FLAC/Lossless music

[GDN]

Hi GDN,

I use the Windows desktop version of dbPoweramp CD Ripper. I think it was $30 or so but it works extremely well. Rips a CD to FLAC in a few minutes on a two year old i7.

I also have Exact Audio Copy as an alternative and sometimes use it if the database in dbPA doesn't find the info on say an obscure old Blues CD. It works just as well, but is a little less intuitive to use.

Hope you still have those 400 CDs to re-encode. I did all of mine before I got the F-150 and Sync 4 is doing very well with the roughly 8,000 songs I have in my truck (all ripped a FLAC from my CD collection). The sound is fantastic, especially with more delicate and softer stuff , I crank that and the clarity can be stunning. On heavier/denser stuff it is still great, just need to pull the volume back.

I'm running everything from Van Halen to old Genesis to 50s/60s/70s pop hits to Oscar Peterson to UFO to Bob Wills and his Texas Playboys to 40s through 90s Country and back to Pat Travers to Ozzy to whatever... One thing I have noticed is how some CDs are mixed better than others. The Unleashed, set properly, reveals the strength or weakness of the source mix/mastering.

One key is to boost the treble some and really back off the bass (or it can be muddy). Doing that lets you hear tighter bass and no mud. One day I may look into replacing the Sub Woofer if I can find one that is proven to have a little tighter bass on metal , but I'm super happy as it is.

I just downloaded the trial version of dbPowerAmp as they support Mac too. I would assume you don't apply any kind of DSP to get the music just like it was recorded and put on the CD?

Sponsored

 

[Buyer2021]

I should do a list like that! I see a lot of overlap with mine, although I have only four Zappa CDs (they all sound particularly great)!! I don't see my favorite though: Live in New York (the 1976 double set with Don Pardo doing occasional live narration!), I highly recommend that!

I've a much larger Zappa collection on vinyl (~40+ albums). I bought my first album (not Zappa) in 1967 and have never sold or lost a piece of vinyl. Same for CDs when I started with that media much later. The bulk of the collection is outrageous, helps a lot to not have moved too much, I've been in my current home over 35 years.

Lucky to enjoy Zappa and the Mothers in many incarnations 17 times at live shows over the decades starting in the early 70's, always incredibly well-produced events as are most of his albums.

Attended both of the appearances at Armadillo World HQ in 1975 (Austin is my home town, I was a student at UT at the time) which became the Bongo Fury album. Joined on stage by Don Van Vliet (aka Captain Beefheart), another personal favorite, those were great events at a great venue at a special time (and the album is pretty darned good, too!).

RIP FVZ & DGV

Just hope everyone enjoys their music, whatever that may be, in their F150!

 

[Beercity]

I haven't bought a cd in a few years, well maybe more then a few years, but from what I recall cds are 750ish MB. The audio on a cd is already compressed, true flac comes from sources that are not compressed.
There is a reason why vinyl made a come back, no compression just pure analog.
I recall Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails releasing a bunch of his music as flac as few years back. I would assume that true flac is from the masters not from cd as the source, you can't add the bits back once removed the digital data just isn't there.
I don't have the ears to complain about flac vs cd, too many hours with 15" Fosgates in the back seat combined with 5-10 years in a machine shop before using ear plugs.

 

[GDN]

I haven't bought a cd in a few years, well maybe more then a few years, but from what I recall cds are 750ish MB. The audio on a cd is already compressed, true flac comes from sources that are not compressed.
There is a reason why vinyl made a come back, no compression just pure analog.
I recall Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails releasing a bunch of his music as flac as few years back. I would assume that true flac is from the masters not from cd as the source, you can't add the bits back once removed the digital data just isn't there.
I don't have the ears to complain about flac vs cd, too many hours with 15" Fosgates in the back seat combined with 5-10 years in a machine shop before using ear plugs.

I wondered as much about the CD, but re-ripping to FLAC vs MP3 has to produce a much better file than I have today. Also - I'm not going to repurchase most of it (if it could be found) in FLAC format, so it'll be better than I have today without breaking the bank.

 

[LargeScaleAscent]

I just downloaded the trial version of dbPowerAmp as they support Mac too. I would assume you don't apply any kind of DSP to get the music just like it was recorded and put on the CD?

No DSP during the encoding, and the settings dbPoweramp suggest work fine.

I DO Set the Unleashed to Surround, as it absolutely sounds better than Stereo. I don't think that setting is a DSP as much as a way it distributes the signal to all the speakers. Some material gets distributed to the speakers more than others, I think somehow based on the original mix (most obvious on my Beatles in Mono box set - mono but sounds fantastic!).

 

[LargeScaleAscent]

Attended both of the appearances at Armadillo World HQ in 1975 (Austin is my home town, I was a student at UT at the time)...

Never got to see Zappa live unfortunately.

Have had some great music experiences in Austin though since my first time there in 1992. Saw Johnny Winter at Liberty Lunch that year, and a surprise guest appearance from Eric Johnson at Antone's on Guadalupe a few years later!

 

[Buyer2021]

Have had some great music experiences in Austin though since my first time there in 1992. Saw Johnny Winter at Liberty Lunch that year, and a surprise guest appearance from Eric Johnson at Antone's on Guadalupe a few years later!

Hijacking the OP's thread horribly with our reminisces, but yeah Austin has been a great music town for a while. The old open-air Liberty Lunch was another favorite in my mid 1970's college days and after (cover and 'concert' prices were crazy cheap back then). My first exposure to Johnny WInter was at the Vulcan Gas Co. ("BC" - before college), a rather 'notorious' venue at the time.

My live-music attendance had waned significantly by the 90's, life changes ya know (no worries or regrets)

 

[sippy2]

I have a huge cd collection I ripped using Dbpoweramp about 10 years ago for my home HIFI sytem...then Tidal came out with a CD quality streaming service for $10mo. ...tried it...then hardly used my Flac files. I have since retired my home system. They also offer a better option at $20 mo.

I was hoping B&O unleashed would satisfy me...nope...gonna have to upgrade my system. Have tried Amazon's,spotify and Apple Hi Res streaming...better but still lacks the detail of a audiophile system. Havent tried Tidal yet...but may try the $20 option and see how it sounds.

Bottom line is if you are looking for cd quality streaming check out Tidal.

https://tidal.com/

 

[ssimpala1901]

I put my entire CD collection years ago, a mix of M4A and MP3 using iTunes, as disk space got cheaper I re-ripped them (at least the ones that I could find or weren't ruined due to moving etc.) using the later versions of iTunes that ripped them at a better quality than the older iTunes versions into MP3 using the custom settings that ripped them at the highest bit rate of 360 stereo at the time. I have all the music loaded to high quality Samsung thumb drives one for my 2015 Mustang using sync 3 approx. 12k + songs and one copy for my 2021 F150, the thumb drives needed to be formatted to FAT32 to make them work I believe. I named one drive F150 and the other Mustang so they show up in the head units as an audio choice along with XM, AM, FM Pandora, IPhone etc. I believe the Sync 3 catalogs up to 15,000 songs I don't know about the Sync 4 in the F150 song limitations but it does support the 12,000 + songs I have. Formatted any other way than FAT32 I was unsuccessful in having them work. I know both MP3s and the AAC or M4a's work with the Sync systems. The Sync 3 system actually works better than the Sync 4 in calling out the names of artists, songs and genres, using the hands free voice control, which I cannot use with the Sync 4 system while Carplay is active, but the F150 USB drive still does work for me, but if my wife's phone is the phone connected to Carplay instead of mine it does interfere everytime she gets a text message or phone call.
But overall the sound quality is much better than Pandora or SiriusXM, it still is my primarily used music in either vehicle.

Sponsored