CD Quality and Analysis Tools

[Rounder44]

Hi,

 

First post here. Building a digital system from the Mac environment.

 

One thing driving me nuts is the VERY poor quality of many recorded CD's. Led Zeppelin's recent Deluxes is plagued with hissing. NUmerous others feel overly compressed; JJ Cale Cocaine, Steve Young Seven Bridges Road. Confirmed many others AB comparisons local vs. Tidal versions.

 

What's going on?! A few years back I had a decent system and playing CD's on a $200 deck sounded GREAT! I doubt the above would.

 

So.. is the music industry purposely creating terrible files of iconic music in hopes we'll chase the magic via new versions?

 

Is it my ripping schemes? Most files have admittedly been AAC via iTunes and the Super DRive external.

 

Test driving some software, Audirvana and Amarra and XLD. Am I on the right track?

 

Sorry so many questions out of the chute!

 

Rounder44

[PeterG]

Agreed on the frustrations.  You've noted two issues which are not related.  Compression is plaguing an industry adapting to digital listening modes.  Google "loudness wars", and check out: http://dr.loudness-war.info/ to identify the best versions of CDs from a compression standpoint.  I typically buy the least compressed versions via Discogs, then rip them into AIFF via a Super Drive iTunes, for playback through Amarra HiFi.

 

On the hissing--I have not experienced this.

 

On Tidal vs rips--I do not use streaming services, but it is my understanding that it is very unlikely that any stream is going to exceed a ripped CD for sound quality.  

 

Good luck!

[kumakuma]

I suspect that the problem lies in the way that music is mastered these days.

 

At the very least though rip your CDs to a lossless format such as ALAC (Apple Lossless) or AIFF using iTunes or XLD. This will eliminate any quality hit you are taking from the lossy AAC format.

 

[Rounder44]

Thanks,

 

I just double checked and most recent rips are as m4a... Apple Lossless AAC right???  Apple was telling me the best possible but neglecting to tell me "best possible for iTunes!"

 

Tidal has a few Masters versions that are 24/96khz which is better than I've been ripping so I AB if possible.

 

Led Zep had a few threads online about at least LZ IV having hissing as I experienced.

 

Thanks,

 

R44

[Ralf11]

Apple Lossless is not AAC - Apple Lossless is - as they say - lossless; AAC is lossy.

 

Apple Lossless should be indistinguishable from FLAC.

 

 

 

OTOH, mp3, much less mp4 (aka AAC) can be indistinguishable too, depending...

[AnotherSpin]

3 hours ago, Rounder44 said:

Thanks,

 

I just double checked and most recent rips are as m4a... Apple Lossless AAC right???  Apple was telling me the best possible but neglecting to tell me "best possible for iTunes!"

 

Tidal has a few Masters versions that are 24/96khz which is better than I've been ripping so I AB if possible.

 

Led Zep had a few threads online about at least LZ IV having hissing as I experienced.

 

Thanks,

 

R44

 

Most of Led Zeppelin CD's or digital downloads I heard are nowhere close to the sound of original LPs. However, those mastered by Barry Diament are not so bad as recent ones, imho.

[mansr]

54 minutes ago, Ralf11 said:

Apple Lossless is not AAC - Apple Lossless is - as they say - lossless; AAC is lossy.

AAC also has a lossless variant, but it is rarely used. ALAC (aka Apple Lossless) and all AAC variants are wrapped in an mp4 (sometimes called m4a) container.

[Ralf11]

thx mansr

 

 

and BTW  - OP, if you find good versions of Led Zep albums, please post so we can get them too

[nicholasg]

I would take a look at https://www.dbpoweramp.com/cd-ripper.htm for CD ripping. Very cheap, easy to use and has informative forums for any support issues you might have.

[unbalanced output]

On 22/10/2017 at 5:45 PM, Rounder44 said:

 

What's going on?! A few years back I had a decent system and playing CD's on a $200 deck sounded GREAT!

 

 

 

I suspect nowadays you have a much better system than you had years ago. I'm slowly coming back to my CD collection, and I'm surprised if how many times I find myself saying "man, I used to like this recording but it actually sucks"...