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Thread: Audiophile output on Mac OSX

  1. #41
    Join Date: Jan 2008

    Location: Norfolk, UK

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    I'm BigBobJoylove.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Beechwoods View Post
    I wonder (=conjecture on my part!) whether this is something to do with the iTunes 'sound enhancer' option, or something else going on to sweeten the sound... I remember finding some discussion on Finder versus iTunes versus CDParanoia (used by xACT) a while back but can't for the life of me find it now! Ain't that typical. Ah well, let your ears do the analysis!
    I haven't used the sound enhancer on my system.

    Ben Duncan mains conditioner
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  2. #42
    Join Date: Jan 2008

    Location: Norfolk, UK

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    I'll definitely have a look at xACT.

    Ben Duncan mains conditioner
    2022 MacBook Pro 14" M1 Pro 10/16/16/16
    Samsung QE75Q90T 75" QLED TV
    XMOS DSD Async USB to Coax converter
    RME Audio ADI-2 FS (AK4493) DAC
    Chord Clearway XLR interconnects
    Audioquest Crimson USB interconnect
    QED Quartz Reference optical interconnect
    Edifier S3000 Pro active speakers
    Atacama SE24 stands

  3. #43
    Join Date: May 2008

    Location: Bristol, UK

    Posts: 9,962
    I'm Nick.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Filterlab View Post
    I'll definitely have a look at xACT this evening, seems like a very secure way to import a CD.

    Is the track and artist data still compatible with iTunes (Gracenote)?
    To be honest, I've never checked. The ripper gets the track info from the internet - freedb I think, but only extracts to WAV and I'm not sure if it writes metatags to the WAV header (I don't think so) - it does use them to name the files with tracks number and name, and writes the other details to the log...

  4. #44
    Join Date: Jan 2008

    Location: Norfolk, UK

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    Well, it only takes a few minutes to add the details in manually if need be.

    Ben Duncan mains conditioner
    2022 MacBook Pro 14" M1 Pro 10/16/16/16
    Samsung QE75Q90T 75" QLED TV
    XMOS DSD Async USB to Coax converter
    RME Audio ADI-2 FS (AK4493) DAC
    Chord Clearway XLR interconnects
    Audioquest Crimson USB interconnect
    QED Quartz Reference optical interconnect
    Edifier S3000 Pro active speakers
    Atacama SE24 stands

  5. #45
    Join Date: May 2008

    Location: Bristol, UK

    Posts: 9,962
    I'm Nick.

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    There's another app called Max which some of you may like which also uses CDParanoia, the same Unix library as xACT. Max may handle metadata conversion better. I personally felt xACT was more straightforward so never really tried Max much, but you may like it. It has plenty of ripping options to play with, from simple burst ripping to secure modes and comparison retries (effectively ripping multiple times and comparing the results). Max is made by the same people as are behind Cog, the best lossless audio player for the Mac. I personally use iTunes for AAC playback and Cog for FLAC and Shorten.
    Last edited by Beechwoods; 05-06-2008 at 18:29.

  6. #46
    Join Date: Jan 2008

    Location: Norfolk, UK

    Posts: 6,209
    I'm BigBobJoylove.

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    I'll have a look into Cog as well then.

    Ben Duncan mains conditioner
    2022 MacBook Pro 14" M1 Pro 10/16/16/16
    Samsung QE75Q90T 75" QLED TV
    XMOS DSD Async USB to Coax converter
    RME Audio ADI-2 FS (AK4493) DAC
    Chord Clearway XLR interconnects
    Audioquest Crimson USB interconnect
    QED Quartz Reference optical interconnect
    Edifier S3000 Pro active speakers
    Atacama SE24 stands

  7. #47
    Join Date: Jan 2008

    Location: Norfolk, UK

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    I'm BigBobJoylove.

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    Well, iTunes has now been retired as I downloaded Cog.

    Ben Duncan mains conditioner
    2022 MacBook Pro 14" M1 Pro 10/16/16/16
    Samsung QE75Q90T 75" QLED TV
    XMOS DSD Async USB to Coax converter
    RME Audio ADI-2 FS (AK4493) DAC
    Chord Clearway XLR interconnects
    Audioquest Crimson USB interconnect
    QED Quartz Reference optical interconnect
    Edifier S3000 Pro active speakers
    Atacama SE24 stands

  8. #48
    Join Date: Jun 2008

    Location: Oakland, California, USA

    Posts: 19

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    I tried MAX last night and was also impressed with the results. I'm still a little unsure about the 'correct' ripping setup to use, but anything that takes that long must be good!

    Not ready to give up my GUI just yet, but I will try COG as well. First priority is to get comfortable with an archiving scheme so I can start getting rid of my CDs!

  9. #49
    Join Date: Jan 2008

    Location: Norfolk, UK

    Posts: 6,209
    I'm BigBobJoylove.

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    Cog is definitely worth a go.

    Ben Duncan mains conditioner
    2022 MacBook Pro 14" M1 Pro 10/16/16/16
    Samsung QE75Q90T 75" QLED TV
    XMOS DSD Async USB to Coax converter
    RME Audio ADI-2 FS (AK4493) DAC
    Chord Clearway XLR interconnects
    Audioquest Crimson USB interconnect
    QED Quartz Reference optical interconnect
    Edifier S3000 Pro active speakers
    Atacama SE24 stands

  10. #50
    Join Date: Jun 2008

    Location: Oakland, California, USA

    Posts: 19

    Default MAX rip settings

    So I mucked about with this every free moment this weekend, and I actually came to a conclusion. (Shocking, in itself).

    While (to my understanding,) the method I chose does not represent my stated goal of a bit-perfect (aka "secure rip" aka "bit transparancy") rip of the original CD, it's close, and it just plain sounded the best. So this is what I am using for the forseeable future:

    CD Ripping in SBooth's MAX:

    Format:
    AIFF (Linear PCM) - 32bit big endian signed integer

    I tried every flavor of AIFF available through MAX - they all were better than the best results I could manage importing CDs directly through iTunes as uncompressed AIFF or WAV files.

    I settled on the 32bit sampling, as I found notable improvements in both detail and body. Bass notes were more in tune, and there was a blacker background.

    This was not the result I set out to find, but I chose it because the results seemed to be better all around, and not 'offsetting' (E.G. tests in iTunes would result in one format improving clarity, but the other improving body).

    I also found COG to be a better sounding playback application than iTunes, but because of iTunes better GUI and Frontrow integration, they will continue to co-exist peacefully on my machine for the time-being.


    PS:
    I am connecting my mac mini with autdioquest optical cable to a Linn 5103 serving as DAC and preamp. The Mac Audio MIDI output settings are at 48KHz.
    Last edited by barnz; 09-06-2008 at 17:03.

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