beeman: What do you mean by "air?"
If you are playing the physical CD and the ripped WAV through different signal chains (and yes, the software player and processing is part of the signal chain), then it is not really a fair comparison, since you can't say the difference is due to CD vs. WAV rather than signal chain #1 vs. signal chain #2.
There will probably always be debate over the objective measurement of CD vs. ripped formats and subjective analysis of how they may sound the same or different. Rather than entering that fray, I will observe that the information on the CD is simply a digital data file in a different format. These digital technologies are engineered to be copied with high fidelity....just as every modern computer user knows it is possible to copy a large file from one hard drive to another hard drive in a "bit-perfect" transaction, it is also possible to copy bits from a CD to a hard drive in a "bit-perfect" way. It is really just a digital format shift, and the big advantage of digital is the ability to make 100% accurate copies.
In my experience, it is pretty easy to get the "rip" and digital conversion steps to where the accuracy exceeds the analog output stages (e.g., EAC (Exact Audio Copy) rip > FLAC > Foobar2000)...so that most of the perceived differences are due to the analog steps. Then, you're back in the comfortable realm of analog audiophilia
Quote:
Would the following be a good test. Burn a CD from the ripped lossless files and then compare that new CD to the original CD. I seem to recall one of the audio rags claiming the newly burned CD sounds better due to the aforementioned error correction.
A burned CD cannot be better in fidelity than the original source material--in this case, information can only be maintained or lost, not created. Sure, error correction can fill in the bits, but that is a guess at the original information based on the context of surrounding information. Besides, all CD players do error correction, and have since the beginning.
(also, this thread might be more appropriate in the Computer-as-source category, where the OP might get more detailed answers)