Hi, I own a Zen Mini MK3 SSD now for about 9 month and beside some minor software issues that are solved now I am very satisfied with it. I noticed however that cd's ripped by the Zen Mini directly (FLAC) sound a little less sparkling / bright / open, compared to the same cd's riped by my Macbook (AIFF) and then imported to the Zen Mini. It is as if there is a slight shadow over the sound, or a thin curtain. Does anyone recognize this or is it jst my imagination? Thanks for reacting.
Sound quality of CD's ripped by Zen Mini MK3
- Thread starter Harry59
- Start date
Are you ripping in fast or quiet (slower) mode ? … I have ripped my 000’s cd collection on the Mini in FLAC and soon after starting switched to quiet mode as some older cds (heavier and often coated on non playing side) had errors when ripping (for info these particular cds wouldn’t rip at all on my MacBook but ripped ok on Innuos in quiet mode) … extra time taken is fairly minimal
Hi J.C. and thanks for your reply. I ripped my cd's in quiet mode, so this can't be the problem. I noticed that the difference in sound is hardly there, maybe it's in my head. I've read however that FLAC files are actually a little compressed, at least they are smaller than AIFF files. So maybe it's not in my head after all ... It's not an issue, the sound is very good. I did some comparisson to Tidal Hi-Res files and some remasterd files, but I'm not sure if these are always an improvement in comparisson to the ripped cd.
I have one other question though. I own a few cd's (i.E. James Taylor - Gorilla) that can be played normally on my cd player but cannot be ripped by the ZenMini or by my Macbook. Do you have any experience here?
Regarding your point on FLAC. We specifically use the least amount of compression FLAC on our systems for the best performance.
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Regarding CDs that cannot be ripped, there must be something specific about those discs that have an added layer that is interfering somehow. If you let me know the catalogue numbers of this discs i might be able to discover the cause, but either way I might not be able to provide much of a solution.
In terms of FLAC files, there are different levels of compression that can be applied, so not all FLAC files are quite equal in that sense. As @DanCollier says, we use the absolute least amount of compression possible when ripping CDs, whereas you might find that CD ripping software used on a PC used a much more aggressive amount of compression to save space.
This does not actually change the audio data itself when decompressed, the problem is that the harder a system has to work to decompress a file for playback, the more this process in itself can introduce an element of noise. This is why we use the very bare minimum of compression when ripping in FLAC.
Hi - I have the 2019 CD remaster set of James Taylor albums (inc Gorilla) and they all ripped with no problem.
The only problems I have had in the past were with a few older CDs. In one case it was one with (the much disliked) copy protection. I had a couple with quite thick coated non playing sides (something they used to do in the early days of CDs). I have also had a couple with the dreaded CD oxidisation problem (where they go a copper colour due to manufacturing fault at the pressing plant) and another with cd rot (where the disc looks like it has crystals under the surface) … thank heavens for digital servers as CDs aren’t guaranteed “for life” !
Sound wise I think the 2019 James Taylor remasters are pretty good - can’t say the same for all newer remasters - eg I have a lot of Robert Palmer albums and found the 1st CD edition of his 70s albums on Island Records (eg Sneaking Sally) are way better than the more recent Esoteric remasters - originals sound very warm whereas recent ones are very “brittle” and after ripping them & comparing I deleted the newer ones before putting them all away into storage !
J
That is not something we can dictate, because we are not creating the HD files, only CD rips. Wherever you get your HD files from, they dictate the level of compression applied.
yes but if I buy a HD album from qobuz, I could convert the files to all compression in falc or to wav or aiff with dbpoweramp music converter...
what would you recommend or do you only use CD rips yourself?
yes that is clear to me, but do you use also zero compression with HD files or it does not matter with these files?
I know, but we can play HD files or DSD files which are stored on a NAS for example over Innuos Pulse streamers, my question belonged to those files if not using a streaming service like Tidal or Qobuz....
Okay, but those files originally came from somewhere? HDTracks? Bandcamp? Qobuz? NativeDSD? Wherever they came from, there would have been a degree of compression applied when they were created (if they were FLAC etc - it does not apply to WAC or AIFF). They did not come from the PULSE, because Innuos does not create HD files, it only plays them.
At that point, all the Innuos can do is de-compress those files for playback, if it is required. Zero compression is completely out of the Innuos hands by that point
At that point, all the Innuos can do is de-compress those files for playback, if it is required. Zero compression is completely out of the Innuos hands by that point
Hello Dan, I am new owner of Zen Mini Mk3 SSD and already ripped some CD‘s in FLAC with fast mode. Now I figured out, that the ripped files are compressed for sure, they are half the size of files ripped in uncompressed mode with dBpoweramp. So please can you tell me how to rip a CD to get the files uncompressed with the Zen Mini? @DanCollier
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FLAC is inherently compressed, its a lossless container. How much compression is applied can vary, but it does not alter the uncompressed PCM bitstream. I cannot speak to the dbpoweramp ripping process so cannot comment on that, I would need to look into it first. I would suggest ripping in WAV if you want to bypass this concern altogether.
If you are asking how to rip to WAV format this is in the “more options” link on the DISC RIPPER page.
There are endless debates about the perceived difference in sound quality between WAV and FLAC … personally I can tell no difference and have ripped my cd collection using my Mini in FLAC using Quiet mode (as I found Fast mode caused some issues with older cds)
If you want to read many many views on the formats, have a look through this
FLAC vs WAV - Any perceptible differences in sound quality?
I'm saving files in WAV format by default these days because storage capacity is cheap. However, I wouldn't mind storing in FLAC format if there is...
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