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Apple Lossless or PCDP with MFSL CDs?

post #1 of 6
12/5/11 at 4:04pm
Thread Starter 

Hey all,

 

Haven't asked any questions here for a while, so I thought I'd throw this one out there. I'm considering starting a collection of MFSL CDs and probably some DCC too, but what I'm wondering is whether they will lose a significant amount of what makes them sound so good if I were to rip them to Apple Lossless and listen to them on my iPod, which is how I listen to the rest of my collection of CDs.

 

I have a Sony Discman D-465 (I think that's what it was called), and also my current iPod Classic 120GB - and I've just upgraded from my Shure SE-420K earphones to a pair of Sennheiser HD25-1 II by adidas. That's pretty much the bulk of my gear, so would it be wise to listen to my new MFSL collection with my Discman (which I'm perfectly happy to do) or to rip them for the iPod?  I'm not too concerned about convenience, my only real pursuit in this is sound quality.

 

And for another question too, for either route to this, what would be a good way to significantly improve the sound quality of my current rig?

 

Thanks in advance,

Paul.

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post #2 of 6
12/6/11 at 5:57am
Thread Starter 

anyone?

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post #3 of 6
12/6/11 at 6:51am

Use EAC

http://www.exactaudiocopy.de/

 

Its free and is excellent (and rather comprehensive to boot). A guide as to how to set it up properly can be found here:

http://blowfish.be/eac/

It may be a little dated, but should be relevant.

 

Rip the CDs as waves, not flac and iTunes will / should want to convert them when you add 'em to your library.

EAC will make you a 1:1 copy of your CD, there is no quality loss.

 

As far as your audio setup's quality, i'm sure the bulk of the responses will be something along the lines of:

"Get an external DAC, get an AMP, get whatever headphones I have experience with", etc. To narrow it down, maybe let people know what genres and bands you frequently listen to and your potential budget. Its also inevitable that the M50s will be mentioned somewhere too.

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post #4 of 6
12/6/11 at 8:03am
Thread Starter 

Well, I wasn't so much asking about how to rip CDs, I'd be happy to keep using Apple Lossless - I was more asking what would have better sound quality - to listen to the CDs through my Discman or with my iPod?  I've done a bit of research on this site and it seems that at the moment the Cowon J3 seems to be the best player on the market, in which case I could probably go down the FLAC route, but regardless how would either of these compare with listening to my MFSL CD directly with my Discman, ie will I lose out on the use of a Gold Disc for example, or are MFSL just as good when converted to a lossless format?

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post #5 of 6
12/7/11 at 11:35pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Overheat View Post
 will I lose out on the use of a Gold Disc for example, or are MFSL just as good when converted to a lossless format?


The gold disc doesn't have anything to do with the sound quality of these CDs.  Yeah it's supposed to be easier for a laser to read and won't oxidize, but the great sound is because of the mastering.  I listen to all my MFSL/DCC/AF cds ripped to FLAC and they sound great. In theory a rip should sound exactly like the CD. There are some variables that might make them sound different though (i.e. Walkman's DAC vs the Ipods DAC).  I'd recommend doing some research before buying gold CDs.  Some of them have been bettered by CDs that can be had for much less money.

 

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post #6 of 6
12/9/11 at 12:01am

I wouldn't take nice CDs with me in public.  You don't want to scratch them or tote them around.  A nice lossless rip will preserve the good recording and an iPod will be fine.  Put the good CDs in a dark, dry storage area.

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