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Topic: EAC: Is It OK To Recreate CUE Sheets For Existing Rips Using another Drive? (Read 3253 times) previous topic - next topic
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EAC: Is It OK To Recreate CUE Sheets For Existing Rips Using another Drive?

Hello,

I guess the answer is yes, but I'm asking this just to be on the safe side.
Recently I have discovered that I have been using wrong gap settings for a while. Since I don't know which of my rips have been affected by this rather unfortunate thing, I have decided to recreate the CUE Sheets for all of my CDs. All of my rips don't really need this type of treatment, but my old CUE sheets would definitely benefit from it, because they aren't as complete as they could be. For instance, they don't have any ISRC codes.

I have ripped my CDs on various drives over the years, but now I only have one of them left. My question therefore is: Is it OK to create a new CUE sheet on a drive different from the one used to rip the audio data itself? Will burning the new CUE + old audio still result in a bit-perfect copy? I think it will, but one never knows... :-D

Have fun and thank you ever so much for your help.

Re: EAC: Is It OK To Recreate CUE Sheets For Existing Rips Using another Drive?

Reply #1
I also believe the answer is yes. As long as both drives correctly detected the gaps, you should be able to make a new cue sheet and expect a bit-perfect copy.

Out of curiosity, what gap settings were you using before, and what did you switch to?

Re: EAC: Is It OK To Recreate CUE Sheets For Existing Rips Using another Drive?

Reply #2
Now I'm not exactly sure what settings I used before, but my detection method was set to C and my setting for detection accuracy was either set to inaccurate or secure.

My current settings are Detection method A, Accurate. I don't know why I didn't have my drive set up with these options - I was either experimenting with something or I just somehow assumed that my settings were OK. Either way, it seems that now I have everything set up correctly. I have recreated all of my CUE sheets since I've started this topic and while I haven't checked each of the files manually, there are some indications that they are as they should be. I have some live CDs and with these options EAC detected the talking between the songs as being during the gaps. That did not happen before. Furthermore, I have written a little test CD with known gaps and EAC detected all of them correctly.

Re: EAC: Is It OK To Recreate CUE Sheets For Existing Rips Using another Drive?

Reply #3
Glad to hear it. As far as I remember, the detection method (A vs. B vs. C) is drive-specific and you simply have to experiment to find the best one for your drive. The best one is defined as the one that reads the gaps in a reasonable amount of time and doesn't hang.

The more important setting is the accuracy of course. This should be set to secure whenever possible. However, I'll admit I haven't thoroughly examined this setting in side-by-side rips...would be interesting if they produced different results.

Re: EAC: Is It OK To Recreate CUE Sheets For Existing Rips Using another Drive?

Reply #4
Today I tested all 3 accuracy settings with my gap test CD again and all of them gave me the same correct results. I have been reading up on gap detection a little and from what I understand different accuracy settings can work differently in case of different CDs. I may be wrong though.

I went with the accurate option, because if I recall correctly, it took EAC ages to retrieve the gaps with the secure option. Than again it seemed to go pretty quickly with my test CD, so now I don't know. Either way it seems that my current settings are fine - only hope that I don't find out later on (and once again) that I should have used different settings. :-) Perhaps I'll do some more comparisons with my next rip.

Re: EAC: Is It OK To Recreate CUE Sheets For Existing Rips Using another Drive?

Reply #5
Your results reminded me of when I did the same test way back when. I remember that there was no difference among the values when I tested them side-by-side as well.

As you mentioned, what seems to be truly affected with the different gap settings is the time EAC takes to read the gaps with the different settings. Back in the day I had a drive that simply wouldn't work with the Secure option nor with the Accurate option, so I had to use Inaccurate for all rips with that drive. And by wouldn't work, I mean it would take FOREVER just to read one gap, and it would sometimes hang and not finish at all (even if left alone for hours).

Anyway, I don't think in the end that this setting affects the quality of the rip. I would be curious to see how your other tests turn out...

Re: EAC: Is It OK To Recreate CUE Sheets For Existing Rips Using another Drive?

Reply #6
Today I tested the 3 options (inaccurate, accurate, secure) with a brand new CD and as far as I can tell all 3 CUE sheets came out identical. I ripped the CD only once, ripping it 3 times would have been pointless anyway, since the audio data itself is unaffected by the index/gap detection settings. Just for reference, I generated CUE sheets for single-file albums.

Re: EAC: Is It OK To Recreate CUE Sheets For Existing Rips Using another Drive?

Reply #7
Yesterday I conducted the same test that you did MinorKey. I obtained the same exact results for all three options as well. The only difference I saw was the time it took to read the gaps, with Secure taking longer than both Inaccurate and Accurate.

 

Re: EAC: Is It OK To Recreate CUE Sheets For Existing Rips Using another Drive?

Reply #8
Mike, thanks for posting your findings. I guess the EAC veterans already know this, but finding something out for your self is always different. I think I can be happy with my settings then.