If CDs are the most faithful approximation of how master tapes sound...

[Pigmy Pony]

If you want R2R solidity and timing, the best format is File based.

Sorry, but CDs sound better when ripped to a lossless format and replayed via a streaming device/DAC of sufficient quality.

Now this confuses me. How does a copy of a CD get to be better than the original?

[walpurgis]

Now this confuses me. How does a copy of a CD get to be better than the original?

Magic?

[Bigman80]

Now this confuses me. How does a copy of a CD get to be better than the original?

No idea, to be frank but I suspect it's all to do with how the information is lifted from a CD and transferred to the DAC compared to how it's done on file based audio.

Other than that, I'm out of idea but I can say its a repeatable example.

[AJSki2fly]

No idea, to be frank but I suspect it's all to do with how the information is lifted from a CD and transferred to the DAC compared to how it's done on file based audio.

Other than that, I'm out of idea but I can say its a repeatable example.

I don’t quite understand what you are saying?

However I think an explanation for what happens is this from my understanding, at risk of being shot down in digital flames.

If a high quality cd ripping program is used to copy the data from the cd then it will read the data on the cd many times to validate it gets everything right and will perform as accurate error correction as is possible when necessary. Then when you replay the copied data files to the DAC you are getting as much of the original data as is possible to the DAC as you can. Conversely when you play the same files from a cd and to the same DAC the level of re-read and error correction is minimised, so if there are read errors or data validation issues then there will be more error correction involved, which I presume will degrade the end sound quality. To most people they probably would not notice the difference.

In my experience if a high quality CD transport/player is used to send the data to the DAC then the playback difference becomes quite difficult to tell from the playback of the ripped datafile of the same.

[Bigman80]

I don’t quite understand what you are saying?

However I think an explanation for what happens is this from my understanding, at risk of being shot down in digital flames.

If a high quality cd ripping program is used to copy the data from the cd then it will read the data on the cd many times to validate it gets everything right and will perform as accurate error correction as is possible when necessary. Then when you replay the copied data files to the DAC you are getting as much of the original data as is possible to the DAC as you can. Conversely when you play the same files from a cd and to the same DAC the level of re-read and error correction is minimised, so if there are read errors or data validation issues then there will be more error correction involved, which I presume will degrade the end sound quality. To most people they probably would not notice the difference.

In my experience if a high quality CD transport/player is used to send the data to the DAC then the playback difference becomes quite difficult to tell from the playback of the ripped datafile of the same.

That's sounds about right.

[AJSki2fly]

That's sounds about right.

Do I get a gold star

[magiccarpetride]

I don’t quite understand what you are saying?

However I think an explanation for what happens is this from my understanding, at risk of being shot down in digital flames.

If a high quality cd ripping program is used to copy the data from the cd then it will read the data on the cd many times to validate it gets everything right and will perform as accurate error correction as is possible when necessary. Then when you replay the copied data files to the DAC you are getting as much of the original data as is possible to the DAC as you can. Conversely when you play the same files from a cd and to the same DAC the level of re-read and error correction is minimised, so if there are read errors or data validation issues then there will be more error correction involved, which I presume will degrade the end sound quality. To most people they probably would not notice the difference.

In my experience if a high quality CD transport/player is used to send the data to the DAC then the playback difference becomes quite difficult to tell from the playback of the ripped datafile of the same.

Sounds like a reasonable explanation, although in practical terms I'd say it may be a moot point. Of course, how moot would depend on the CD player, but I'd venture out to say that most modern players come with a large enough memory buffer to allow the player to read the spinning CD at its leisure. So in effect, not much different from the leisure time the CD ripper takes to read every bit properly.

[Bigman80]

Do I get a gold star

[AJSki2fly]

Sounds like a reasonable explanation, although in practical terms I'd say it may be a moot point. Of course, how moot would depend on the CD player, but I'd venture out to say that most modern players come with a large enough memory buffer to allow the player to read the spinning CD at its leisure. So in effect, not much different from the leisure time the CD ripper takes to read every bit properly.

Yes that is right, but if a cd has light scratches or a not a great pressing then it may impact just how much the cd can do. As I understand it a CD player spins at one high speed when playing a disk, whereas a transport being used to rip a cd can slow the spin speed down as well to try and get a more accurate read from the cd surface. Maybe someone on here that has more knowledge can advise.


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[Pigmy Pony]

Yeah, I'm going to go with Geoff's explanation in post #12

Although Adrian's comments about different spin speeds sounds believable too.