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need crash course in using digital music.

just getting back into hi-fi and need some help understanding all the new "stuff" that's out there regarding digital music. i have owned an ipod for years but that's really about it. have been a CD guy most of my life and still enjoy them, but would like to venture out a bit.

my basic (and i mean basic) understanding is this:

there is a way to download very high quality recordings and burn them onto a disc. said disc then sounds fantastic?

i need an idiots guide to do the above. from the very basics on up. are there any web source's that can help me or even a book?. would like to do this asap because the timing of my transport/dac purchase just got pushed up. i'd like to be able to use it when it arrives (other then regular cd's that is). was thinking i had a couple months before getting something but now it looks like next week.

have got a PS audio PWT/PWD inbound. from what i understand....it's work fine with most of the "new digital music". various formats and recording resolutions. i'll get the equipment sorted out via the owners manual. need some help with the source music though.

don't need the super technical side of things but do wish to have a good understanding of the various formats, types, methods, materials ect....

it's all new to me. things like 24/48, 96, 192, FLAC, native, ect......currently have little/no meaning. my experience ends with clicking the tab at i-tunes. i've got alot to learn

if anyone could point me in a right direction, it would be greatly appreciated.

thank you
levy03
sbank's avatar
sbank
3,378 posts
 
Other than file sizes, is there any downside to AIFF? I am ripping many CDs into itunes in AIFF format, currently used with a WindowsXP PC.
Plans are to add a Squeezebox in the short term to get file access on my audio rig in another room. Longer term hope is to use a better server device(e.g. Transporter, new PS Audio, etc), and control via an Ipod Touch app as remote. The PC might eventually be replaced by a Macbook, but the music files are all being stored(2x) as AIFF on a pair of Iomega 1TB external drives. Does this sound like a reasonably good & safe approach? Thanks,
Spencer
levy03 OP
442 posts
 
i'm getting there now!. outstanding info and support fella's. thank you very much.

heya Rich!. i did get things moved around but had to put the speakers back temporarily. seems my newly acquired acoustic zen santori shotgun speaker cables are 2 feet too short. couldn't make the turn around that damn fireplace lol!. no worries. decided to get a new vertical rack to solve the problem instead of replacing the cables. that's next on my agenda as soon as the PWT/PWD get here. it did sound great for the few hour's i tried it. good call my man!. think you're right about eventually going to a server too. also...really helpful info on this digi music topic buddy. is there anything you don't know Rich! =)

now back to my digital music education. grabbed EAC because a few of you recommended it. also got "Easy CD-DA Extractor" for conversions ect...(good call per Shazam). i think the software/tools are now present. just need to learn how to use them.

turns out the PWT only reads WAV hi-res files from DVD for now(they are adding FLAC soon). looks like if i'm using DVD....i'll need to convert to WAV first.

still have one question though...

can i mix different res files on the same disc? for example...Redbook along with other higher res files?
or better put...do all files on a disc need to be the same resolution?.

thanks again!
richlane
167 posts
 
Hey Levy,

""do all files on a disc need to be the same resolution?.""

This shouldn't be a problem, as long as the player can handle the types of files that you have burned onto the DVD.

Glad to hear that things are looking up with your set-up!

Regards,
Rich
richlane
167 posts
 
Hey Sbank,

""Other than file sizes, is there any downside to AIFF? I am ripping many CDs into itunes in AIFF format, currently used with a WindowsXP PC.""

AIFF is a great choice for sound quality and it's supported by Apple, and it's compatible with iTunes, and the Transporter, Squeezebox, and PS Audio Bridge/DAC although it sounds like this codec will be converted on the fly, however it should work well for all of your needs.

If you find a product down the line that it doesn't work for, then the AIFF Codec can always be converted to some other lossless format down the line.

One thing that I would recommend before converting your music to another Codec, would be to make a copy of all the music first and then convert the copies to the new codec, so you'll still have the originals, just in case there was a problem or you were unhappy with the results.

Rich
shazam
205 posts
 
Earlier I noted Easy CD-DA for file conversion but forgot that it only supports Redbook format. Sorry for the bad post.

If you are converting between wav and flac, the best tool is going to be the actual FLAC front end - get it here: http://flac.sourceforge.net/download.html

As for the PW DAC - I've posted a more extensive review in this thread here: http://forum.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/fr.pl?ddgtl&1245900512&openflup&56&4#56

Good luck!
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