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Topic: EAC and audio caching option (Read 2155 times) previous topic - next topic
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EAC and audio caching option

Hi,
I'm going to rip my entire cd collection for archiving purpose (so with the best possible results), so i want to clear my last (i hope) doubt:

The "detect read features" option gives the result that my drive doesn't caching audio data (I did the test many times with the same results).
But due to numerous doubts that this test is not reliable, is it safe to check the "drive caches audio data" option in the drive settings anyway? (Some guides suggest it but don't explain why, I don't trust them)

I think I know how caching works and what it is for, I know about tips from wiki how to detect caching and finally i know about soft that could detect this feature in drive. Also i know that checking the "drive caches audio data" option will slow down ripping, I don't care.
I just want to know if checking the "drive caches audio data" option whatever the test shows (even if test suggest that the drive doesn't caching) fix all doubts about data flushing/error detection, does not cause any additional errors and finally make rips safe/accurate?

In short: Just check "drive caches audio data" and don't care about caching / flushing etc.

Re: EAC and audio caching option

Reply #1 –
Firstly, Burst mode is your friend. I've ripped 95% of my collection successfully in Burst mode and when AccurateRip/CTDB tells me that it wasn't an accurate rip then I'll lower the read speed to 10x and try again (typically for compilations where they squeeze as many tracks as they can on a CD). If that fails then I'll try a secure mode rip but with Low error recovery and tell it to skip the track after 3 times realtime, because if there's that many problems with the track then it's very unlikely you'll get an accurate rip. At this point I'll just buy the CD again.

Have you looked for your drive in the drive features database? If all your tests show that your drive doesn't cache then uncheck it, and review the situation if you come across discs that you can't read accurately in Burst mode. If ripping in secure mode still produces an inaccurate rip, try unchecking it and rip it again; it will take A LOT LONGER but I doubt the result will be any different.

If you aren't able to rip >90% of your discs successfully in Burst mode and the discs are in good condition then you might want to review your drive.

Re: EAC and audio caching option

Reply #2 –
Quote from: SimBun on
If that fails then I'll try a secure mode rip but with Low error recovery and tell it to skip the track after 3 times realtime, because if there's that many problems with the track then it's very unlikely you'll get an accurate rip. At this point I'll just buy the CD again.

Just a small comment here... personally unless there is any obvious/audible flaws in the rip I would not worry about it that much, especially not enough to go out and buy another store bought CD over it. because even if it's not "perfect", I suspect in the real world a person would not be able to tell the differences anyways unless it's some obvious flaw, like CD deterioration, that's clearly audible.

basically if a drive can read the CD decent enough, chances are the FLAC files it makes are of more than high enough quality to where a person won't notice the difference. then a person can just burn another CD when they need to.

p.s. besides, while opinions vary, there are not many full CD's where every track is that great or even a large portion of the tracks. so it mostly boils down to making custom CD-R's from FLAC files one has.
For music I suggest (using Foobar2000)... MP3 (LAME) @ V5 (130kbps). NOTE: using on AGPTEK-U3 as of Mar 18th 2021. I use 'fatsort' (on Linux) so MP3's are listed in proper order on AGPTEK-U3.

Re: EAC and audio caching option

Reply #3 –
I know it guys. Don't be angry but that answer can be written to almost every question asked here: "I prefer burst mode, better do that way, AR solves every doubts etc." I intentionally asked a very specific question to avoid the discussion which there is enough in this forum :)

Greetings

Re: EAC and audio caching option

Reply #4 –
In answer to your original question then, yes it is safe to check the 'Drive caches audio data'. It will only slow the process down, it will not produce inaccurate results.

Accurate Stream and a working C2 implementation are far more important so I'm hoping/assuming your drive has these features.

Re: EAC and audio caching option

Reply #5 –
"Detect read features" shows:
Accurate stream: YES
Caching: NO
C2: YES
But after reading the suggestions from almost every known guide I'm going to uncheck the C2 box. Because of infos that C2 reporting is not reliable.
PS. My drive features can't be found in any database. EAC also doesn't recognize it automatically.

Re: EAC and audio caching option

Reply #6 –
Quote from: DooDooDoo on
"Detect read features" shows:
Accurate stream: YES
Caching: NO
C2: YES
But after reading the suggestions from almost every known guide I'm going to uncheck the C2 box. Because of infos that C2 reporting is not reliable.
The gold standard for a rip is one that verifies against AccurateRip or CTDB, it doesn't matter how you get there, or whether it took 3 or 30 minutes. Whilst I don't know whether your drive has caching or C2, I do know that disabling them will make the process take much longer (~9x on my setup).
If you do want to disable the features, I'd highly recommend performing a burst mode rip first, followed by a secure rip if the first rip doesn't verify. This is the same process dBpoweramp uses when put into secure mode, and it's been the recommended approach since AccurateRip was a thing. It'll not only save you time, but also put less wear on the drive.

The success of a Burst mode rip will be highly dependent on your drive and the discs, but please don't discount it because of what I assume are outdated recommendations, or recommedations targetted at damaged CDs.

Either way, enjoy the process and most importantly the music :-)

Re: EAC and audio caching option

Reply #7 –
Secure mode ripping without C2:
Re-reading and comparing to what your own drive gets out of your own CD.
AccurateRip/CTDB:
Comparing against what someone else's drive got out of a different copy of the CD.
The chances of getting two equal but wrong are much smaller now, methinks?

With C2, EAC will also retrieve information from the drive on "here, something went wrong". Sure some drives report this unreliably, but an unreliable "here you got something wrong methinks!" is better than none - within reason. If it screams bloody murder for every frame (expect that from some defective-by-design CDs), you might want to switch it off.
 

Re: EAC and audio caching option

Reply #8 –
Hm, I was wrong here? EAC "with C2" will also trust absence of C2?

Anyway, verifying against someone else's rip avoids reading the same error consistently on own drive. (Well except at track boundaries, which are disregarded in AccurateRip.)