Purist Takes on WAV files

[zonik]

I recently ripped (slowly) my 300 CD collection to WAV files (on a $110 250gig drive). I bought a nice USB to S/PDIF out device to feed to my Adcom DAC. For those that don't know the WAV file is stripped of it baggage and if you had a clean read of the CD, the bits should be the same as those produced out the S/PDIF on my 200 CD sony player. It sure sounds the same to me. Am I fooling myself that the quality is the same ? I sure like using winamp to randomly play my entire collection, and playlists that only play songs I like from every CD.
Thanks

[woodman]

I recently ripped (slowly) my 300 CD collection to WAV files (on a $110 250gig drive). I bought a nice USB to S/PDIF out device to feed to my Adcom DAC. For those that don't know the WAV file is stripped of it baggage and if you had a clean read of the CD, the bits should be the same as those produced out the S/PDIF on my 200 CD sony player. It sure sounds the same to me. Am I fooling myself that the quality is the same ? I sure like using winamp to randomly play my entire collection, and playlists that only play songs I like from every CD.
Thanks

Congratulations ... you've discovered (some of) the magic of digital sound storage and reproduction. One point that needs correcting however is this: WAV files do not cast aside anything - they are simply the whole ball o' wax needed to encode and store high fidelity audio data. There is no excess "baggage" involved. You're evidently confusing WAV files with one of the "lossy" compression formats, where data than can be tossed in the trash without seriously degrading the sonic quality is indeed eliminated in order to reduce the amount of storage space needed.

So, to answer your query ... NO, you do not "lose anything" by doing what you're doing. You're getting exactly the same bit stream as what was on the original CD. It just gets stored on your computer's hard drive instead of on a shiny 5" disc.

Feel even better about what you're doing now?

[Wireworm5]

I like using Winamp too for the same reasons. Yeah if you have a that large a hard drive why not leave them in wav. It makes burning disks easier not having to convert mp3s. I have the majority of my stuff in wav as well. But I was thinking of converting everything to 320 mp3. I doubt that I could tell the difference in sound quality and I would free up tons of space for new stuff.
I've mainly gone back to listening to music on my new Sony DVD player. I find the sound much better than my soundcard. But it's mainly due to the fact that I've grown tired of my music collection. So I've gone back to listening to entire albums, and since I've been doing that I haven't used my computer source much.

[kexodusc]

If you can, use a variable bitrate mp3 or WMA file encoder...it'll squeak out that last bit of data when you encode...or look at some other formats.

I have crappy Advent computer speakers, I could probably play a 64 Kb/sec mp3 and not know the difference

[zonik]

There is no excess "baggage" involved. You're evidently confusing WAV files with one of the "lossy" compression formats,

Feel even better about what you're doing now?

No, I understand the WAV file format, the 'baggage' I refer to is the encapsulation of the raw CD data, so the audio data can be stored as a file. I know all about lossy compression. I was going to use FLAC (free lossless audio codec) or WMA lossless to rip my CDs (these offer a 60-65% compression without data loss), but skipped it since hard drives are getting rather cheap. I also put the harddrive in an external usb 2.0 enclosure, 'file swapping anyone ?'.........

I do feel better, with a 200 CD player and 300 CDs, I had 1/3 of my collection 'sitting on the bench', and when I'd do random play the pause between songs was pretty substantial. Winamp has a nice crossfade action. The only thing that concerns me is what is really happening to the original bit stream, when you use the winamp or the PCs volume control to increase the volume ?

[woodman]

No, I understand the WAV file format, the 'baggage' I refer to is the encapsulation of the raw CD data, so the audio data can be stored as a file.

No, Zonik - evidently you don't inderstand the WAV file format as well as you think you do. A "file" is precisely what it is. There is no "encapsulation" involved. It is the straight, unadulterated storage of digital data samples at the sampling rate specified that you want. As long as the sampling rate is the same as it was on the original Compact Disc, there is essentially no difference whayever in the stored data from what was stored on the CD.

The only thing that concerns me is what is really happening to the original bit stream, when you use the winamp or the PCs volume control to increase the volume ?

Answer: Nothing at all is "really happening". You're either hearing the data bitstream as it existed in the digital domain (at full strength), or you're hearing it at a somewhat lesser volume than what was originally encoded, due to the lowering of the sound level by way of the PC's volume control.

Don't worry needlessly about any of this ... just enjoy your newfound convenience for all its worth!

[E-Stat]

There is no "encapsulation" involved. It is the straight, unadulterated storage of digital data samples at the sampling rate specified that you want. As long as the sampling rate is the same as it was on the original Compact Disc, there is essentially no difference whayever in the stored data from what was stored on the CD.

Perhaps what he is referring to is the TOC content found on a Redbook CD. A CD burned with only "data" WAV files will not be recognized by a conventional CD player. I've made that mistake before.

rw

[ronning]

A CD is nothing more than a collectino of .wav files anyway, so like what has been stated before they are identical.

If I were you, imho, I would store those files in a lossless format. 300 albums at roughly 600mb an album is roughly 180gb, less than the maximum of your drive but getting close. You could use apple's lossless, the free lossless codec, or the microsoft lossless.

Here's a good site:
http://mp3.radified.com/lossless.htm

You can skip through the lossless vs. lossy section in the beginning since you already know about that.

I only suggest this because you will then have the option to add a lot more music in the future. But, I suppose there is no *need* for it. Luckily since all your files are .wav format already you can just convert them, you don't have to re-rip them.

Cheers!