Lossless Files Vs CD's

I absolutely agree with Al (as usual). Good ripping program can be set to read the same sector forever until checksum is valid. If anything, copy is better than original, becoming exact studio data while CDP often interpolates.

In addition to often better quality, as very experienced Audioengr stated, it is matter of convenience as well, not to mention that digital copy cannot be scratched and can be protected from fire, theft etc. (backup).

Once bit perfect ripping is done the only thing (other than DAC itself) that affect quality is jitter.

I would offer this suggestion to you - when in doubt - read Almarg explanation. All people on this forum can testify to that.

"The point here is that you loosing the quality of the sound (SQ) right there when you ripping/converting PCM files from CD in to WAV on your comp. And said loss of SQ can't be compensated by jitter free playback."

That is simply not true. The data fields in the digital copy are identical to the original CD data, assuming that you ripped it properly with a C2 error correcting drive and used Accurate Rip in the ripper.

Some playback software does muck with the data in various ways, such as changing the offset or doing resampling, but these players are well-known and are avoided by most audiophiles.

If you want examples of how some rippers, formats or players compromise the SQ, I can do this at Newport show after hours. Those that have been following computer audio for a while understand which of these to avoid, so the SQ issue with these is really a non-issue for the most part. It's just a matter of education.

Steve N.
Empirical Audio

"I would offer this suggestion to you - when in doubt - read Almarg explanation. All people on this forum can testify to that."

I can also testify to that. I don't post allot in here, but I do read a ton. And Al always has by far the most well thought out and technically correct answers.

And both Kijanki and Audioengr are also very well respected here as well. Believe me, they aren't trying to pull the wool over your eyes, in fact, they'd very much like to help us all get to the best sound possible.

I heard Steve's system last year at Newport and can't wait to check out his room next Saturday as well.

Kijanki and Pokey, thanks very much for your kind comments. And I certainly second Pokey's comment about Kijanki and Steve.

Best,
-- Al

To: Audioengr, Pokey77 and Almarg: Guys, I think i know whats going on here,;~) but I won't be jumping the guns until i see Steeven at The show and listen to his "bit perfect rip" on his server and than we'll see if somebody really need a hearing specialist or something else is going on because of somebody's involvement with the industry. If, on the other hand, Steeven will show to me that i was doing something terribly wrong for the last 7 years) and CD and files are in fact sounds identical, i will gladly apologise to all of you guys and convert all my CDs to comp(we all know this wan't happening right ;~)). Until then there is no doubt in my mind or moreover ears))) that ripped files loosing micro(but very important ) musical information compare to CD it ripped from. Sound gets muddier, less separation, less air between the notes, voice timbres are not the same any more (DIana Krell "Quite Nits" rip comes to mind), the wind blowing less apparent, priorities and characteristics of sounds are different etc.