[Jahn]

What do you think folks? Playback from the CD on my comp thru itunes sounds clearer and more dynamic than apple lossless on itunes. Strange, since Apple Lossless really shouldn't sound any diff, right? I used ITunes to rip it from the CD, then played each song back to back - differences are apparent. Bleh. My 0404 is on 44 sample rate and i'm using the wav window in patchmix. Please dont suggest foobar/asio, i'm too simple to use it.

 

[Publius]

Are you using digital or analog CDDA extraction?

 

[Jahn]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Publius Are you using digital or analog CDDA extraction?

Umm....argh I have no idea! Is there a way on itunes I can check? And is one way or the other always going to result in a better performance than apple lossless no matter what? I'd hate to think I'm missing out by using computer as source!

 

[viator122]

Jahn, maybe you should try extracting the .WAV files from your CD onto your hard drive to do a more "apples to apples" comparison between the two formats. If they sound different then, it will seem to be the apple lossless compression to blame. If they sound the same, it's a hardware issue.

 

[Jahn]

Quote:

Originally Posted by viator122 Jahn, maybe you should try extracting the .WAV files from your CD onto your hard drive to do a more "apples to apples" comparison between the two formats. If they sound different then, it will seem to be the apple lossless compression to blame. If they sound the same, it's a hardware issue.

ok ill try that - and it seems that no matter what there is something out there that plays tunes better than my default, the apple lossless on itunes. bah. curse you, CD drive!

 

[drminky]

Playing off the cd in my powerbook sounds considerably worse than apple lossless off the hard drive (as it should, my powerbook's superdrive is hardly a top-notch dedicated audio transport). Have you checked your iTunes preferences to make sure sound check etc is turned off? - These cause degredation in sound. Did you rip the cd with error correction enabled? (iTunes pref).

When you say the cd is more dynamic, this could indicate that the signal is stronger coming off the cd than the hard disk. Check your levels in iTunes and the windows sound mixer to make sure they are the same. Definitely, the wav test is worth doing - I seriously doubt apple lossless could be to blame (unless your computer is really slooooowwwww!).

 

[Jahn]

Quote:

Originally Posted by drminky Playing off the cd in my powerbook sounds considerably worse than apple lossless off the hard drive (as it should, my powerbook's superdrive is hardly a top-notch dedicated audio transport). Have you checked your iTunes preferences to make sure sound check etc is turned off? - These cause degredation in sound. Did you rip the cd with error correction enabled? (iTunes pref). When you say the cd is more dynamic, this could indicate that the signal is stronger coming off the cd than the hard disk. Check your levels in iTunes and the windows sound mixer to make sure they are the same. Definitely, the wav test is worth doing - I seriously doubt apple lossless could be to blame (unless your computer is really slooooowwwww!).

uh oh sound check is on. wait a sec. does that affect playback or ripping? now that i click sound check off, will i now have to re-rip all my junk - all 3000 tunes?

 

[lan]

You're experiencing CD in cd/dvd-rom sounds better than apple lossless on harddrive?

I suggested in another thread doing these following tests.

Apple lossless on CD-R vs same file on harddrive.
The extracted file (WAV) on CD-R as data not audio vs same file on harddrive.
Apple lossless on harddrive vs extracted file (WAV) on harddrive.

This will test if CD/dvd drive is affecting the system or not.

I never got the answer how much more CPU usage apple lossless has compared to WAV.

It's conceivable that the extra power draw apple lossless and CD/DVD drive uses changes the sound along with more noise pumped out the CD/DVD drive. Are you sure it's better?

 

[Jahn]

Quote:

Originally Posted by lan You're experiencing CD in cd/dvd-rom sounds better than apple lossless on harddrive? I suggested in another thread doing these following tests. Apple lossless on CD-R vs same file on harddrive. The extracted file (WAV) on CD-R as data not audio vs same file on harddrive. Apple lossless on harddrive vs extracted file (WAV) on harddrive. This will test if CD/dvd drive is affecting the system or not. I never got the answer how much more CPU usage apple lossless has compared to WAV. It's conceivable that the extra power draw apple lossless and CD/DVD drive uses changes the sound along with more noise pumped out the CD/DVD drive. Are you sure it's better?

All right I'll try and set those parameters up when i get home. And yep the cdrom drive definitely sounds better!

 

[DCnphones]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jahn uh oh sound check is on. wait a sec. does that affect playback or ripping? now that i click sound check off, will i now have to re-rip all my junk - all 3000 tunes?

Sound Check is something different from Error correction, and if you disable it, there is no reason to re-rip a thing. It's an active function, not an embedded one.
Did you say that you checked your sound levels? Because Cd audio and wave can run on independent levels usually.
In fact this is very perplexing, as the audio should be bit per bit as it is fed to the card. There should be zero loss in sound quality.
I know you don't want to try Foobar, but... Maybe trying OGG Vorbis Lossless in a taste test would quell some curiosity. Wish I could do it for you

 

[Jahn]

Quote:

Originally Posted by DCnphones Sound Check is something different from Error correction, and if you disable it, there is no reason to re-rip a thing. It's an active function, not an embedded one. Did you say that you checked your sound levels? Because Cd audio and wave can run on independent levels usually. In fact this is very perplexing, as the audio should be bit per bit as it is fed to the card. There should be zero loss in sound quality. I know you want to try Foobar, but... Maybe trying OGG Vorbis Lossless in a taste test would quell some curiosity. Wish I could do it for you

when i get home i'll click sound check off (i never have used error correction when ripping) and look at the volume levels - i was pretty sure tho that the CD volume and the wav volume both come from the patchmix monitor now tho, and both are going thru the wav window? am i wrong? when i goto the Windows volume bar it just shows everything disabled but the monitor slider for patchmix i think. damn i'm confused, i better wait until i get home so i can check on the fly.

 

[DCnphones]

Quote:

Originally Posted by lan I never got the answer how much more CPU usage apple lossless has compared to WAV. It's conceivable that the extra power draw apple lossless and CD/DVD drive uses changes the sound along with more noise pumped out the CD/DVD drive. Are you sure it's better?

Well, considering the tiny CPU in newer Ipods can convert lossless... Probably not too much. My CPU usage spikes from 0% to a whopping 2%, but that's on a Athlon XP 2600 with a buttload of ram.

 

[lan]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jahn All right I'll try and set those parameters up when i get home. And yep the cdrom drive definitely sounds better!

I would like to hear this myself but your wife won't let me come over

 

[DCnphones]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jahn when i get home i'll click sound check off (i never have used error correction when ripping) and look at the volume levels - i was pretty sure tho that the CD volume and the wav volume both come from the patchmix monitor now tho, and both are going thru the wav window? am i wrong? when i goto the Windows volume bar it just shows everything disabled but the monitor slider for patchmix i think. damn i'm confused, i better wait until i get home so i can check on the fly.

I suppose this is why so many people prefer stand alones to PC as source, makes things that much simpler.

 

[Jahn]

Quote:

Originally Posted by lan I would like to hear this myself but your wife won't let me come over

1911 came over once to pick up his rs-1/ra-1, and he ran away screaming after 5 minutes - that's from a guy who came all the way from philly. it's a madhouse - tiny apt, barking dog, crying baby, (insert proper positive adjective here) wife, and at the time my mother in law. all while he's trying hard to listen to audiophile differences tween the RS-1 and my SR200. Good luck.

if you came over now, same deal, but the sister is over right now to help out with the baby. yeah i can hear your bachelor alarms kicking in as we type.

and yeah there's a reason i still have the 3960. sometimes just popping in a cd and hitting play is the way to go - computers make my head spin. but i thought i had it all figured out until yesterday while i was ripping and decided to hit play on the cdrom...