Frequently Asked Questions, Read before posting |
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Frequently Asked Questions, Read before posting |
 Mar 15 2003, 00:08
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 Moderator Group: Super Moderator Posts: 3934 Joined: 29-September 01 Member No.: 73  |
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Mar 15 2003, 00:08
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#2
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Moderator Group: Super Moderator Posts: 3934 Joined: 29-September 01 Member No.: 73 |
<span style='font-size:12pt;line-height:100%'>Audio compression</span>
Hydrogenaudio.org's basic rules on listening tests Subjective vs Objective opinions, post your favourite links / experiences See also rule 8 of Hydrogenaudio.org's terms of service What is an ABX blind test ? Test samples FF123's samples For Testing Audio Codecs Flac decoder for encoded test samples Programs for blind tests Windows WinABX ABC/Hidden Reference Audio Comparison Tool Foobar2000 (audio player with ABX option) Linux LinABX Test results Roberto's public listening tests page Does encoding preserve surround info ? :-( MP3 destroys Surround Sound encoding Why not using graphs to compare codecs ? LAME, CBR, VBR,.... I'm confused! What's the difference between MP3gain and Replaygain ? Difference between Mp3gain and Replaygain This post has been edited by Pio2001: Jun 25 2009, 08:04 |
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Mar 15 2003, 00:09
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#3
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Moderator Group: Super Moderator Posts: 3934 Joined: 29-September 01 Member No.: 73 |
MP3
Recommended Lame settings http://www.hydrogenaudio.org/forums/index....showtopic=28124 Recommended Lame compiles http://www.hydrogenaudio.org/forums/index....showtopic=28123 Presets vs. -V? Post-3.95 Development of the --alt-presets. 3.90.3 versus 3.96.1 so when to work on new presets? -V n (in 3.95.1) Lame development so what to expect for lame 4? LAME Versions and Alphas Dibrom&JohnV -how you see the future of LAME? ...with further links inside. Discussion about compatibility of hardware mp3 players Fully MP3 compliant Hardware MP3-CD players Why LAME 3.90.3? WHY a particular LAME version Normalisation : Mp3 Gain tutorial How To Use Mp3 Gain ?, 3 guides - normalization - maximizing Differences between Lame 3.90.2 and 3.92 Lame 3.90.2 vs 3.92, Audible differences with APS? Differences between Lame 3.90.3 APS and 3.93.1 APS -Z LAME 3.93.1 vs 3.90.3 What are the internal switches of Alt presets? What are the internal switches of Alt presets? What does --alt-preset standard do that no custom command line can ? Re: LAME + Dibrom's presets/switches + remarks Can I hear the difference between an alt preset standard MP3 and the original ? samples where aps or ape has a problem Why is joint stereo better than pure stereo ? Basic : i need the help of you wonderful experts!, lame Any listening test Stereo vs Joint stereo in mp3? Advanced : a response to a growing rumor... Expert : alt preset extreme -m s ?? To lower the bitrate of Alt Preset Standard with the -Y switch how to get the lower bitrates? Low bitrates : --alt-preset standard -Y versus --alt-preset medium preset-standard -Y vs preset-medium, How big is the difference? Why is ABR better than VBR below 160 kbps ? Suggest ~160kbps VBR setting. How to compare Lame with other codecs ? Explaining Lame Presets What's wrong with substracting wavs in order to see the amount of loss ? Alternative/Supplement to listening test What is the best MP3 decoder ? mp3 decoder tests MP3 quality and music genre a classical music and mp3 issue? What does % and * mean ? Request information How to encode and burn gapless MP3s ? Question about compression @EAC Does mp3->wav->mp3 conversion lose quality mp3 to wav to mp3 to wav same? Transcoding/Re-encoding 128kbps to higher bitrate Re-encode mp3 128 to higher w/ winlame Editing MP3s non-distructive mp3 edit software LAME and Dolby ProLogic Lame and surround |
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Mar 15 2003, 00:11
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#4
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Moderator Group: Super Moderator Posts: 3934 Joined: 29-September 01 Member No.: 73 |
EAC
Official EAC webpage : http://www.exactaudiocopy.de Especially Technology and FAQ. EAC FAQ For all problems read first ! @EAC English tutorial Liekloo's Essential Ripping Guide The coaster Factory (for EAC prebeta 11) German tutorial (EAC+Lame) EAC-audio French tutorial EAC, comment le configuer facilement ... @Hardware.fr Italian tutorial Exact Audio Copy Italiano What is a gap and why detecting them is not necessary ? Pre-gaps ripped in EAC? Tutorial about gaps and CUE Sheets @EAC, by Mestrelion Gap and CUE Sheet 101: A simple tutorial for Dummies like me  Editing cuesheets by Mestrelion EAC CUE Sheets ASCII formats explained, because sometimes Notepad is all you have Does the bitrate selected for MP3 encoding overrides the command line ? Does EAC add aguments to --alt-preset standard A very useful new tool for EAC is AccurateRip, please search the forums on this. |
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Mar 15 2003, 00:12
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#5
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Moderator Group: Super Moderator Posts: 3934 Joined: 29-September 01 Member No.: 73 |
CDR Media
What are the best CDR ? Short CDR summary : The summary of CD-R brands @Afterdawn Long CDR/burner/speed summary : Media Compatability With CD-RW Drives - Which Media Is Best? @CDRLabs Tests : CDR media tests, all types! @CDFreaks 48x and higher tests : 48x media tests, post your results here! @CDFreaks How to recognize Tayo Yuden CDRs ? how do you tell which media you have? @CDRLabs Burning speed tests High speed vs low speed burning @CDFreaks Life expectancy of CDRs R.I.P. - The thread for dead CD-Rs @Afterdawn Higher dye type doesn't mean higher quality Re: Audiophile concerns @EAC ML and answers Why are audiophile not always trusted when they say that a copy doesn't sound as good as an original CD ? Digital audio quality @CD Freaks |
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Mar 15 2003, 00:13
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#6
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Moderator Group: Super Moderator Posts: 3934 Joined: 29-September 01 Member No.: 73 |
Secure mode ripping
Ripping scratched CDs Repairing scrached cd:s Whats The Best Way To Remove Scratches? ...or the dangers of the above. Ripping Scratched CD's, Success story (label side scratches) How to test C2 accuracy ? Andre Wiethoff's DAEquality kit Warning about C2 accuracy measurments Toshiba SD-M 1612 C2 ... Secure mode FAQ EAC... how perfect? How does it work? How to accurately detect C2, accurate stream, overread, etc Which drives are caching audio data? How to ACCURATELY detect C2 / Accurate stream / lead-in / lead-out, etc? @EAC EAC secure mode superior to CDex Paranoid mode Cdex Vs Eac : The Results ! Does CloneCD read "rawer" than EAC ? Is audio extraction different than raw mode ? @CDFreaks Is reading twice secure ? Is C2 used to correct errors as well as detecting them ? @EAC Discussion about secureness of C2 versus secureness of no C2 EAC C2 error correction, Use it or not? Test and copy secure mode failure Matching CRC for errored rips @EAC Paranoid mode failure Eac, Paranoid X Secure mode Older discussions, possibly out-of-date infos How does reading twice allows EAC to detect errors Discussion reliability DAEquality test @EAC Accuracy of C2 information Is accurate C2 error reporting an Utopia? @EAC Safety of C2, of caching, and of reading twice Cache off @EAC |
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Mar 15 2003, 00:13
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#7
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Moderator Group: Super Moderator Posts: 3934 Joined: 29-September 01 Member No.: 73 |
Offsets
Drive offsets databases Spoon's Accuraterip page Offsets are arbitrary Re: offset detection @EAC ML Mathematical war between Pio2001 and Matthias trying to figure out ofsets without external reference How to figure out your offset @EAC How to "read" your read offset with noisy CDs How to find a reference offset Article by Pio2001 Arguments against offset correction The use of offsets@EAC the relativity of exactness Why can't two drives read identical images - even when calibrated? @ EAC |
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Mar 15 2003, 00:14
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#8
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Moderator Group: Super Moderator Posts: 3934 Joined: 29-September 01 Member No.: 73 |
Protected audio CDs
Campain for digital rights Sound and Vision mag article about copy protections c't-CD-Register, database of protected CDs in german language. Reading protected audio CDs@ CD Freaks SPDIF recording of protected audio CDs@EAC ML Cactus Datashield 200 mastered errors Technical analysis Excessive Copy Protection?, Mp3 related Key2audio tested on 27 drives @Afterdawn |
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Mar 15 2003, 00:15
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#9
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Moderator Group: Super Moderator Posts: 3934 Joined: 29-September 01 Member No.: 73 |
Various
About soundcard line input clipping Recording line in with Soundforge, and Audiophile 24/96 Line in overload on soundcards, M-Audio etc unable to record properly ? Can a PC with a digital output replace a CD player ? Soundcard digital pathways?, If you skip the DAC are they 'perfect'? Recording louder is not better Rip Rowan. Over the limit @prorec.com When will this madness stop?!?!? @MusicPlayer.com What soundcard to buy ? Want to buy a new soundcard..., ... should be around €100 / $115 How to rip HDCD, or >16bits CDs ? How to rip 20-bit CD(and retain all 20bits) Blind ABX tests about hifi components, cables, amount of distortion... ABX Test Data Is there a measurable difference between regular and audiophile line cables ? RMAA analysis of audiophile cables distortion Is jitter an issue in recent DACs ? Anti-jitter RAM buffer in DACs, Which have one ? Killer sample for resampling and clipping (and tweeters) Test your soundcard for clipping, with this sample How to insert track markers in a big wave Burning Gapless CD's My CD is not Gapless CUE sheet + 1 wav file for part of CD How to extract audio before track 1 Recording Gaps Before Track 1. MPC : What's --xlevel good for? --xlevel With Mpc? Using replaygain to reduce bitrate WaveGain vs. MP3Gain Transcoding/Re-encoding 128kbps to higher bitrate Re-encode mp3 128 to higher w/ winlame I can't find any drive that doesn't cache Questions on Asus drive and buffer/cache@EAC This post has been edited by Pio2001: Jun 28 2008, 20:23 |
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Mar 15 2003, 00:16
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#11
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Moderator Group: Super Moderator Posts: 3934 Joined: 29-September 01 Member No.: 73 |
Compact Disc links
All About Recordable Discs @Roxio.com. Life expectancy seems overestimated, see link above. The CDR FAQ Other links about CD technology |
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Mar 15 2003, 00:17
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#12
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Moderator Group: Super Moderator Posts: 3934 Joined: 29-September 01 Member No.: 73 |
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Mar 15 2003, 00:17
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#13
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Moderator Group: Super Moderator Posts: 3934 Joined: 29-September 01 Member No.: 73 |
Other digital audio links
Recommended bibliography Interesting books Explanation of dither by Nika Aldrich The audio engineer's approach to understanding digital filters. For the idiot such as myself by Nika Aldrich |
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May 1 2003, 23:09
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#14
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Moderator Group: Super Moderator Posts: 3934 Joined: 29-September 01 Member No.: 73 |
End of FAQ
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May 1 2003, 23:17
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#15
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Moderator Group: Super Moderator Posts: 3934 Joined: 29-September 01 Member No.: 73 |
Added :
Cactus Datashield 200 mastered errors Technical analysis Excessive Copy Protection?, Mp3 related ...the only analysis we have proving that -There are actually intentional errors -They might not be all handled as well by modern CD ROM players as by hifi players because there are a few with contiguous samples. -They prevent CRC comparisons between drives, like in accuraterip. -They are repeatable and thus not detected with non-C2 secure modes, and not corrected by EAC once detected bu C2. -They are not generated in special places "so as to be inaudible". Lame development Dibrom&JohnV -how you see the future of LAME? ...further links inside. ...should have been there earlier Why was 44.1 kHz chosen ? 48, 44.1 khz, why no and/or not 40 khz, Only for 2 channel audio........... ...little-known info, that was just needed in the CD audio is not good enough thread Removed : Samsung, Pioneer and Teac vs Cactus datashield 200 audio protection@EAC Not much useful info... the fact that protections are drive dependant is already stated in the CDFreaks link, and illustrated in the Key2audio tests. I'd like to have you opinion about these two : What are the parameters used by MPC for encoding ? --verbose output of all --quality settings, A List For The Advanced User Asked here : http://www.hydrogenaudio.org/forums/index....=ST&f=12&t=6802 Is it useful in the FAQ section ? Lower bitrate presets "alt-preset standard -Y" VS "preset medium" Is it accurate ? Still on topic ? Useful ? |
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May 1 2003, 23:51
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#16
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Moderator Group: Super Moderator Posts: 3934 Joined: 29-September 01 Member No.: 73 |
Added
Drive offsets databases SatCP's Coaster Factory (no more updated) Spoon's Accuraterip page (often updated) thanks to Spoon |
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May 15 2003, 19:24
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#17
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Moderator Group: Super Moderator Posts: 3934 Joined: 29-September 01 Member No.: 73 |
Added this first link (the second is the former "96 kHz is unuseful") :
Do CD sound good enough ? Theoretical discussion : 44 KHz (CD) not enough !? (Nyquist etc.), plethora of distortion frequencies? Listening test : 96 vs. 48 or 44.1 kHz sampling --> scientific test, perhaps here is the 1. listening test ! Added this introduction to the MP3 section : Recommended MP3 Encoder for bitrates < 128kbps Fraunhofer ... for bitrates > 128kbps Lame (read on) ...thanks to Tigre |
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May 15 2003, 20:15
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#18
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Moderator Group: Super Moderator Posts: 3934 Joined: 29-September 01 Member No.: 73 |
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Jun 6 2003, 00:09
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#19
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 Moderator Group: Members Posts: 1434 Joined: 26-November 02 Member No.: 3890 |
QUOTE (Pio2001 @ May 1 2003 - 02:51 PM) Added Drive offsets databases SatCP's Coaster Factory (no more updated) Spoon's Accuraterip page (often updated) thanks to Spoon This EAC offset database by uli-76 should be added. All SatCP's entries AFAIK and many new ones (updated) http://www.hilfe-stellung.de/eac/offset.htm -------------------- Let's suppose that rain washes out a picnic. Who is feeling negative? The rain? Or YOU? What's causing the negative feeling? The rain or your reaction? - Anthony De Mello
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Jun 6 2003, 19:44
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#20
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 Group: Members Posts: 85 Joined: 7-February 02 Member No.: 1281 |
not a big deal, but there a little typo here
QUOTE What does --alt-preset standard that no custom command line can do ? Re: LAME + Dibrom's presets/switches + remarks should be: "What does --alt-preset standard do that no custom command line can do ? Re: LAME + Dibrom's presets/switches + remarks" 
-------------------- |
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Jun 6 2003, 20:26
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#21
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Moderator Group: Super Moderator Posts: 3934 Joined: 29-September 01 Member No.: 73 |
It was not a typo, it was a mistake in my speaking english B)
TU2 |
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Jun 6 2003, 23:38
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#22
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 Group: Members (Donating) Posts: 1336 Joined: 18-November 01 From: Celaya, Guanajuato Member No.: 478 |
QUOTE (marteataca @ Jun 6 2003 - 12:44 PM) not a big deal, but there a little typo here QUOTE What does --alt-preset standard that no custom command line can do ? Re: LAME + Dibrom's presets/switches + remarks should be: "What does --alt-preset standard do that no custom command line can do ? Re: LAME + Dibrom's presets/switches + remarks" And still not quite... The last "do" is unnecessary. No biggie -------------------- I'm the one in the picture, sitting on a giant cabbage in Mexico, circa 1978.
Reseñas de Rock en Español: www.estadogeneral.com |
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Aug 4 2003, 23:48
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#23
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Moderator Group: Super Moderator Posts: 3934 Joined: 29-September 01 Member No.: 73 |
Major FAQ update
 !**********NEW************** : Audio Compression Hydrogenaudio.org's basic rules on listening tests Subjective vs Objective opinions, post your favourite links / experiences See also rule 8 of Hydrogenaudio.org's terms of service. MP3 Low bitrates : --alt-preset standard -Y versus --alt-preset medium preset-standard -Y vs preset-medium, How big is the difference? Secure mode How to test C2 accuracy ? Andre Wiethoff's DAEquality kit Repairing CDs scratched on the label side Ripping Scratched CD's, Success story Is reading twice secure ? Is C2 used to correct errors as well as detecting them ? Discussion about secureness of C2 versus secureness of no C2 EAC C2 error correction, Use it or not? Various Killer sample for resampling and clipping (and tweeters) Test your soundcard for clipping, with this sample Vinyl Vinyl versus CD samples from the same album What songs has digital killed (CD vs LP samples) Processing the CD sample so as it sounds like the vinyl sample Compare for yourself: Vinyl vs. CD Does digital recording keep the "vinyl" sound ? Casual vinyl vs digital blind test Vinyl noise samples, how much clicks on a good vinyl ? Vinyl Care & Dust Removal, How to make vinyl sound good?? Cassette Recording cassette tapes to PC How to Clean up Cassette to Digital, Need Help Other digital audio links Recommended bibliography Interesting books ****************REPLACED************** Can a PC with a digital output replace a CD player ? Soundcard digital pathways?, If you skip the DAC are they 'perfect'? replaces Does WinXp's mixer resample ? My tests over kmixer effects, Seem to be none... that is linked from inside the new one Burning speed tests High speed vs low speed burning replaces Burning slower is not necessarily safer CDR Burn Speed and Audio Quality @Afterdawn **************MOVED**************** Moved How does reading twice allows EAC to detect errors Discussion reliability DAEquality test @EAC Accuracy of C2 information Is accurate C2 error reporting an Utopia? @EAC Safety of C2, of caching, and of reading twice Cache off @EAC to Older discussions section ****************RENAMED*************** Renaming Why is not CloneCD advised for audio ? Is audio extraction different than raw mode ? @CDFreaks to Does CloneCD read "rawer" than EAC ? Is audio extraction different than raw mode ? @CDFreaks |
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Aug 8 2003, 11:46
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#24
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Moderator Group: Super Moderator Posts: 3934 Joined: 29-September 01 Member No.: 73 |
Added
Is jitter an issue in recent DACs ? Anti-jitter RAM buffer in DACs, Which have one ? in the "various" section. |
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Aug 17 2003, 21:29
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#25
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Moderator Group: Super Moderator Posts: 3934 Joined: 29-September 01 Member No.: 73 |
Added
What soundcard to buy ? Want to buy a new soundcard..., ... should be around €100 / $115 Is "What soundcard to buy ?" a good english sentence ? |
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Lo-Fi Version | Time is now: 22nd May 2013 - 15:04 |
