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Topic: Ripping: EAC or dBpoweramp? Final answer... (Read 6956 times) previous topic - next topic
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Ripping: EAC or dBpoweramp? Final answer...

Happy St. Patrick's Day, everyone.  What a wonderful website to stumble upon.  I'm a new member and have no posting history...  I have a pretty big music collection.  Close to 5,000 cd's.  I simply have been collecting music since I was a kid, never sold/traded any, and today could almost start my own radio station!    But perhaps that isn't the greatest thing considering that is where all my money has gone.

All my music is currently ripped to mp3 at 128 Kbps.  I have been doing A LOT of reading about properly ripping to FLAC, and the ABSOLUTE BEST way to do it. 

EAC is popping up all over the place as THE BEST ripper.  I have downloaded it, properly read the guides (though it seems there aren't many 'updated' ones - within the last month), configured it, and have tried it out to the best of my ability. 

I have also downloaded dBpoweramp, read about it, configured it (not much to it!), and have tried it out to the best of my ability, etc. etc.  I REALLY LIKE dBpoweramp, and I think that is so because of the ability for the program to communicate with AMG for metadata and album art.  (I have read and re-read that AMG does a better job at getting the correct metadata and album art as compared to freeDB, MusicBrainz, etc.)

*My overall biggest concern is that (1) I am getting 100% (or damn close to 100%) accurate rips and (2) that the metadata and album art are precise the first time around (understanding that I may have to change a little here and there using Mp3tag later on).

**My concern is that as I get used to using dBpoweramp, am I going to be missing out not using EAC?  Does it REALLY make that much of a difference?    Will I look back after ripping my 5,000 cd's and wish that I had used EAC?  And if EAC is the absolute preferred method, Spoon has got to chime in and tell me otherwise!! 

***If in fact EAC is the way to go, does someone have an updated manual to help with prebeta version?  And I'll be absolutely honest: I'm not sure what some of the acronyms mean.  C2?  What's that?  I read some of these discussions and it sometimes feels like rocket science...

Thank you for all your help and advice.  I simply need to MAKE A DECISION and use either EAC or dBpoweramp.

Public: What's your FINAL ANSWER?
"He's a natural born world-shaker."  -Dragline

Ripping: EAC or dBpoweramp? Final answer...

Reply #1 –
If I had 5000 CDs to rip, I'd take advantage of dbpoweramp's ability to use as many drives in parallel as you have connected, via dbpoweramp R13's Batch Ripper module.

And therefore, dbpoweramp would be the no-questions, hands-down favorite.

-brendan

Ripping: EAC or dBpoweramp? Final answer...

Reply #2 –
This sounds kind of like a non-poll poll. You can do multi instance EAC AFAIK (tho I've never had the need). I don't know dBPoweramp, but I do know Spoon's excellent DMC. So if DBPA is anything like it, then rock on. I've been EAC'ing for years now. After setting up the config (rip profiles) it just works ... year after year. I like the hands on approach, so it's EAC for me. I don't think you'll ever find a rip quality issue between them if both are set up properly.
No one can be told what Ogg Vorbis is...you have to hear it for yourself
- Morpheus

Ripping: EAC or dBpoweramp? Final answer...

Reply #3 –
I've been using EAC for years and have never had cause to complain.  I do use dbpoweramp to convert music files, but have never used the CD ripper so unfortunately can't speak to a comparison of the two.  I suppose that means my advice boils down to this: if I ain't broke, don't fix it.

Good luck.
I just discovered Opus. Holy mackerel!

Ripping: EAC or dBpoweramp? Final answer...

Reply #4 –
> Spoon has got to chime in and tell me otherwise!!

You need to hear it from other people because of the obvious bias.

C2 Pointers: this is a feature of some drives to tell the ripping program there was an error in the last block read, some drives support c2 well (many plextors), other drives support it not very well. If c2 is not used then the ripping program has to re-read, the problem is if the error is duplicated in both reads (called a consistant error), then the error gets through and is no reported.

Ripping: EAC or dBpoweramp? Final answer...

Reply #5 –
dBpoweramp! Both are secure rippers, but dBpoweramp is much easier to use and set up as you have seen. In addition, the next version, R13, will offer intelligent lookup and get metadata from AMG, GD3, MusicBrainz, and FreeDB, and compare the metadata to give you the best metadata possible.

Ripping: EAC or dBpoweramp? Final answer...

Reply #6 –
Quote from: spoon on
C2 Pointers: this is a feature of some drives to tell the ripping program there was an error in the last block read, some drives support c2 well (many plextors), other drives support it not very well. If c2 is not used then the ripping program has to re-read, the problem is if the error is duplicated in both reads (called a consistant error), then the error gets through and is no reported.


I've been wondering about this.  About 2 in ten of the cds I've been ripping lately have reported C2 errors, but my drive does not support C2 error correction nor even drive speed control (I'm using readcd -c2scan option on linux to find them.)  So what's the alternative to EAC to catch those false negatives/consistent errors?  And, by the way, is cdparanoia (e.g. as used by grip and other linux apps) just a single-pass ripper?

Ripping: EAC or dBpoweramp? Final answer...

Reply #8 –
I have used EAC for some time. I heard everyone praising the dbpower so I gave it a try. It kept tagging my files with (clean) version of albums when they were not. I like how EAC works and will not switch to something eles.

Ripping: EAC or dBpoweramp? Final answer...

Reply #9 –
EAC to rip and dbpoweramp to convert for me.  love them both

Ripping: EAC or dBpoweramp? Final answer...

Reply #10 –
Quote from: brown274 on
I have used EAC for some time. I heard everyone praising the dbpower so I gave it a try. It kept tagging my files with (clean) version of albums when they were not. I like how EAC works and will not switch to something eles.


That is an AMG problem, and will go away with R13 and the implementation of the intelligent lookup. But still, I can't believe that small problem keeps you away from dBpowramp, since the tagging in EAC is so far behind dB.

Ripping: EAC or dBpoweramp? Final answer...

Reply #11 –
Quote from: Eli on
... the tagging in EAC is so far behind dB.

I'll put in a plug here for EAC in conjunction with REACT2. I've got it configured to do precisely everything I want it to in one go including ripping to 2 formats (in my case flac and mp3), replay/album gain, tagging, fetching and embedding album art. It works so perfectly and easily that I have had no reason to try anything else.

Ripping: EAC or dBpoweramp? Final answer...

Reply #12 –
Quote from: CoolHandZeke on
***If in fact EAC is the way to go, does someone have an updated manual to help with prebeta version?


Maybe a quick look at the HA wiki will help. The EAC guides are not (yet?) a complete manual, but maybe they are worth a try.


About the question EAC vs. dbpa: I think it's not a right or wrong question, I think it's a matter of personal taste. Take a look at both (I think that's what you already did) and make your decision. Both are secure rippers which make a good job in getting perfect rips (as long as configured correctly). So whatever program you choose, you should not worry about ripping all your CDs and feeling that you made the wrong decision afterwards.
So sorry, but there is no final answer...

Ripping: EAC or dBpoweramp? Final answer...

Reply #13 –
Hey, everyone.  Thanks very much for chiming in and stating your advice.  I appreciate it.  And please keep the conversation going!  It all provides for a good reading and learning opportunity.

As new as I am, I hadn't yet discovered the "Wiki" link.  Excellent stuff.  That will help greatly with many of the acronyms/terms that I am unfamiliar with.

I purchased dBpowerAMP Reference.  I have a good feeling about this (Spoon, excellent job), but will continue to play with EAC until I become more comfortable. 

***How do I reduce my warning level?  I originally posted this thread in the FLAC forum accidently.  It was moved to the proper forum and I received a warning.    Ooops...
"He's a natural born world-shaker."  -Dragline

Ripping: EAC or dBpoweramp? Final answer...

Reply #14 –
I really like both EAC and (having trialed) dB, but dB is missing one critical feature for me: CUE sheet generation.  Last I heard it was to be included in R13, but I haven't seen any mention of it recently...

The day dB gets CUE sheet support, I will buy it.
foobar2000 v0.9.5.3
WavPack v4.41 -hx4m | LAME 3.98b8 -V 2

Ripping: EAC or dBpoweramp? Final answer...

Reply #15 –
Quote from: CoolHandZeke on
***How do I reduce my warning level?  I originally posted this thread in the FLAC forum accidently.  It was moved to the proper forum and I received a warning.    Ooops...
Posts regarding your warning removed.  This is not the place for such discussion.

With regard to your warning: I would suggest that you simply pay attention to where you are posting in the future, and perhaps re-familiarise yourself with the TOS.  Warnings are quickly removed, if you continue to adhere to the rules.

Edit: Deleted discussion has now been moved from the Recycle Bin to Site Related Discussion.
I'm on a horse.

Ripping: EAC or dBpoweramp? Final answer...

Reply #16 –
Quote from: phaedra on
I'll put in a plug here for EAC in conjunction with REACT2. I've got it configured to do precisely everything I want it to in one go including ripping to 2 formats (in my case flac and mp3), replay/album gain, tagging, fetching and embedding album art. It works so perfectly and easily that I have had no reason to try anything else.


I absolutely agree.  With EAC+REACT you are virtually unlimited in terms of customizing and automating the ripping process to suit you own needs.  That doesn't necessarily mean it's better than DBPA.  If DBPA does what you need then by all means use it.  But I really like the control you get with EAC+REACT.

Ripping: EAC or dBpoweramp? Final answer...

Reply #17 –
Quote from: CoolHandZeke on
Public: What's your FINAL ANSWER?


Hmm i would really like to hear the regulars that frequent Hydrogen forums here. I to am going to be starting the convert my library a second time and decided on Flac this time, i was using monkey. I've done quite a bit on lurking on these forums looking at hardware and have an audio ripper ive very happy with, so  i would love to hear the pros opinions on this debate. I to want easy album art and an easy way to automate id tags, with some sort of agreed upon naming system. Guess i need to delve into the software foums more but i would still love to hear the pros views on this issue.


EDIT ugh im some kind of stoopid i didnt even see all the replies, this forum layout is taking a bit ot get sued to.

Excellent replies here thanks for all the info folks.