[Matthewlawson3]

Hi, a few years ago I ripped my CD collection to FLAC files. Recently, I got into DAPs and have the Hiby R6 Pro on its way. Looking at my ripped FLAC files, I see that I ripped each track with Exact Audio Copy at 44100 HZ at 32 bits per sample (according to VLC). Adobe Audition says 44100 HZ 16 bit depth.

The question is do I need to change some settings in EAC and re-rip to get the best quality out of the tracks or is that as good as is it will get? This is in preparation to transfer them to the R6 Pro when I get it. Also, would you recommend another Ripper for Windows 10 or is EAC fine?

Thanks!

 

[gimmeheadroom]

For CD that is the correct sample rate although the bit depth should be 16 rather than 32.

You might try reripping a couple of tracks at 44.1/16 and comparing them with the size of the files you had earlier. If there is no difference then you can probably live with the ones you have now although maybe some players will not play them.

EAC was the standard for a long time. Foobar2000 also rips and for Linux or UNIX ffmpeg is great, scriptable, and with a lot of codecs.

 

[Matthewlawson3]

For CD that is the correct sample rate although the bit depth should be 16 rather than 32.

You might try reripping a couple of tracks at 44.1/16 and comparing them with the size of the files you had earlier. If there is no difference then you can probably live with the ones you have now although maybe some players will not play them.

EAC was the standard for a long time. Foobar2000 also rips and for Linux or UNIX ffmpeg is great, scriptable, and with a lot of codecs.

Are you saying to re-rip my CDs for the purpose of saving space? Are you saying being 32 bit instead of 16 bit makes no difference sound wise?

 

[Matthewlawson3]

For CD that is the correct sample rate although the bit depth should be 16 rather than 32.

You might try reripping a couple of tracks at 44.1/16 and comparing them with the size of the files you had earlier. If there is no difference then you can probably live with the ones you have now although maybe some players will not play them.

EAC was the standard for a long time. Foobar2000 also rips and for Linux or UNIX ffmpeg is great, scriptable, and with a lot of codecs.

How about dbpoweramp for Windows? Or is EAC better?

 

[gimmeheadroom]

Are you saying to re-rip my CDs for the purpose of saving space? Are you saying being 32 bit instead of 16 bit makes no difference sound wise?

I don't know but I guess 32 bit rips take more space. An easy way to tell is to compare one or two songs.

CDs are 44.1/16

32 bit rips of a 16 bit depth source cannot possibly sound better. They might sound worse. And they might not play on a lot of DACs since many DACs cannot play 32 bit PCM.

How about dbpoweramp for Windows? Or is EAC better?

I don't think there is any difference. It's been ages since I used Windows to rip anything.

 

[Matthewlawson3]

I don't know but I guess 32 bit rips take more space. An easy way to tell is to compare one or two songs.

CDs are 44.1/16

32 bit rips of a 16 bit depth source cannot possibly sound better. They might sound worse. And they might not play on a lot of DACs since many DACs cannot play 32 bit PCM.



I don't think there is any difference. It's been ages since I used Windows to rip anything.

I may be better off to re-rip my CD collection perhaps

 

[gimmeheadroom]

I may be better off to re-rip my CD collection perhaps

Just try a few small tests before you spend the rest of your life rereipping

 

[buonassi]

I've never seen a 32 bit flac. 16 and 24 only.

But yes... if you have a source WAV file that's 16 bit, that's as good as it's going to get. You can encode it to a deeper bit depth, but all it's doing is padding the lower 16 bits with superflous zeros.

 

[Matthewlawson3]

I've never seen a 32 bit flac. 16 and 24 only.

But yes... if you have a source WAV file that's 16 bit, that's as good as it's going to get. You can encode it to a deeper bit depth, but all it's doing is padding the lower 16 bits with superflous zeros.

So should I re-rip everything to 44.1 khz 16 bit?

 

[buonassi]

well, I'd actually do as @gimmeheadroom suggests. first make sure they're actually taking up the size of a 32 bit file. see if you can encode two or three songs from a disk you have using the standard FLAC parameters: 16 bit / 44.1khz / level 7 compression. Compare the size (file properties) of the newly ripped FLACs to same old FLACs. You may notice negligible differences due to metadata and compression levels - but they should be pretty close in size. If old FLACs are much bigger, then you're just wasting space, and yes, you should re-encode them. Otherwise, I'd leave them be personally.

 

[Matthewlawson3]

well, I'd actually do as @gimmeheadroom suggests. first make sure they're actually taking up the size of a 32 bit file. see if you can encode two or three songs from a disk you have using the standard FLAC parameters: 16 bit / 44.1khz / level 7 compression. Compare the size (file properties) of the newly ripped FLACs to same old FLACs. You may notice negligible differences due to metadata and compression levels - but they should be pretty close in size. If old FLACs are much bigger, then you're just wasting space, and yes, you should re-encode them. Otherwise, I'd leave them be personally.

Okay, thank you! I'll check. Do you think having the files ripped at 44.1 khz 32 bit instead of 16 bit actually in some way has hurt the sound quality as someone mentioned above?

 

[buonassi]

if it does, it's very slight. only because there is twice as much information being transmitted and processed when you play 32 bit files. processing in a computer (and even mobile device) creates high frequency noise that can interfere with the overall sound quality in very fine ways. that's one school of thought. the other is that it really doesn't matter. my software on mobile (Neutron) actually converts the 16 bit source files to a 32 bit stream prior to sending to DAC, and that's essentially doing the same thing.

 

[Matthewlawson3]

if it does, it's very slight. only because there is twice as much information being transmitted and processed when you play 32 bit files. processing in a computer (and even mobile device) creates high frequency noise that can interfere with the overall sound quality in very fine ways. that's one school of thought. the other is that it really doesn't matter. my software on mobile (Neutron) actually converts the 16 bit source files to a 32 bit stream prior to sending to DAC, and that's essentially doing the same thing.

Okay. Hmm. It would take quite awhile to re-rip if I did.

 

[gimmeheadroom]

This is about playing them on a DAP and not every dap supports 32 bit PCM. So you should check that the files play normally on your Hiby.

 

[Matthewlawson3]

This is about playing them on a DAP and not every dap supports 32 bit PCM. So you should check that the files play normally on your Hiby.

Okay will do.