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Ripping with dBpoweramp

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Posted on March 19, 2017 at 11:12:28
dbphd
Audiophile

Posts: 1674
Location: Montecito, CA
Joined: September 6, 2006
 I've been using AIFF at 16 bits with iTunes to create files I transfer to a Sony HAP-Z1ES, and thought it sounded fine. Until I tried FLAC at the default compression 5 with dBpoweramp, and found the sound had more detail, the nuances I so enjoy seem represented as well as they are when play the disc. If I re-rip files using dBpoweramp, should I use 24 or 32 bits and 0 compression? I seem to be using little of the Sony disc spaces that's not an issue, just quality. I use balanced analog from the Sony to an Ayre K-5xeMP preamp.

db

 

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RE: Ripping with dBpoweramp, posted on March 19, 2017 at 15:43:14
bullethead
 Hey, compression shouldnt be set. So you dont need to decode the FLAC, just wraps the PCM with the added benefit of tags. There are some technical manuals at Xiph

From the site, thank them. FLAC is a member of Xiph

The Xiph.Org Foundation is a non-profit corporation dedicated to protecting the foundations of Internet multimedia from control by private interests. Our purpose is to support and develop free, open protocols and software to serve the public, developer and business markets.

 

RE: Ripping with dBpoweramp, posted on March 19, 2017 at 16:34:46
RadioWonder
Audiophile

Posts: 1236
Location: Arizona
Joined: March 16, 2003
 I prefer the last selection on the list, "Uncompressed"...

I always have HDCD selected in the "Add DSP / Action"...

Sometimes you miss an HDCD album that is not noted on the CD cover, like World Without Tears by Lucinda Williams...

Lots of wonderful HDCD albums still available...24-bit music files sound wonderful to me...

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Most all music files I convert to Uncompressed FLAC...

One of the exceptions is from Sound Liaison Music...
http://www.soundliaison.com/

They offer a FLAC and a larger PCM file...
The PCM File sounds amazing as is just download and play......

 

RE: Ripping with dBpoweramp, posted on March 19, 2017 at 17:35:23
PAR
 I don't understand your reference to 24 or 32 bit. FLAC ripping allows you to specify the the amount of lossless compression applied. Level 5 is the recommended one in DBpower amp. Some people feel that uncompressed is preferable but I have not been able to establish this myself and believe that this preference may not be a FLAC attribute per se but is related to the entire playback chain that is in use. I certainly cannot hear any degradation at level 5 compared to the silver disc original using a dCS/Esoteric transport. Always willing to be persuaded otherwise.

I trust that you use dbpoweramp with PerfectTunes as this provides excellent metadata even if it does require finessing on occasion.

 

RE: Ripping with dBpoweramp, posted on March 20, 2017 at 05:48:09
dbphd
Audiophile

Posts: 1674
Location: Montecito, CA
Joined: September 6, 2006
 You seem to be able to set bit depth to 16, 24, or 32. I assume 24 may be adequate.

db

 

RE: Ripping with dBpoweramp, posted on March 20, 2017 at 07:05:13
PAR
 Thanks for your response.

Which version of dbpoweramp ripper have you got? Where is this facility?

CDs are 16 bit. You can't rip one directly to any higher bit depth. You could upsample one to a higher bit depth ( this is actually just adding digital zeros as there is no creation of more data) and copy thsi to your music database but dbpoweramp ripper does not have an upsampling algorithm. So I am puzzled. Are you looking not at the ripper but at one of the conversion programs ( Music Converter, Batch Converter) that are bundled with it?

Edit: And I am wrong. See the posting below with Roseval.

One other issue with a rip at a different bit depth to the original is that you then cannot use Accurate Rip to verify the rip which is one of the big plus points of dbpoweramp.

My advice in any case is not to rip except on a 1:1 basis for data. Upsampling or other DSP processes can produce artifacts that may become wearisome after a time. Furthermore technology changes so what may look like a good idea now won't necessarily be so in the future. In any case ripping to 32 bit may limit you to a small range of replay hardware.

So make your master rips a straight copy of the CDs. Then you can make a copy of the rips and play around with those to your heart's content without having to re-rip everything when you may decide that e.g. upsampling or whatever, is not for you.

BTW, Since my earlier posting I have experimented with FLAC in uncompressed mode. As before I cannot hear any degradation using level 5 compared to the original CD. In fact it sounds a bit better . However using no compression seems to sound even better. Bugger! Incidentally not so much better that I want to re-rip my compressed files.

And don't forget to make backups.

 

Bit depth, posted on March 20, 2017 at 07:59:15
Roseval
Audiophile

Posts: 1846
Joined: March 31, 2008
 It can be set.
It is part of dbPoweramps DSP options.

As CDs are 16 bit it makes no sense to set a bit depth higher than 16 if one want a bit perfect copy.
If one does use DSP a higher bit depth might make sense to reduce the quantization error.


The Well Tempered Computer

 

RE: Bit depth, posted on March 20, 2017 at 09:58:49
PAR
 Ah yes. The DSP effects part. Thanks. I am unfamiliar wirth its attributes as I cannot think why I would want to use any of them.

Agreed, no sense in setting higher than 16 bit for a bit perfect copy. I can see the point about quantisation but I would prefer to do this so that I do not have a permanently DSP'd master copy. In fact I do change bit depth to 24 bit on the fly when replaying either CD or 16 bit files.

 

RE: Ripping with dBpoweramp, posted on March 21, 2017 at 07:01:10
dbphd
Audiophile

Posts: 1674
Location: Montecito, CA
Joined: September 6, 2006
 Par,

I'm using dBpoweramp version 15.8, ripping both CDs and SACDs. I'm confused about the bit depth of SACDs. Is it also 16 bit?

db

 

RE: Ripping with dBpoweramp, posted on March 21, 2017 at 07:34:19
PAR
 The bit depth of an SACD is effectively 1 bit. It is not a PCM format and works differently. However you can't rip SACDs as they are encoded and the information from the SACD disc is not normally available until it has been decoded to analogue i.e. there is no access to it in the digital domain.

However what I say above is not strictly true and there are special methods for ripping them. However this cannot be done by using dbpoweramp.

First you need to have an SACD player which is capable of having the digital stream from the SACD "tapped". This is limited to certain Sony PS2 models from given batches of manufacture, a couple of Pioneer players and some Oppo players. You then need to download software to extract the data and use additional software to convert the result of this to .dsf format which can be understood by some playback software. I think that the current software may include both stages. If you are interested I can give you a link to some detailed information about it. You may also need additional software in order to tag the tracks properly including cover art.

All that you can do with dbpoweramp is to rip the CD layer of the SACD disc (assuming that it is a hybrid). In that case the bit depth is the same as any other CD i.e. 16. Of course you won't get the advantages of the SACD layer.



 

RE: Ripping with dBpoweramp, posted on March 22, 2017 at 22:32:14
dbphd
Audiophile

Posts: 1674
Location: Montecito, CA
Joined: September 6, 2006
 If bit depth for CDs is 16 bits, is there any reason to use dBpoweramp FLAC with 0 compression rather than iTunes AIFF at 16 bits and automatic sampling that I've been using?

db

 

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