[Music Alchemist]

I have heard differences at all volume levels, and I don't use an amplifier for the headphones. They just require a AAA battery to work - which is pretty idiotic, in my opinion, since the noise cancellation and music playback could have been designed to be separate, like most other models of that type. (I would love to have high-end gear, like the dCS Vivaldi Digital Playback System and Stax SR-009 electrostatic headphones, but that will come in time.)
 
Anyway, I don't see how the manner in which I drive the headphones would account for what I am hearing between two files.

 

[proton007]

^^
A good way to test would be to let someone else choose the tracks for you.

If there's a difference, then some thing's not right.

 

[Music Alchemist]

Yes, I would like to get a discussion going about specific albums and songs - but that would require the participants to own said albums.
 
Fortunately, I have a relatively large collection, so I am open to suggestions.
 
I must also note that I did not always hear differences; just most of the time.

 

[hogger129]

  Yes, I would like to get a discussion going about specific albums and songs - but that would require the participants to own said albums.
 
Fortunately, I have a relatively large collection, so I am open to suggestions.
 
I must also note that I did not always hear differences; just most of the time.

 
One of the differences I noticed on Daft Punk RAM is on the song "Contact."  The small pops at the beginning that are supposed to be part of the song sound more pronounced and detailed with the EAC rip.
 
Same on my MFSL Dark Side Of The Moon.  The song "Money," the bass is a lot heavier on the dBpowreamp rip. 

 

[Music Alchemist]

I believe that you are hearing what you hear...but, I don't own those two.
 
One thing I've noticed, though, is that I don't think the bass is actually heavier with dBpoweramp rips; it just seems to be looser, giving it a "boom" effect.
 
Perhaps others who are interested in detailed discussion (and especially those who claim to hear differences) could list the albums and/or songs involved in their listening tests. Then again, I would have to list hundreds - or even thousands - of CDs on my end of the conversation.

 

[GrindingThud]

Another thought. Are both files defragmented on the HD? You mentioned in your 1st post problems with files on external storage....maybe there are buffer or access noise issues with files being spread all over the HD. Of course this does not apply if the files are being listened to on a portable player.

 

[Music Alchemist]

Right. I mainly listen on the iPod. (That will change once I get better equipment.)
 
I also mentioned that the differences I heard are even more pronounced with the new rips to the internal hard drive. The problems in the past seemed to only apply when I ripped the files directly to the external hard drive array. I am assuming that when I transfer the new ripped files there and back to the iPod, for example, they would not change at all.
 
I did not do anything to alter the files or how they are stored on the drive. Could you direct me to a source that would walk me through the process of defragmenting the files? (Just to see what happens.)

 

[GrindingThud]

If you hear it on the portable player, it's not a fragmenting problem. But, if you right click on the c drive in your my computer folder, there is an option to defragment the drive....it takes a while, but speeds up access to large files on older machines where space is limited.

Right. I mainly listen on the iPod. (That will change once I get better equipment.)

I also mentioned that the differences I heard are even more pronounced, with the new rips to the internal hard drive. Could you direct me to a source that would walk me through the process of defragmenting the files? (Just to see what happens.)

 

[A_Man_Eating_Duck]

I would really like to see the results of your ABX test either the way i suggested or the way proton007 has suggested. It's hard to go any further without your results.

 

[Music Alchemist]

Sure, no problem. I will report back as soon as the ABX tests are completed. Let me be sure I'm doing it your way:
 
*Make ten copies of each file
 
*Name the files something like EAC 1, EAC 2 and DB 1, DB 2, etc.
 
*Put the files in a folder
 
*Drag and drop the folder into iTunes
 
*Name the album something like ABX Test
 
*Transfer to the iPod
 
*Select Shuffle Songs on the device
 
*Select the test album and press play
 
*Press forward five times
 
*Listen to the track blind for as long as it takes for me to guess which version it is
 
*Look at the screen and see if I was correct, noting the result
 
*Repeat the last three steps nine times
 
*Report my results
 
*Repeat all steps above for each song that is tested
 
I know I was redundantly thorough, but that is how I plan on conducting the ABX test.
 
I also intend on revealing the songs tested and specific details of any perceived differences.
 
Now I just need to pick which songs to test with...

 

[A_Man_Eating_Duck]

That's perfect for a crude ABX.

 

[A_Man_Eating_Duck]

I have one more thing to add about the checksums (this is more for the readers not the posters).
 
A matching checksum will always be better than anyone's hearing, it proves beyond any doubt that the files are absolutely identical in every way. So if you are hearing a difference the source files are not the cause.
 
e.g. I have 2 files called "Original.wav" and "Copy.wav", both checksums match.
 
D:\TEST\New folder\Original.wav
39548924 bytes
CRC32: b0296c49
MD5: 1672fa2df397b3b966a3dd1367a3809e
SHA512: 0779da516dbe48a867ce6ff7e475a6c76b705fa2dcfd033a7d2032fbecbb92a3cdb4b33f07da6338ba4cf56469815bf5c561f08c002d84f5f038badba6ad4154
 
D:\TEST\New folder\Copy.wav
39548924 bytes
CRC32: b0296c49
MD5: 1672fa2df397b3b966a3dd1367a3809e
SHA512: 0779da516dbe48a867ce6ff7e475a6c76b705fa2dcfd033a7d2032fbecbb92a3cdb4b33f07da6338ba4cf56469815bf5c561f08c002d84f5f038badba6ad4154
 
If i attenuate "copy.wav" by -0.001 dB, not a single person would be able to hear this incredibly small change in volume level but if i look at the checksum i can tell the file has changed.
 
D:\TEST\New folder\Copy.wav
39548924 bytes
CRC32: d991dc8c
MD5: 36f9f06f2478f4a886181817afa8c171
SHA512: 625a08d717c5f6972013c4bfc41bf00f2d9e21b83405ca76ca09bf9c29ac5c81d8b4c93eceedfd10514c362a78e77dee66cf2b3ac5ff3d5beeb11900f988b0f2

 

[hogger129]

  I have one more thing to add about the checksums (this is more for the readers not the posters).
 
A matching checksum will always be better than anyone's hearing, it proves beyond any doubt that the files are absolutely identical in every way. So if you are hearing a difference the source files are not the cause.
 
e.g. I have 2 files called "Original.wav" and "Copy.wav", both checksums match.
 
D:\TEST\New folder\Original.wav
39548924 bytes
CRC32: b0296c49
MD5: 1672fa2df397b3b966a3dd1367a3809e
SHA512: 0779da516dbe48a867ce6ff7e475a6c76b705fa2dcfd033a7d2032fbecbb92a3cdb4b33f07da6338ba4cf56469815bf5c561f08c002d84f5f038badba6ad4154
 
D:\TEST\New folder\Copy.wav
39548924 bytes
CRC32: b0296c49
MD5: 1672fa2df397b3b966a3dd1367a3809e
SHA512: 0779da516dbe48a867ce6ff7e475a6c76b705fa2dcfd033a7d2032fbecbb92a3cdb4b33f07da6338ba4cf56469815bf5c561f08c002d84f5f038badba6ad4154
 
If i attenuate "copy.wav" by -0.001 dB, not a single person would be able to hear this incredibly small change in volume level but if i look at the checksum i can tell the file has changed.
 
D:\TEST\New folder\Copy.wav
39548924 bytes
CRC32: d991dc8c
MD5: 36f9f06f2478f4a886181817afa8c171
SHA512: 625a08d717c5f6972013c4bfc41bf00f2d9e21b83405ca76ca09bf9c29ac5c81d8b4c93eceedfd10514c362a78e77dee66cf2b3ac5ff3d5beeb11900f988b0f2

 
I did a few more blind listening tests and here I found that for some reason my dBpoweramp rips were being done to 320k MP3.  I re-ripped a couple of discs and found that I couldn't tell a difference.  Even when I knew what I was listening to, I heard no difference.

 

[A_Man_Eating_Duck]

Great news, good to see you finally found the cause of it.

 

[AladdinSane]

Love an easy solution. Having just gone through a couple months reripping CDs with EAC I did not want to hear there was something weird going on.