iTunes/ALAC vs. MAX/Paranoia/AIFF

[darrenwm]

I bought a couple of new CDs yesterday so ripped a track with each piece of software:

 

1) iTunes with Error Correction to Apple Lossless

 

2) MAX in paranoia mode to AIFF

 

I compared the two and don't think I could hear any difference. If I could it was either subtle or imagined.

 

Some audiophiles say iTunes is a crap ripper and one must use EAC etc. My question is... am I deaf?

 

The system is a Mac Mini via freebie toslink to the DAC in my AVI ADM9.1

 

Thanks

 

[Ashley James]

I'm beginning to think that all the rather complicated ways of playing music and importing it were just growing pains. Computer Audio is new and a surprising number of people have been seriously worried that they might spoil sound quality by switching, so they have tried all these tricks to protect their music. However many have recognised that it's mightily inconvenient, that even high levels of compression can be acceptable and so they've moved on to something more straightforward. This is what our customers are telling us.

 

Another opinion I got from a retailer the other day was that most people watch far more movies than listen to music and that he's been able to sell Panasonic digital cameras to people so they can see the pictures on the TV.

 

I'm sure there are very focussed Audiophiles who do go to extreme measures to give them what they believe to be perfection, but I'm with Tim Farney on this, the reason for computers is to make life simpler and give us better access to the result. The idea that it is better to journey than to arrive makes no sense if you're a music (Movie and photo?) enthusiast and not an equipment one.

 

Ashley

 

[tfarney]

Lossless is lossless. If you have error correction on, iTunes is verifying that the zeros and ones on the CD match the zeros and ones ripped to your hard drive. There is no opportunity for a difference until you get to the DAC, even then, the opportunity is very small.

 

Everything else is fertile imagination.

 

Tim