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In Reply to: RE: *Ping* Dave_K posted by Todd A. on May 03, 2016 at 13:05:50
Hey Todd,
I have went the route of using an Oppo 103 as a play engine and my music is a mixture of Alac, Wav, and some Mp3s. Since I use iTunes on a Mac Mini to rip CDs I experimented quite a bit with Alac, AIFF, and Wav files. Using my Oppo as the play engine and Dac I could not discern much difference in quality. AIFF is the Apple equivalent of a wav file so converting them or re-ripping them to Wav is not going to get reap a gain in quality technically speaking. As long as you avoid a lossy format such mp3s, compressed non lossy formats (alac, FLAC) and uncompressed non lossy formats(aiff, Wav) should yield the same quality. The but being the quality of your play back engine and your dac. I am sure some will disagree, but bits are bits. As long as you are not using a lossy format and your play engine is up to the task FLAC and alac can sound just as good as a Wav or aiff file. If your play engine sounds good with your AIFF files and the cover art and metadata works fine, don't worry about re-ripping.
Ymmv.....blah,blah,blah. :-) a Give me call some time.
Bill
Follow Ups:
Also not Dave but...As you are concerned with the ease of ripping and adding cover art I will but in and say that FLAC is probably the easiest for the latter as it is structured with a file in each track folder specifically to store that artwork.You ask if there is a good program to do this. I suggest trying DBpoweramp with the optional PerfectTUNES as it is one of the best rippers and PerfectTUNES will search several databases to give you a choice of metadata and cover art. It also comes with a format converter if you should wish to transfer tracks to , say, MP3 for use on a phone.
BTW, one small caveat about the WD Cloud. It stores all files in encrypted form which might add complexity for recovery should disaster strike and/or if you want to transfer to another type of device. Although you can backup to an external device using the WD software I am not sure whether or not that backup is then also written in encrypted form.
Edits: 05/03/16
So in effect I'm tied to the WD drive from here on forward? Interesting - I didn't get any kind of software with the drive. There was nothing in the box but the drive itself, power adapter and cables.
Thans for the program suggestion, but I have no interest in MP3, so a converter isn't on my short list.
The DBpoweramp program is not an MP3 converter. It comes with a format converter as part of the package and this is an optional extra. It can convert whatever format that you have ripped to any other than you need. I merely cited MP3 as an example. Its use is optional not compulsory. Please look in th archives of AA, say in PC audio. You will see that DBpoweramp is pretty generally recognised as the best ripper that there is. You should not overlook it until you have tried the free period of use that it offers. I hope you will then see why it is so good and gets so much recommendation.
Yes you do have backup software with your WD Cloud. It is preinstalled on the device and I believe is accessed via the dashboard. You need to find out how to open the dashboard. http://support.wdc.com/KnowledgeBase/answer.aspx?ID=10420
You will see from the embodied link here that backup is definitely included. Thanks to Dave K for clarifying that such backups are not encrypted. However I would therefore suggest not making the backup on another WD Cloud but to another type of hard drive. I would also strongly advise you to make 2 backups. You will realise why should you ever need to use one. If your main drive fails and you only have one backup then when you replace the failed drive with the other then at that point you will have no backup and will be vulnerable if anything goes wrong. Some experienced users keep their second backup off site.
I hope you will find this useful.
I do indeed, and thank you. I've been in the dashboard, so that's not an issue. I don't see the backup function specifically addressed, but that could well be because I don't have a backup drive connected.
It seems silly not to at least try the DBpoweramp program if you feel it's that good. With a free trial period, why not?
Thanks again!
Don't worry, the "safepoint" backups of the My Cloud are not encrypted, so if it ever goes kaput you'll still be able to read your files from the backup.
Thanks for chiming in!
I'm not sure what you mean by a "play engine" though, beyond the WD providing access to the files. The Cambridge has its own DAC.
Sorry it's been so long. I definitely owe you a call....
When I say play engine I mean your Cambridge. Sorry for not being clear. If you want
a more tubey or romantic sound than the Cambridge has just add an outboard Dac that
has the sound you are looking for. We are in the hay day of digital playback IMHO.
Enjoy the music....
Edits: 05/03/16
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