EAC should address this and bring peace of mind by being 100% accurate, but even though these should theoretically be (more) perfect, I found that EAC rips can sound somewhat sterile in my setup. iTunes and Audiograbber, in all honesty, sound a little blurry and imprecise, but because of this can ameliorate “digitalness” elsewhere in the playback system.Įven when using the same basic settings, different CD ripping programs can still yield different results. dB poweramp is also precise but somehow less dry than EAC and it is my favorite program for ripping in terms of comfort as well as sound quality. Likely because it is the most accurate, EAC sounds most strict and can even sound dry depending on the rest of the playback system. ITunes (on Mac) sounds a lot like Audiograbber (on PC), but both sound smoother and more relaxed than EAC and dB poweramp. The same applied, however less so, for the PS Audio PWD.

Now rips made using Audiograbber and iTunes sounded much more friendly. Switch to the Naim NDX however, and it is quite another story, dB poweramp sounding a bit strict and lacking soul. The Linn is just very creamy by nature and it benefits from a more exact rip. Where several ripping settings were possible, I chose “Burst”, except for EAC which was used with all default settings.įor the Linn Klimax DS, for example, the programs EAC or dB poweramp made for the best match, allowing for the best dynamics while maintaining liquidity and smoothness. The tests were done with the ripped files (WAV) copied to a Synology NAS, which was used as a server for all streamers. And what’s more, depending on the streamer that was used, one or another would make a better subjective match. Without going too much into detail, well aware of various settings that can have an influence, I should report that I noticed sound quality differences between CD rips done on a Macbook Pro laptop (and iTunes) and those done on my big Windows tower computer. First, I found out that FLAC does sound different from WAV, but now it also turns out that different ripping software programs also sound different from one another.

Best audio cd ripping software