Use the program Exact Audio Copy (EAC) in secure mode. The USB interface will not affect the bits from the CD to the hard drive.
What you thinking about is a USB sound card. USB nomally does not use any flow control with USB audio output, therefore the computer generates the audio clock and the USB audio output device must extract it from the audio data burst timing on the USB. Not the worlds greatest way to transmit a clock signal, worse, in fact, than S/PDIF The USB audio chips have sophisticated clock recovery algorithms, hut its sort of a band-aid a gaping wound. Supposedly the best is the Benchmark DAC1 USB, which takes advantage of the DAC1's excellent jitter-suppression. By using special drivers with flow control and big buffers, the USB jitter problem can be eliminated, but the big buffers introduce unacceptable delays for many applications. Lossless is lossless. The point of a lossless CODEC is to give back the EXACT bit pattern after decoding. This of it as Winzip for audio. Meridian Lossless Packing is a closed system that is not well supported outside the pro arena. Depending on your situation FLAC, ALAC (Apple Lossless) or WMAL (Windows Lossless) are the best bets. I personally use FLAC. If you want integration with iTunes/iPod, use ALAC. If you want integration with Windows Media Player, use WMAL. Merridian (MLP) is used for DVD-A, and the record companies seem to want to keep it far in the background. Free MLP tools are out there, but they're hard to use compared to EAC/FLAC, iTunes or WMP. My recomendation: EAC/FLAC... -- Timothy Stockman ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Timothy Stockman's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=8867 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=42435 _______________________________________________ audiophiles mailing list [email protected] http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/audiophiles
