[Triphead]

How is it that people are able to create poor quality FLAC files?
I thought the copy was made directly from the original media, so what is it that causes the file to sound rubbish?
Are people creating FLACs from MP3s they've made from CDs they copied off their mate, or what?
I've just obtained a FLAC version of The Wall, yet it's an absolutely horrible sounding file; it's muddy, extremely sibilant and just of generally harsh sound quality. Conversely, I have an MP3 version that's at a mere 153kbps yet it sounds much, much better. I just don't understand. Surely people on the internet don't lie about how they make their FLAC files...

 

[Head Injury]

What mastering did you "obtain" in FLAC?

 

[Triphead]

Er...pass. Just in case you've misunderstood me (though I don't think you have), I'm not sleighting FLAC files in general; the majority I possess are exactly what one would expect. It's just the odd one every now and then, y'know? This is the text from the log file:
 
 
Exact Audio Copy V1.0 beta 1 from 15. November 2010

EAC extraction logfile from 1. June 2011, 10:56

Pink Floyd / The Wall (disc 1)

Used drive : ASUS DVD-E616P3H Adapter: 0 ID: 1

Read mode : Secure
Utilize accurate stream : Yes
Defeat audio cache : Yes
Make use of C2 pointers : Yes

Read offset correction : 738
Overread into Lead-In and Lead-Out : No
Fill up missing offset samples with silence : Yes
Delete leading and trailing silent blocks : No
Null samples used in CRC calculations : Yes
Used interface : Native Win32 interface for Win NT & 2000
Gap handling : Appended to previous track

Used output format : User Defined Encoder
Selected bitrate : 1024 kBit/s
Quality : High
Add ID3 tag : No
Command line compressor : C:\Programmi\Exact Audio Copy\Flac\flac.exe
Additional command line options : -6 -V -T "ARTIST=%a" -T "TITLE=%t" -T "ALBUM=%g" -T "DATE=%y" -T "TRACKNUMBER=%n" -T "GENRE=%m" -T "COMMENT=%e" %j--picture="%i"%j %s -o %d


TOC of the extracted CD

Track | Start | Length | Start sector | End sector
---------------------------------------------------------
1 | 0:00.33 | 3:18.30 | 33 | 14912
2 | 3:18.63 | 2:28.72 | 14913 | 26084
3 | 5:47.60 | 3:41.30 | 26085 | 42689
4 | 9:29.15 | 1:20.63 | 42690 | 48752
5 | 10:50.03 | 3:56.20 | 48753 | 66472
6 | 14:46.23 | 5:32.47 | 66473 | 91419
7 | 20:18.70 | 2:48.33 | 91420 | 104052
8 | 23:07.28 | 5:36.37 | 104053 | 129289
9 | 28:43.65 | 2:03.23 | 129290 | 138537
10 | 30:47.13 | 1:33.62 | 138538 | 145574
11 | 32:21.00 | 4:22.50 | 145575 | 165274
12 | 36:43.50 | 1:17.23 | 165275 | 171072
13 | 38:00.73 | 1:04.40 | 171073 | 175912


Track 1

Filename C:\FLAC\Pink Floyd - The Wall (disc 1)\01 - In The Flesh.wav

Pre-gap length 0:00:02.33

Peak level 100.0 %
Extraction speed 4.9 X
Track quality 100.0 %
Test CRC 6B3AC8A4
Copy CRC 6B3AC8A4
Accurately ripped (confidence 6) [9E4C1C8C]
Copy OK

Track 2

Filename C:\FLAC\Pink Floyd - The Wall (disc 1)\02 - The Thin Ice.wav

Pre-gap length 0:00:00.03

Peak level 78.1 %
Extraction speed 4.9 X
Track quality 100.0 %
Test CRC C3F370E5
Copy CRC C3F370E5
Accurately ripped (confidence 6) [8D466576]
Copy OK

Track 3

Filename C:\FLAC\Pink Floyd - The Wall (disc 1)\03 - Another Brick In The Wall, Part 1.wav

Pre-gap length 0:00:00.02

Peak level 100.0 %
Extraction speed 5.9 X
Track quality 100.0 %
Test CRC D45AC408
Copy CRC D45AC408
Accurately ripped (confidence 6) [265D5D46]
Copy OK

Track 4

Filename C:\FLAC\Pink Floyd - The Wall (disc 1)\04 - The Happiest Days Of Our Lives.wav

Pre-gap length 0:00:00.02

Peak level 100.0 %
Extraction speed 4.5 X
Track quality 100.0 %
Test CRC 55578BBB
Copy CRC 55578BBB
Accurately ripped (confidence 6) [136BBCFC]
Copy OK

Track 5

Filename C:\FLAC\Pink Floyd - The Wall (disc 1)\05 - Another Brick In The Wall, Part 2.wav

Pre-gap length 0:00:00.03

Peak level 94.1 %
Extraction speed 6.6 X
Track quality 100.0 %
Test CRC BF0E3B2E
Copy CRC BF0E3B2E
Accurately ripped (confidence 6) [AC92EFDA]
Copy OK

Track 6

Filename C:\FLAC\Pink Floyd - The Wall (disc 1)\06 - Mother.wav

Pre-gap length 0:00:00.03

Peak level 100.0 %
Extraction speed 7.6 X
Track quality 100.0 %
Test CRC 94C748B3
Copy CRC 94C748B3
Accurately ripped (confidence 6) [A4D5F3EC]
Copy OK

Track 7

Filename C:\FLAC\Pink Floyd - The Wall (disc 1)\07 - Goodbye Blue Sky.wav

Pre-gap length 0:00:00.02

Peak level 47.7 %
Extraction speed 6.9 X
Track quality 100.0 %
Test CRC F64DDEA5
Copy CRC F64DDEA5
Accurately ripped (confidence 6) [BFCDD000]
Copy OK

Track 8

Filename C:\FLAC\Pink Floyd - The Wall (disc 1)\08 - Empty Spaces.wav

Pre-gap length 0:00:00.03

Peak level 98.8 %
Extraction speed 8.4 X
Track quality 100.0 %
Test CRC D943FEA3
Copy CRC D943FEA3
Accurately ripped (confidence 6) [FD283C14]
Copy OK

Track 9

Filename C:\FLAC\Pink Floyd - The Wall (disc 1)\09 - Young Lust.wav

Pre-gap length 0:00:00.02

Peak level 55.5 %
Extraction speed 7.0 X
Track quality 100.0 %
Test CRC 994225C2
Copy CRC 994225C2
Accurately ripped (confidence 6) [93138649]
Copy OK

Track 10

Filename C:\FLAC\Pink Floyd - The Wall (disc 1)\10 - One Of My Turns.wav

Pre-gap length 0:00:00.03

Peak level 100.0 %
Extraction speed 6.6 X
Track quality 100.0 %
Test CRC 71A93126
Copy CRC 71A93126
Accurately ripped (confidence 6) [472746AF]
Copy OK

Track 11

Filename C:\FLAC\Pink Floyd - The Wall (disc 1)\11 - Don't Leave Me Now.wav

Pre-gap length 0:00:00.02

Peak level 100.0 %
Extraction speed 8.8 X
Track quality 100.0 %
Test CRC 0FA65A36
Copy CRC 0FA65A36
Accurately ripped (confidence 6) [5F945066]
Copy OK

Track 12

Filename C:\FLAC\Pink Floyd - The Wall (disc 1)\12 - Another Brick In The Wall, Part 3.wav

Pre-gap length 0:00:00.02

Peak level 100.0 %
Extraction speed 6.3 X
Track quality 100.0 %
Test CRC 3F10829A
Copy CRC 3F10829A
Accurately ripped (confidence 6) [DDE4E738]
Copy OK

Track 13

Filename C:\FLAC\Pink Floyd - The Wall (disc 1)\13 - Goodbye Cruel World.wav

Pre-gap length 0:00:00.03

Peak level 24.0 %
Extraction speed 5.8 X
Track quality 100.0 %
Test CRC B55EBBE6
Copy CRC B55EBBE6
Accurately ripped (confidence 6) [EE08B403]
Copy OK


All tracks accurately ripped

No errors occurred

End of status report

 

[Head Injury]

Mastering meaning the original recording. What year is it from, what studio mastered it, etc.
 
That's the most important thing, not lossless or lossy. A poorly mastered recording will sound terrible no matter what, and a well mastered recording will sound great no matter what. Pink Floyd has been remastered tons of times, and many resulted in some bad recordings.

 

[deadlylover]

I agree, It's probably just the CD itself.
 
Lossy compression can't really introduce sibilance/harshness.

 

[?oe?????o?>>]

possibly pre-emphasis was put into that specific mastering. that logs CRCs don't match 12 remasters I've got on file.

 

[Triphead]

I'm starting to suspect it was "remastered" with Windows Sound Recorder.

 

[Hifianddrumming]

Quote:

I'm starting to suspect it was "remastered" with Windows Sound Recorder.

 Probably was

 

[gloco]

Quote:

How is it that people are able to create poor quality FLAC files?
I thought the copy was made directly from the original media, so what is it that causes the file to sound rubbish?
Are people creating FLACs from MP3s they've made from CDs they copied off their mate, or what?
I've just obtained a FLAC version of The Wall, yet it's an absolutely horrible sounding file; it's muddy, extremely sibilant and just of generally harsh sound quality. Conversely, I have an MP3 version that's at a mere 153kbps yet it sounds much, much better. I just don't understand. Surely people on the internet don't lie about how they make their FLAC files...

I think you answered your own question here.

 

[Elysian]

A lot of people believe upconverting a MP3 into a lossless format restores the original format.
 
Luckily, like you quoted, there are cue and log files, and applications like Foobar allow for bit-comparisons between files.

 

[Triphead]

Foobar, eh? I've not heard of that one before. I shall check it out in the morni...er...when I get up.

 

[khaos974]

Probably a bad mastering ie. the original CD sounds bad.
 
BTW, discussion of illegal music is expressly forbidden on Head-Fi.