WAV or Apple Lossless Encoder?

Last night, I finally got to compare ALAC files ripped with EAC and iTunes - used test and copy to generate the EAC wave files and used error correction with iTunes (V 8.0.2.20). I used iTunes to convert wave to ALAC. My wife(she has better ears than I) and I separately compared several tracks playing through iTunes, including Bye Bye Blackbird from Pop Pop. We both originally thought we could hear differences but in the end neither of us could reliably identify differences. If there were differences they were too subtle to identify reliably. Interesting, the differences we both originally thought we heard were not with soundstage but with the amount of air around notes and the attack in the treble. Unfortunately, iTunes does not have an ABX comparison routine which is very useful for finding subtle differences. I also played the same tracks through my CD player (output to the same DAC) and compared them to iTunes and again any differences were too small to identify reliably.

I also tried comparing the same tracks through J River Media Center 13 using flac files. I thought the J River was a little more dynamic but it is hard to compare different players in real time. Any differences with iTunes and J River were small at most, but I need to do more work on that.

My system is not overly detailed - it is set up as a smooth more "musical" system. Classe CP-65 pre, Levinson 432 amp, Sonus Faber Cremona speakers with Transparent Ultra cables. CD is Classe CDP 10 and DAC is Musical Fidelity A3.24. My USB to optical converter is a Turtle Beach, which is the weakest link in the system. I am sure the jitter will come up, but it does sound very similar to my Classe CD player, so I do not think it is hurting very much. Also, I did prefer my PC source to a McIntosh MC301 CD player (in an all McIntosh system), which is a pretty good player. I will probably replace the USB converter with a 24/192 one in the future - probably using J River.

Moving to J River will mean I probably will start using EAC so it is easier to generate flac files. But I see no reason to re-rip my existing libary at this point.

I would be happy to post my Bye Bye Blackbird files to a ftp server (if I can find a reliable one) if anyone would like to try my files.

Dtc - thanks for trying that out and posting. Your results do not surprise me given I could hear the difference clearly on one system and not on another. Peter's system, and my main system are highly resolving I'd say, whereas the system I could not hear the difference on is not. I think also the two systems where the difference was clear had much more effective jitter reduction active, and I'd guess that played even more of a roll. I'd be very interested to hear if anyone else gives it a try. Glad you enjoyed PopPop - yes it is a fun CD! I don't follow the Grammy's so wasn't aware that Winstone had been nominated - cool beans. Yes ECM artists and recordings reflect a consistently high standard of excellence.

Jax2 - Have you compared the same tracks from a CD player to the same DAC you are using for iTunes? I found that on my system, there is little difference. Once I got to the state of being as good as my CD player, I have sort of stopped until I can try a setup that plays 24/192 material.

Unfortunately, on the Grammy show they play stuff I am not interested in listening to. Not sure if they ever played any of the jazz on the show - only got through about 20 minutes before turning it off.

Jax2 - Have you compared the same tracks from a CD player to the same DAC you are using for iTunes? I found that on my system, there is little difference. Once I got to the state of being as good as my CD player, I have sort of stopped until I can try a setup that plays 24/192 material.

Yes, I compared the EAC>Apple Lossless file to the actual CD it was ripped from spinning on my Oppo 983H fed into the digital input of my Modwright Transporter (same DAC used for the file comparisons). I could not tell any difference there, but there was the same marginal superiority to the straight Apple Lossless file in terms of soundstage and definition of the instruments in space.

Haven't had TV hookup for 10 years and don't miss that tremendous waste of time it represented to me, so I know what you mean about the Grammys. There was a thread about that very subject here. IMO who cares...a highly 'political' popularity contest and most of the music they highlight just doesn't interest me much.

Marco

oh my thanks for reminding me of Pop Pop. I've had it playing much of the day and just ripped it using Apple Lossless, glad to hear some of you don't hear huge differences. I can handle re ripping everything to Lossless.........
Yes that CD is great fun - really enjoyed it, lots of detail over a very modest system - the used Vandersteen 1c's I got here on Audiogon and a new NAD 326 integrated amp and NAD 545 cd player....fabulous for the money!

Now if I can just get my new Squeezebox to work, of course, Murphy's Law for me means that our wireless router isn't accepting it and we're waiting on the Logitech folks to call with recommendations.....
but in the meantime, there's the NAD and Pop Pop!