Converting CD'S best format for quality

[Linndac]

Looking at burning all my CD's to a hard drive for future use possibly with a streamer. What is the best format to use. I will probably use to feed my IPOD also but want max sound quality.

[Sloop John B]

It depends whether you want to spend money on it or not.

I'd spend a few quid on dBpoweramp and rip to flac uncompressed for quality. The program enables you also to create a lower res AAC for your iPOD.

If not use iTunes and rip to ALAC. It's lossless but will fill up your ipod very quickly.


SJB

[HiFiFan]

I am assuming based on the iPod reference that you will want to use iTunes. If so then the best option is Audio Interchange File Format ( AIFF) or Apple Lossless Audio Codec (ALAC). ALAC if you are OK with lossless compression. There will be a huge disk space difference between the two and little or no audio difference (though some may think otherwise).

Make sure you select ExactCopy in iTunes or have an import program that uses error correction when importing.

You can have iTunes down compress these imports automatically when you synch to your iPod (you can chose the quality level) in case your iPod does not have the storage capacity.

On a side note I strongly recommend usign PureMusic, Audiovarna or similar for playback if you do get around to streaming vs. vanilla iTunes.

[Aleg]

Or put the Golden Ear app on your pod and play flac, also in highres.

Cheers

Aleg

[Friendlyfire]

Hi guys, just wondering if anyone has successfully managed to stream itunes with Audiovarna as my computer is in one room and hifi in the other,
At present i just use airplay with itunes . I have trialled Audiovarna and want to purchase but hate having to switch back to airplay when I want to stream.
I got the impression for an earlier comment form Hififan that streming with Audiovarna is possible or am I wrong?
Thanks,
Eoin,

[HiFiFan]

Hi - Sorry I used the word streaming incorrectly. I should have just said use PM, Audivarna etc.instead of iTunes direct when playing from your computer

[Linndac]

It depends whether you want to spend money on it or not.

I'd spend a few quid on dBpoweramp and rip to flac uncompressed for quality. The program enables you also to create a lower res AAC for your iPOD.

If not use iTunes and rip to ALAC. It's lossless but will fill up your ipod very quickly.


SJB

Thanks will try this and lower format for IPod.

[Linndac]

I am assuming based on the iPod reference that you will want to use iTunes. If so then the best option is Audio Interchange File Format ( AIFF) or Apple Lossless Audio Codec (ALAC). ALAC if you are OK with lossless compression. There will be a huge disk space difference between the two and little or no audio difference (though some may think otherwise).

Make sure you select ExactCopy in iTunes or have an import program that uses error correction when importing.

You can have iTunes down compress these imports automatically when you synch to your iPod (you can chose the quality level) in case your iPod does not have the storage capacity.

On a side note I strongly recommend usign PureMusic, Audiovarna or similar for playback if you do get around to streaming vs. vanilla iTunes.

Thanks for this info

[Alan Brown]

I was talking to a chap who runs a hifi shop last week, he has just discovered laptops & Jriver (real cutting edge stuff). He is playing DSD though, and swears this is a game changer. This happened because his customers were (about 5 years) ahead of him.

I can't experiment with DSD (mk 1 Young DAC), but I thought people were converting to DSD for playback? This chap was adamant his customers have been ripping to DSD (imagine the storage!) for best results.

Any thoughts? Experience? Better to rip to DSD or convert to it on the fly?

[item_audio]

Sonically, better to pre-convert. Logistically: problematic.