For what it is worth, despite being a Mac user and using iTunes for my iPod, I would still rather use dBpoweramp (dB) on my old PC to rip tracks to FLAC as a starting point for more serious listening. FLAC is native to the SB technology and dB does not ignore errors on discs. (OK, so you can switch on error detection in iTunes but I have not tried that).
AccurateRip in dB is also very reassuring - perhaps the quickest way of checking that you probably have an accurate image of the data on the CD. Once you have the FLAC files then you can derive alternative formats knowing that you can always go back to the original if you want to start again. Also, FLAC sounds as good the CD on my SB 3/MF kW 250S system (I feed all digital input through the 250S DAC) - as it should with up-sampling and the consequent jitter "correction". I do not understand the comment about the amount of digital processing needed to up-sample the data stream. Why should iTunes, which is targeted at consumers rather than audiophiles, do a better job of sample-rate conversion than dedicated hardware/firmware? I don't know the answer to this but I choose to put my trust in Musical Fidelity hardware. As for file formats (I would need to check for sample rates) dBpoweramp can again handle the batch conversions if you install the appropriate CODECS. Given how much time it takes to rip a large collection I would want my primary archived files to be as "perfect" an image of the original CD as is practicable and to remain valid as a format for the foreseeable future. FLAC would seem to provide this option given the support it now has. WAV and AIFF are valid alternatives of course, one of which you must be using if you use iTunes for sample-rate conversion. The CD red-book is an old format susceptible to error and it would be great if we could just download the original studio files - which probably were recorded at 48k (or multiples) and 24-bit resolution. linnrecords.com have started distributing such files and I keep meaning to investigate www.archive.org to find out what it has to offer (links courtesy of the Russ Andrews website). -- dBerriff MF kW250S, SB3, Castle Stirling 3's ------------------------------------------------------------------------ dBerriff's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=12247 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=52812 _______________________________________________ audiophiles mailing list [email protected] http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/audiophiles
