[navin]

Originally Posted by low_bass_makker

Sir do you know some thing about PCM (pluse code modulation) it is the working of DAC and ADC and some information is lost there also....

LBM, here is a historical perspective.

DTS, Dolby Digital and DVD: A History

and a little bit of theory on many modulating techniques.

http://www.cis.temple.edu/~stafford/...eek4/week4.txt

McGoodwin Family Website Missing File Page
Ken is a real guru. Not a poser like me.

somewhere in the depths of my memeory bank is an article on Adaptive Sigma-Delta Modulation (a bit different form plain vanilla ADM) but I cant find it. Instead I found this link which is a primer on SDM
An Introduction to Delta Sigma Converters

and not being very good at google I found a wikipedia article that really says nothing but it's references section is exemplary. I hope it helps.

edit I found it.
http://www.essex.ac.uk/ese/research/...tive%20DSM.pdf

[low_bass_makker]

Hmm sir I had detailed learning on PCM in my collage..there were DAC and ADC were also discussed.

[gunbir]

Originally Posted by clipto333

now sam bhia, navinji. gunman, please suggest what format and bitrate to use when ripping. file size is not an issue.

Clip, try WMA9 VBR Q98 rips. They sound very good and all you need is Windows Media Player.

[aah78]

Originally Posted by gunbir

I by and large buy imported CDs except where I dont have a choice. I reserve this for only the really good music as I had to source these blanks CDs from abroad. Trust me, they sound really good... and are near indestructible. I use the Vinyl label ones on the right.

i've used Indian & "imported" CD's for a while now there and haven't really noticed a difference in quality - related to either sound or media.

if you end up buying pirated media you're bound to run into bad quality stuff. you're likely to run into bad quality media at a road-side stall on Lamington Road in Bombay or Palika Bazaar (the underground market), in New Delhi than at an official dealer.

now, lets say you buy bunch of CD's from a retail store in India and a bunch of CD's from elsewhere. while i'm not a hardcore sound geek, i do prefer quality over quantity and i would imagine that the sound-quality would depend on the quality of the recording rather than the colour of the media, right?

[low_bass_makker]

Originally Posted by aah78

i would imagine that the sound-quality would depend on the quality of the recording rather than the colour of the media, right?

Colour would not make much of the difference but the original source will have a big one.

[speedonline]

Guys a question related to the media, does the write speed affect the quality of the recording ???

[clipto333]

Originally Posted by gunbir

Clip, try WMA9 VBR Q98 rips. They sound very good and all you need is Windows Media Player.

thanks gunman. i understand vbr but whats Q98.

speedonline - i havent heard write speed affecting audio quality but i have definitely heard it affects readability and reliability. please shed some light on this issue.

cheers
clip

[gunbir]

Originally Posted by speedonline

Guys a question related to the media, does the write speed affect the quality of the recording ???

Yes, I haven't tested this myself but many say there is an audible difference. Many burn their CDs at the lowest possible speed their software allows.

Originally Posted by clipto333

thanks gunman. i understand vbr but whats Q98.

Q98 what Microsoft calls its high quality VBR setting.

[hydrashok]

Originally Posted by gunbir

Many burn their CDs at the lowest possible speed their software allows.

I always do. It also helps minimise/eliminate write-errors and helps in maximum compatibility will nearly all players/drives.

[esteem_lover]

Originally Posted by hydrashok

I always do. It also helps minimise/eliminate write-errors and helps in maximum compatibility will nearly all players/drives.

Yeah, i learnt that the hard way & always try to write at 1x.

Regarding the colour of the discs, aren't the golden coloured DVDs likely to be of the best quality followed by silver & then the commonly available blue ???

[low_bass_makker]

Originally Posted by esteem_lover

Yeah, i learnt that the hard way & always try to write at 1x.

Regarding the colour of the discs, aren't the golden coloured DVDs likely to be of the best quality followed by silver & then the commonly available blue ???

the golden one are the best as they can retain data longer than the silver ones and the silver ones are better than the blue ones...

[esteem_lover]

But there are only the blue blanks available in the market. do you get golden or silver dvd blanks ??

[low_bass_makker]

Originally Posted by esteem_lover

But there are only the blue blanks available in the market. do you get golden or silver dvd blanks ??

ya you can get them but they come in single jewel case packing as they cost about 25-30 per pcs

[esteem_lover]

The single jewel case DVDs i have bought have all been blue.Sony/Moser Baer/ Samsung. Are you sure you get gold/silver ?? which brands ?

[reignofchaos]

The color of the CD/DVD depends on the dye used for the recording layer. Better quality dye results in better recording quality. Thats the reason for people going crazy for Taiyo Yuden media. (TY for short)

For pressed CDs too, the quality of the original media matters. However more than that, what matters is the mastering process. The same album from different sources (Say American pressing, Japanese pressing and European pressing) sound different because of the mastering and the kind of equalization the mixing and sound engineers use. So the american version might have been mastered worse than the japanese and hence, real equipment lovers would rather buy the japanese pressing.

A CD typically has a hell of a lot of dynamic range. However most current CDs are mastered so poorly that we see pretty bad compression artifacts and clipping in rare cases. Such poorly mastered CDs will sound pretty sad. This is especially true for all popular types of music. The current trend unfortunately is that louder the cd, the more sales it'll have. What this basically means is that we get super loud CDs with zilch dynamic range which become irritating to listen to after a while. Thats the unfortunate truth about current popular music and more than anyone, the music companies are to blame for following this trend.