DVD-Audio Rip To FLAC Sound Quality

Hi guys,

I'm new to the ripping procedure and was wondering if anyone has done any comparison of a ripped DVD-A disc file to its original DVD-A disc. In other words, playing the ripped FLAC or WAV compared to the round disc that it was ripped from? I spent a great deal of time over the past few days ripping several of my favorite DVD-A's to FLAC and then playing the resulting FLAC from a streaming device (oppo BDP-93). The FLAC files do not sound as good as the original DVD-A disc and I am wondering what I may have done wrong in the ripping process or maybe there is someone else out there that has found the quality to be degraded too and found a solution. I have read about this watermarking process and wonder if this has somehow affected the result. My FLAC files all read as PCM 24b/96k or whatever and the playback pre/pro is decoding them correctly but I am suspicious that somehow all the music info from the DVD-A didn't quite make it through the rip process somehow. The resulting file sound tinny and not nearly as rich as the original DVD-A disc.

I am using DVD-A Explorer to rip to WAV and then Foobar to convert from WAV to FLAC.

Anyone have any similar experiences? Ideas?

Thanks.

Yes - Everything is the same on the Denon pre/pro. However, I am using HDMI input for the streaming and denon link for the disc playback. I have checked to make sure the Audyssey settings and so forth are set the same.

How can I tell a watermarked from a non-watermarked disc?

OK - but does the watermark actually affect the sound quality? I thought it only had to do with detection and allowing replay in certain dvd players (to prevent duplication to disc).

I'll keep snooping ....... Maybe I will stumble upon the answer in my setup somewhere. I feel like I ripped them correctly as it took a long time and the resulting WAV files were HUGE for the 6 channel files so I am thinking those files must have contained something. And the conversion from WAV to FLAC should have been a fairly straightforward process. When I click on the FLAC file using dbPoweramp, it displays the file data correctly (6 channel, 24 bit, 96K, etc..). I may rip one as WAV and play it in the Oppo and see how it sounds (to try to reduce my variables). I also may buy a commercially available FLAC for a DVD-A disc that I already own and compare it. HDTRACKS has the 2 channel version of Gaucho.

Thanks.

The VU meter is a great suggestion - I only just started using foobar so I am not aware of all the hidden goodies - that is a neat tool.

Will play around some more over the next few days and post results.

Thanks.

Yeah - I tried that early on but the program kept crashing. Tried it on 2 different computers. I also tried foobar with the dvd-a plugin and it worked 99%: On group track rips, it would always leave one track untouched and I would have to go back and rip that one track by itself. In another forum, someone suggested using DVD-A Explorer to rip to WAV and then use foobar to convert to FLAC and it works 100% for me. I think it actually works faster too even though it is 2 separate programs.

Do you know of any way to test my multichannel flac files in an inexpensive manner? IE, will an NAS work for multichannel flac? The Logitech Squeezebox will only do stereo 24/92 and costs $300. My Denon pre/pro is a network device so theoretically I could sent LPCM to it via ethernet, if possible - I don't even know if it is possible to stream multichannel via ethernet.

Other than that, I think it would have to be an HDMI connection device to get multichannel, hi-def. The only thing I see out there is $1000+ like the Bryston, Olive, etc..

I could hook up my laptop to my pre/pro using toslink and play the files through foobar, but this again is only stereo.

Of course, you may have a simpler method.

My Lenovo laptop is only a couple of years old but it does not have an HDMI port - How do I get it into the pre/pro? Or are you suggesting an ethernet connection for this?

Try the DVD-A Explorer to WAV and then Foobar to FLAC routine - it works fine for me. No droputs or other issues. You can rename the files in foobar after you rip to WAV or if you are like me and lazy, just leave the filename as created by DVD-A Explorer - it will be cryptic and you won't know the song by reading the filename but you can create album folders and you can figure out which song is which by referring to the actual shiny disc info. I also read about some software that can do this automatically (rename each file) but haven't tried it.

By the way, since I started this thread and asked about FLAC quality, I have determined the problem is not with the FLAC file. I have something going on elsewhere in my Oppo chain and I haven't quite got a handle on it yet. It could be the Oppo player or it could be something in my cables. But it is definitely not in the FLAC files because when I play the original shiny disc in the Oppo, it sounds the same - BAD. Distinct lack of bass and midrange.

I did have some issues with getting the STEREO DOWNMIX to work in DVD-A Explorer. When I play the ripped FLAC files back for these downmixes, there are a lot of harsh pops on every song. So, I'm not sure what I did wrong to get that, IF, I did anything wrong.

Turns out that it wasn't the flac and it wasn't the Oppo. I was using plain multichannel (pcm) mode on my pre/pro and simply switching to multichannel DIRECT (pcm) resulted in much better bass for some odd reason. I didn't realize there would be such a dramatic difference in bass between these modes so the simple solution to change modes wasn't so obvious.

Still not sure why my stereo downmix files have all the pops in them. Going to re-rip a few of them and see if I can resolve that. Multichannel files sound great.

Yeah - I thought so too. The DIRECT mode should have the weaker bass. A little weird but it is what it is.......I have the Denon AVP A1HDCI which is fairly flexible but also complex - probably too much 'car' for me to handle.

I used Mp3tag for 1 DVD-A 6 channel hi-def flac rip and got it to work correctly but is it necessary to perform the very slow "Adjust Tag Information" procedure just to change the filenames? For example, I first select the tracks/files on my HDD and then click on the database icon in the menu icon bar, select Amazon, and then the album and then up pops a new screen to confirm tracks. After confirming tacks and click OK, it then takes about 5+ minutes to change the tag info for the selected group of tracks. After that is done, I have to then do the convert filename to title procedure.

What I am wondering is there a more streamlined way? All I want to do is change the archaic filename that DVD-A Explorer assigns (track-01-01[0]-01-[L-R]-24-192000.flac) to a comprehensible type (Track 1, A Hit By Varese).

Thanks.

Funny that you should respond when you did..........Someone else just recommended it to me also. I downloaded it and tried it today. I think it is probably easier than my other method and hopefully less problematic too. I haven't played any of the rips yet but my only complaint is the speed: I am only getting 3.3X and the drive supposedly is capable of 24X read. Any suggestions on how to speed this up?

Thanks.

Do you think an external USB LiteOn drive would do? I only have laptops nowadays and I am limited to what I can put in the expansion bay. Of course, I can use any type of external USB but I am wondering if USB speed would be an issue.

EDIT: I do have an SATA expansion card in one slot that I use for backing up to external HDD. I can use an SATA DVD drive if I can find one in an enclosure or rig something up for power. Wonder if there would be any speed difference between SATA external and USB external?