Here's the info that SqueezeCenter provides on the three files Peter provided to me last night:
EAC to AL conversion: Bitrate 634kbps VBR / Volume Adjust -6.97db / File Length 11,640,516
My WAV File: Bitrate 11411kbps CBR / File Length 25,279,340
Peter's AL file: Bitrate 634kbps VBR / Volume Adjust -6.97db / File Length 11,639,656
I don't think I have any software that compares file size, but Peter has PC's as well as Macs and may be able to compare bit-for-bit info.
I listened again this evening and there's no doubt of the differences I heard last night. I also threw in the cut played via digital input from a CD transport to the same Modwright Transporter DAC. The EAC copy sounded most like the transport and I'd have a very difficult time telling the two apart. I could certainly tell the difference between the WAV and AL files, from the file playing off the disc.
Just for an experiment I went downstairs to my office system, where my music library is stored. I played the same cuts on a much less revealing system, via iTunes. There I could not tell the difference between the three files, and like Brian, I found the whole thing frustrating after a short while.
I don't think the difference is worth ripping your entire library over again. It most certainly is not worth it if you have to go in and label all the cuts on every CD manually, as it seems would be the case ripping to EAC and converting to AL as Peter described.
Dtc - yes, streaming files via Wifi to Modwright Transporter. No idea how it handles ALAC conversion. It sounds damn good though.
Interesting subject. I too thought bits are bits and that lossless meant just that.
EAC to AL conversion: Bitrate 634kbps VBR / Volume Adjust -6.97db / File Length 11,640,516
My WAV File: Bitrate 11411kbps CBR / File Length 25,279,340
Peter's AL file: Bitrate 634kbps VBR / Volume Adjust -6.97db / File Length 11,639,656
I don't think I have any software that compares file size, but Peter has PC's as well as Macs and may be able to compare bit-for-bit info.
I listened again this evening and there's no doubt of the differences I heard last night. I also threw in the cut played via digital input from a CD transport to the same Modwright Transporter DAC. The EAC copy sounded most like the transport and I'd have a very difficult time telling the two apart. I could certainly tell the difference between the WAV and AL files, from the file playing off the disc.
Just for an experiment I went downstairs to my office system, where my music library is stored. I played the same cuts on a much less revealing system, via iTunes. There I could not tell the difference between the three files, and like Brian, I found the whole thing frustrating after a short while.
I don't think the difference is worth ripping your entire library over again. It most certainly is not worth it if you have to go in and label all the cuts on every CD manually, as it seems would be the case ripping to EAC and converting to AL as Peter described.
Dtc - yes, streaming files via Wifi to Modwright Transporter. No idea how it handles ALAC conversion. It sounds damn good though.
Interesting subject. I too thought bits are bits and that lossless meant just that.