if I should convert or copy whatever is on the cd through PCM format. I have read that PCM is what audiophiles use but PCM uses tremendous amounts of disk space but if I get quality what the hell. Right?

Thanks alot,
Cole
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post #2 of 8
1/16/10 at 10:53am
honestly, its unnecessary at this point, lossless compression will save you about 40% of your space. FLAC and ALAC are both good choices.
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post #3 of 8
1/16/10 at 10:57am
I rather recommend you looking into lossless codecs, like Apple Lossless, FLAC, WavPack, ...
No loss in audio data. But the benefit of smaller files sizes, plus metadata and artwork support.
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post #4 of 8
1/16/10 at 11:06am
Thread Starter 
Alright thanks but really whats the benefits from PCM format?
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post #5 of 8
1/16/10 at 11:25am
Audio CDs contain PCM audio, so when using the same format on a computer mean that there is no loss of audio data.
Unlike lossy formats like MP3, AAC, Vorbis, ...
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post #6 of 8
1/16/10 at 11:33am
but it doesnt have any benefits over lossless compression, as kmarthis said earlier, flac and alac both allow metadata, which is nice for libraries, and they both save a bunch of space. there is no reason not to use lossless compression
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post #7 of 8
1/16/10 at 1:55pm
using uncompressed PCM should never be more than a middle step when ripping a CD unless you plan to open the file in an audio editor (even then some will open lossless codecs)

for archiving a CD the best way to go IMO is rip to a single file with cue sheet then encode to a lossless format that supports embedded cuesheet

the result is a single file that contains the whole album with all track information full tagging support and you can even put the album art into the file
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post #8 of 8
1/16/10 at 9:12pm
Thread Starter 
Alright, thanks for the info guys.

Really appreciate it!
Cole
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