QQ Survey Time!

[Mr. Afternoon]

Accurate Rip is likely the same for both dbPowerAmp and EAC. I have not heard of any other programs that use it.

dB does a couple of passes both with and without caching so that if the drives cache is helpful it is utilized. If it increases the number or errors that are not detected initially it turns it off.

Gotcha. Probably the same then.

 

[gene_stl]

I do not claim to know whether one is superior to the other in terms of bit accuracy.
I do know that the free version of EAC is much more tedious to use than dB.
I used to ask people and always got one of the two, as answers although I think there are others too perhaps in the Apple Mac world which I am not a part of (that may change because thanks to Kirk Bayne I am interested in StereoLab and Pure Vinyl looks like it's the dBPowerAmp of vinyl ripping.).
Having used both of the above I prefer dB because it's like a robot that enters everything whereas EAC you have to type track names. In convenience there seems to be no comparison.

The author of EAC has a CD drive hardware testing program if one is really OCD. DAE Quality
DAE Quality » Exact Audio Copy

 

[JediJoker]

...I think there are others too perhaps in the Apple Mac world which I am not a part of...

XLD uses Xiph's cdparanoia ripping engine.

 

[mandrix]

I do not claim to know whether one is superior to the other in terms of bit accuracy.
I do know that the free version of EAC is much more tedious to use than dB.
I used to ask people and always got one of the two, as answers although I think there are others too perhaps in the Apple Mac world which I am not a part of (that may change because thanks to Kirk Bayne I am interested in StereoLab and Pure Vinyl looks like it's the dBPowerAmp of vinyl ripping.).
Having used both of the above I prefer dB because it's like a robot that enters everything whereas EAC you have to type track names. In convenience there seems to be no comparison.

The author of EAC has a CD drive hardware testing program if one is really OCD. DAE Quality
DAE Quality » Exact Audio Copy

That was an interesting read. This was an endeavor by the program author I was unaware of. Thanks!
As to whether dB is better than EAC, or easier, I would not know as I seldom rip CD's anymore but by habit use EAC on those few times I do.
When EAC was in it's infancy, there used to exist plenty of guides to help one work through the technical jargon and a plethora of folks that would point out the finer points of ripping a CD.
dBPowerAmp was just never much on my radar and not really sure when it got it's start.

My vinyl ripping days are far behind me now. The majority of my vinyl captures were done with cassette well before the digital age when you wanted only a pristine (as possible) LP and a high quality cassette tape like the old TDK Super Avilyn. (I had a good Thorenz TT, so I guess at least 3 criteria or 4 considering the cart) Dolby noise reduction was still a big thing back then, for better or worse. Back then it was rumoured that many American LP's, casualties of whatever motivation were remelted into new batches, labels and all. IDK but I found UK and EU LP's overall to be of better quality in the early 70's. Back then we were aware that cassette had it's limitations and so not unusual to own at least 2 copies or more of a favored LP. One to play when you wanted higher fidelity than cassette, one to rip and set aside "just in case". I had 4 copies of CSN&Y's 4 Way Street LP because each LP had it's little quirks.

 

[gene_stl]

In the sixties and seventies I had some ocassions to travel to south america and picked up some albums there. Tommy, and Rubber Soul mainly. My first cousin had a high school jr year abroad and sent me a copy of Revolver from England. All three are still my preferred LPs for those albums.

I heard the remelt rumor too.

I was too lazy to copy to cassette and probably a bit too snobby too. Until my stereo buddy played an album that I loaned him from cassette and I totally didn't catch it. On his superb triamped stereo. He was extremely OCD about his cassette copying so I guess the cassette copy was probably as good as it gets. (He used Super Avilyn and metal oxide cassettes and had a Trashcan three motor machine)

I have a number of LPs I want to do needle drops on and record to CD quality.

The Xiph pages are interesting.

 

[The56Kid]

Got dbPowerAmp on a 21 day trial today. Ripped 22 CDs to FLAC. Impressed with the ease of use, speed, and metadata capability. Only had time to quickly sample a song from each ripped CD on my Oppo 203, but the final product sounds great to my ear. I’ve previously used EAC, and although it’s free, I much prefer dbPowerAmp.

 

[MidiMagic]

Any of those is more than enough accuracy for me. I prefer analog.

 

[kap'n krunch]

In the sixties and seventies I had some ocassions to travel to south america and picked up some albums there. Tommy, and Rubber Sould mainly. My first cousin had a high school jr year abroad and sent me a copy of Revolver from England. All three are still my preferred LPs for those albums.

I heard the remelt rumor too.

I was too lazy to copy to cassette and probably a bit too snobby too. Until my stereo buddy played an album that I loaned him from cassette and I totally didn't catch it. On his superb triamped stereo. He was extremely OCD about his cassette copying so I guess the cassette copy was probably as good as it gets. (He used Super Avilyn and metal oxide cassettes and had a Trashcan three motor machine)

I have a number of LPs I want to do needle drops on and record to CD quality.

The Xiph pages are interesting.

I highly recommend a Technics Linear Tracking TT like mine (SL-QL1) for ripping...they are not that expensive -I have TWO in Madrid for spare parts plus the one I have in the USA- maintenance is fairly easy and belts and stylii are still available at a decent price.
I know I have said this many times before so please bear with me: the best way to prove that they are really good and reduce inner groove distortion (IGD) way more than pivot arm TTs is that my great friend, JC , who was the main recording engineer in a studio in San Juan, PR and has a "golden ear" was bitten by the vinyl bug a couple of years ago and spent a lot of money getting a few pivot arm TTs (Garrards, etc) and was frustrated with the overall sound and IGD and I had told him from the beginning to try the SL-QL1 , so he finally listened to me and was astonished with the end result, so much so that he bought one and then ANOTHER one for spare parts and now he swears by it. So, if a recording engineer with 40+ years of experience says he loves it, well, hey , I MAY be on to something I guess....
of course, YMMV---

 

[gene_stl]

I have been using an SL10 since the early eighties. Before that I was collecting parts to build a linear tracking arm. Somewhere in my basement is a straight, long SME arm. I also had a Rabco , which was an unsatisfactory design. Mechanically noisy. But when the SL10 appeared the project went into the basement. The EPC 310MC cartridge has one of the lowest effective tip masses of any cartridge available. Moving coil , boron cantilever, built in low noise pre preamp. Great outfit.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Technics_SL-10
There was a guy locally selling one and I almost bought it but he wanted a little more for it than I wanted to invest in vinyl. He split up the cartridge and the turntable. I think he sold the cartridge for $350 and the table for $550. Too much for a spare.

 

[Dingo]

I enjoy and collect all formats, but find the practice of sticking a multi channel in a high priced box is rather insulting.
Artists you have re-purchased multiple times seeming to go the ' milking it in Japan' mode. ( Looking at you RUSH and your Wilson mixes).

 

[mandrix]

I enjoy and collect all formats, but find the practice of sticking a multi channel in a high priced box is rather insulting.
Artists you have re-purchased multiple times seeming to go the ' milking it in Japan' mode. ( Looking at you RUSH and your Wilson mixes).

I saw a brief interview with Geddy quite a while back and he seemed to say the band had no control over it, so I assumed the record label was responsible.

Some artists fight fiercely for control over content, others don't I guess.