DB Poweramp - worth it for ripping classical music?

[cmr_for3]

Dear all

Purchased the below album

https://www.amazon.co.uk/British-Symphonic-Collection-Edward-Elgar/dp/B004VRXEXI/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=british+symphonic+collection&qid=1559668223&s=gateway&sr=8-1

When I go to rip it the databases in Cue Ripper and EAC seem to identify the wrong discs (e.g 4 will be 5).

Is the database in DB Poweramp any more accurate? Aside from EAC I've always struggled for a good ripper and DB does look good (albeit pricey)

Any advice appreciated!

[richardfinegold]

Dear all

Purchased the below album

https://www.amazon.co.uk/British-Symphonic-Collection-Edward-Elgar/dp/B004VRXEXI/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=british+symphonic+collection&qid=1559668223&s=gateway&sr=8-1

When I go to rip it the databases in Cue Ripper and EAC seem to identify the wrong discs (e.g 4 will be 5).

Is the database in DB Poweramp any more accurate? Aside from EAC I've always struggled for a good ripper and DB does look good (albeit pricey)

Any advice appreciated!

I have no experience with EAC so I can't compare, and I don't recognize the other one. With dbpoweramp there are occasionally some albums that it won't recognize, and then one has to type the data in. I had that experience with iTunes as well. I can vouch tat it makes damn good rips.

[Braunschlag]

I’d second dbpoweramp too. I bought it a few years ago but it works a treat.
Richard is correct, but it doesn’t fail very often with databases and it’s no great shakes to enter information or put in sleeve art.
The only thing I did do wrong was to rip to the highest flac option - it’s a quicker rip but the file is big, so much so that I redid it to the lowest setting and an average CD works out around 300 mb or so. Great tool and very reliable / stable.

[johnb]

I've used both EAC and dbPoweramp in the past but these days I only ever use dbPoweramp (which seems to be the generally recommended ripping software). With dbPoweramp there is no setting up (at least none that I can remember) and, when ripping, if the first rip of a track matches the signature in its database it will move on to the next track. It will only do multiple rips if (a) the first rip doesn't match the signature in its database or if the album isn't present in its database - speeding the process up compared to EAC.

As far as the FLAC compression level is concerned I recommend leaving it at the default (5). Setting it to the maximum compression only marginally reduces the filesize (compared to "5") but can treble the time it takes to encode - significantly slowing the whole process.

See the tables in this webpage for comparison of filesize and encoding time for the various FLAC compression levels:

https://z-issue.com/wp/flac-compression-level-comparison/

[Braunschlag]

As far as the FLAC compression level is concerned I recommend leaving it at the default (5). Setting it to the maximum compression only marginally reduces the filesize (compared to "5") but can treble the time it takes to encode - significantly slowing the whole process.

See the tables in this webpage for comparison of filesize and encoding time for the various FLAC compression levels:

https://z-issue.com/wp/flac-compress...el-comparison/

I’d say that’s good advice, default settings usually suit most uses. I needed to compress more to reduce file sizes/maximise storage so I was happy to let it go at that slower encoding rate. I understand that early players might have had a problem unpacking the file but that probably doesn’t apply much now, works fine on mine and it’s stuffed with thousands of tracks (Austell and Kern).
I might add that the extra tools that come with it are also very good, the file format converter is excellent, and quick at it.

[gurnemanz]

I don't know DbPoweramp but have been quite happy with Format Factory when I wish to convert CD tracks to mp3 or FLAC (not all that often), preferring it to EAC which doesn't download track metadata. FF is Freeware and uses Freedb for this purpose. Also converts text, video and image files.

[Beresford]

dbPoweramp can be used to rip HDCD discs to 24-bit files (but only 20 used) rather than the usual 16bit of most CD's.

[Bryn]

For my part, I am entirely happy with EAC and FLAC Frontend 2.1. Both are free and very flexible. I do not feel the need to spend £31 on a few bells and whistles when such fine software is available without charge.

[Dave2002]

For my part, I am entirely happy with EAC and FLAC Frontend 2.1. Both are free and very flexible. I do not feel the need to spend £31 on a few bells and whistles when such fine software is available without charge.

Do those you mention do the HDCD rips commented upon a couple of posts back (msg 7)? If not, are there any other free or cheap ones which do?

It’s not a big deal for me most of the time, nor perhaps for many others, but I have known HDCD discs to not only not rip to the fullest possible resolution, but to actually totally screw up the rips making a very noisy and unpleasant file - depending on the software used.

[Bryn]

Do those you mention do the HDCD rips commented upon a couple of posts back (msg 7)? If not, are there any other free or cheap ones which do?

It’s not a big deal for me most of the time, nor perhaps for many others, but I have known HDCD discs to not only not rip to the fullest possible resolution, but to actually totally screw up the rips making a very noisy and unpleasant file - depending on the software used.

From https://forums.stevehoffman.tv/threa...coding.179278/ :

EAC rips an HDCD encoded disc exactly they way it’s on the disc - IOW, bit perfect. Which means that the 16/44 PCM file has a HDCD flag and EAC accurately reproduces that flag in the ripped wav file. It does not, however, decode the HDCD file. The tag also survives if you compress it to flac and decompress back to wav. If you mount the ripped wav file as a virtual image and play it back in Windows Media Player, it recognizes the HDCD encoding.

You can use the command line HDCD.exe program to decode the ripped wav file to 24bit. This program is also found as a DSP plugin in dbpoweramp.

To keep my rips as accurate as possible even for HDCD discs, but I want then decoded, I use EAC to rip and then use dbpoweramp to decode it to 24 bit. I usually load the decompressed wav files into a wav editing program and raise the volume level if needed.

However, I have no experience of using this method. I only have a very few HDCDs and have been happy enough with simple 16 bit rips for portable listening.

[Dave2002]

From https://forums.stevehoffman.tv/threa...coding.179278/ :
However, I have no experience of using this method. I only have a very few HDCDs and have been happy enough with simple 16 bit rips for portable listening.

Try as I might I can’t find any free/cheap way for Macs. Either use a Windows system for the few HDCDs which you could have, or use the MacOS version of dbPoweramp - minimum cost £31.

Perhaps some of the more impressive HDCDs will have been reissued in other high/er quality formats by now.

List of HDCDs

https://wiki.hydrogenaud.io/index.php?title=List_of_HDCD-encoded_Compact_Discs

http://www.goodwinshighend.com/hdcd.htm

[cmr_for3]

I plumped for dbPoweramp able to get all but one disc tagged properly excellent app - thanks to all for their advice.

[johnb]

If you are ripping CDs it would be worth also getting "mp3tag". It is free and is the standard recommendation for tagging music files on Windows. It supports most formats (don't let the "mp3" part of the name fool you).

It also has a wide range of tools should you ever wish to dig a little deeper (I find them very useful).

https://www.mp3tag.de/en/

[Sir Velo]

EAC does the job for me. Audio quality which is the sine qua non is excellent. Free to boot.

[Braunschlag]

If you are ripping CDs it would be worth also getting "mp3tag". It is free and is the standard recommendation for tagging music files on Windows. It supports most formats (don't let the "mp3" part of the name fool you).

It also has a wide range of tools should you ever wish to dig a little deeper (I find them very useful).

https://www.mp3tag.de/en/

Another good little free gizmo. Efficient and reliable.
I seem to recall my dbpoweramp was around £25ish a few years back. At £31 now that seems decent value for a very reliable tool which you can keep forever and transfer between computers (don’t lose the purchase info and start code). At least it’s not following the subscription model beloved of the big software giants.