Computer based Hifi

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Sharkythefrog

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Joined 2006
Youre ringht about tHe bad things about WAV, the grat amount of space that it needs and the missing of tags.
The first one I can live with as bytes are getting more and more cheap to buy.

The cure to the tag problem is to make EAC name the file in a usable way and they will how in media players as "unknown" but all in alphabetic order such as f ex: Green day - Bullet in a bible - Basket case - Punk rock - Punk rock - 1999 or how you like to set up EAC.
 
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Key

Member
Joined 2009
Really I have ripped a large amount of CDs to .wav for another reason entirely. Trust me there is absolutely no reason for you to do this if all you are concerned about is playback.

File names are fine but you need TAGS for true organization. You can use EAC to automatically tag your collection with FLAC you can not with wav. I am done trying to convince you - you will just have to find out the hard way I guess.
 
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Sharkythefrog

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Joined 2006
Key said:
There is no such thing as "more lossless" or "less lossless". Lossless is Lossless is lossless. By definition there is NO LOSS. If there was a file format that was "less lossless" then by definition it would become "lossy". You accomplish nothing by ripping to .wav except wasting twice as much hard drive space and using a file format which does not let you lable the files.

Also use windows explorer to look at a CD before it's ripped. Do you see any .wav files? Nope. Wav is not the native format of a CD. It is a container for PCM.
Click to expand...

I would abolutely say that there are more or less loss. WAV, FLAC, MP3, WMA etc are all digital containers of analogue soundwaves. Every one of them with different ability to store the sound as close to the original as possible, where MP3 and WMA are losing more information on the way based on the conversion. Like a TV signal or a HDTV signal - more or les information for each second of sound/picture.

From what I´ve learned WAV is the bitstream of the CD, then you can put them into different containers as you said. If you look on different CDs you will see them appearing different in your windows explorer depending on used container.
 
K

Key

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Joined 2009
Really I don't know what more to say to you. You are being superstitious if you believe .wav is closer to the original than flac.

You can convert a file back and forth from wav to flac an infinite number of times and the underline PCM will still be bit-identical to the original. They will cancel eachother out with an inverted cancellation test. There is NO reason to rip to .wav except if you are planning on using them in a program that does not accept lossless formats.
 
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Sharkythefrog

Member
Joined 2006
I´ve now found a swedish thread about bitstreams on CD. This thread is from 22 Aug this year and is the firt one I´ve seen that are talking about lossless and PCM close as to what You do. What is then happening is a compressing to something like FLAC - which is lossless the write. But how could it? Compressing is always losing information. MP3 is also compresing, but just to a format with more compressing and more loss of information.

I think I have to read more . . .
 
K

Key

Member
Joined 2009
Look up the definition of "lossy" (mp3 ogg, wma), "lossless" (flac, wavpack, apple lossless), and "uncompressed" (.wav .aiff)

That's all you need to read. It's pretty elementary to tell you the truth - this is why I feel like I am wasting my time with you.
 
billyk

billyk

Member
Joined 2005
Sharkythefrog said:
I´ve now found a swedish thread about bitstreams on CD. This thread is from 22 Aug this year and is the firt one I´ve seen that are talking about lossless and PCM close as to what You do. What is then happening is a compressing to something like FLAC - which is lossless the write. But how could it? Compressing is always losing information. MP3 is also compresing, but just to a format with more compressing and more loss of information.

I think I have to read more . . .
Click to expand...

Well one thing to think of is there is a lot of redundant information in the wav file. If you could find a way to write the duplicated information once and refer to it instead of writing it many times you would not be "losing" anything and you would be saving space. This is very oversimplified, but it should start you thinking.
If you use a tool like the dbPoweramp converter, it has a batch process that will convert all your wav to flac in one shot.
 
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Sharkythefrog

Member
Joined 2006
Yes I do know what you mean. There is a lot of such things in the computer world, especially when it comes to picture format and picturehandling for example (TIFF, JPEG, PDF etc). Different algoritms for storing redundant information etc.

I guess the forums and individuals that stated that WAV was the Format to use and nothing else when I was starting my ripping 4-5 years ago was wrong.

New times new thruths . . .

Sorry if I look stubborn about this in my earlier posts. It took me a few hours to reconstruct my believes and truths that has been put there years ago with the help of people just as shure as you are now.

And this new thruth just gave me a few hundred hours of ripping to do on my shoulders . . . . . :spin:
 
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Qilin_Maker

Member
Joined 2009
Realtek ALC-889a Limitations

Jakobsson said:
I have used several diffrent soundcards incl. most of the sb series and also Asus Xonar cards and so on.
My software player is Foobar together with KernelStreaming plugin which makes the sound go direct to the hardware instead of thru windows 48kbit upsampling.
Kernelstreaming is great!
Now i use onboard sound which everybody seem to hate but i think that the ALC889 onboard is a great chip.
For amplifier i use an old Denon PMa-980r that has optical bias ,another great thing that i like.
Partymusic player is Spotify a great player but with bad quality.

Use Gigabyte mainboards with alc889 if you want a proper onboard audio chip.

Pelle
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Hello Jakobsson,

I also use a Gigabyte motherboard with onboard Realtek ALC-889a. I would agree that the sound quality is very good for playback.

But a few weeks ago I realized there is a limitation to the ALC-889a driver software. I was going to rip vinyl to lossless digital using the 24-bit ADC function of the ALC-889a, but it turns out the driver does not support 24-bit ADC. I contacted Realtek support and went through their diagnostic process to get the answer.

I would refer you to this link for the details:
http://forums.tweaktown.com/f69/realtek-alc889a-24-bit-line-adc-not-available-34642/

DM
 
billyk

billyk

Member
Joined 2005
Sharkythefrog said:
Thank guys, i reallymean it!!!!!

I will look at the dbPoweramp converter

So the setup will be:
FLAC on harddrive
Foobar to read and administer (is there any nice plugins to extend the functionality?)
ASIO to keep away from Windows
My excellent E-MU1616M card

Comments or corrections?
Click to expand...

Sounds good.
Please checkout dbPoweramp, if you are going to re-rip your collection I think you will really like this tool. The accurip feature will save time and the metadata (tage and stuff) handling is fantastic. It will load all of the deatails and album art and create file names and directories automatically as you desire.
Foobar 2000 has an incredible amount of plugins, that alone will keep you busy!
One more handy app is called mp3tag well made and easy to use, the price is free too.

Enjoy!
 
billyk

billyk

Member
Joined 2005
There is also WASAPI... It can get confusing. I know someone may correct me if I am mistaken but I think they all offer bit perfect output and will therefore deliver the goods to your soundcard or DAC in an unadulterated fashion. The cool thing is that there are plug-ins for all of them in Foobar so you can play with them and decide on the one that best suits you. I know I use ASIO4all, but there are some that prefer WASAPI. KS is good too, I know I use that sometimes to get a DTS stream out to my HT receiver for some of the live shows I have that are in DTS format.
That's why I love DIY, you get to fiddle with this stuff endlessly:spin:
 
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Sharkythefrog

Member
Joined 2006
Have looked around for a while now and haven´t found any place to download ASIO from. Found Digidesigns homepage but have so far only been able to find a download page there where you have to be a member or have other Digidesign products to be able to download...

As I don´t like to it in endlessly hour to try to get programs and hardware to work properly I go for the one with the less installation problems and less options....

Time stamp 22.35 time for a beer. Sweden just lost a football match (soccer as you call it) to Denmark and will not go to World Cup . . . Sweden in vain
 
billyk

billyk

Member
Joined 2005
I´m a little bit curious about how I will carry out the conversion to FLAC AND getting some tags to it. . . .
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Click to expand...
Check out the dbPoweramp link
Then I just have to find the ASIO and WAPAI downloads somewhere . . . .
Click to expand...
Check the links above should be all the ASIO and WASAPI you need for foobar, it is all I am using.
Keep me in the loop, I'll try and help where I can.
Bill
 
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