I didn't see this in the FAQ or the search I ran...

Until a few days ago, I had been using Nero to save all my CDs to WAV format. Then I happened to read about EAC, and how it will give a higher quality rip. So I spent most of my day off reading several different EAC tutorials, going through hundreds of different options and changing them to what the tutorials recommended. Then I saved a CD into Wav format using EAC. And just out of curiosity, I saved the same CD in Nero, the way I had always done it. And I thought it was weird that both of the files were exactly the same size. I didn't listen for audible differences, because my computer speakers probably aren't good enough to show any difference. But is this normal, for both files to be the same size, even though they were both ripped from two different programs, one of which is supposed to be much better? The reason it bothers me is because it took 26 minutes to rip the CD in EAC, and only a minute or two to do it in Nero.

Thanks in advance, and yes I am very much an amateur at this. Just trying to get the best quality.

Yes, it's not normal.
You have used the same good reader with a not scratched CD.
If there aren't errors when reading, both extracted WAVs will be the same.

The difference is that if there are errors, Nero won't warn you.
If EAC is properly configured, it will show the errors after extracting.

If you want the best of both worlds (security and speed), use PlexTools (if you have a Plextor) or Feurio (if you drive reports C2 errors).

You really shouldn't be listening for audible differences. The goal here is to get cd-accurate rips. You could try comparing checksums of the wav files to make sure they're truly identical, for instance. EAC will give bit-for-bit identical rips of tracks if configured correctly.

There are a lot of misconceptions about EAC.
One of them is that it will ALWAYS deliver better sounding files than its competitors. A variation of this is that it somehow has a "Magic Engine" that will make all music sound better.
This is false.
Truth is, in most of the newer drives (CD or DVD readers) and in most of CDs in good condition, EAC and other programs will produce the same files.
Why use EAC then, if it is SOOO slow?
Well, EAC gives SECURITY. If configured correctly, EAC will --in almost all cases-- do its best in retrieving whatever audio exactly as it is on your CD, and will tell you if it can't.
This is called SECURE RIPPING, and it is invaluable. The other programs can deceive you on this, and some won't even bother to tell you is something goes wrong (EAC could still fail but far less than anything else, search the forum for "C2").
What if you, based on your observation, decide to go the fast way and rip everything with Nero? Sooner or later you will find a glitch on one of your files. Most of the people on HA could not live with that "uncertainty". I most definitely could not.

So there you go. Hope this answers your question.

Ok, thanks a lot for the replies. How's this for a solution: If the CD appears to be in perfect condition (no scratches or fingerprints, or maybe a few light scratches), I go ahead and use Nero and assume it's going to be ok; and if the CD has more than just light scratches, I should sacrifice that extra 20 minutes by using EAC to make sure I get accurate results...

I don't know what I'm talking about, of course. That's why I'm asking. Is that a safe route or not? I mean, I'm willing to use the much slower EAC for every CD (even perfect ones) if it's necessary; but I'd hate to think I'm wasting all my precious time when there's no reason to.

As far as encoding MP3s go, it's much better to use EAC all the time, right? At least that's what I've been led to believe.

But Nero isn't safe.
There's a possibility that there are errors even on some apparently good discs.
They will probably be not audible, but...

Don't you have a drive that reports C2 errors?
You can do what you're saying much more safely, if you use Feurio.
It will rip in burst mode exactly like Nero, but will report you if there are C2 errors. If there is no C2 error, you can go ahead sure that the copy is perfect.

Appearance is no guarantee. I own several CDs that look flawless, but EAC still reports errors on ripping. Whether or not to use EAC basically comes down to how anal you want to be about your rips. Is occassionally having a track with a glitch something that will drive you crazy?



EAC's primary use is for secure ripping. As far as encoding MP3s goes, it's much better to use any program that uses the LAME mp3 encoder. EAC can be configured to use LAME, but there are also many other programs that can be configured to use LAME.

Check out the Recommended LAME settings and LAME compiles threads in this forum:

http://www.hydrogenaudio.org/forums/index.php?showforum=15&

Rob

Its not much better to use EAC then any other software that uses lame. The advantage of using EAC is that you can rip+encode in one go, which of course is much more convenient than using two applications.

Yes, but there is more to it.
For example, everyone knows that MP3s are not gapless. Oh, but on foobar2000 they are. But only if they are encoded using the proper sofware. IIRC, there were some LAME frontends that produced defective MP3 headers that were no-good for gapless playback. I don't know which ones, but I'll tell you one thing: EAC is not one of them.

I've been using EAC for a couple of years...
Before, my rips were done mostly which CDex.
To my early understand - Cdex was able to rip all "clean" discs without a problem.Even new/original discs can have small flaws on the surface and non-secure ripping can result in fault copies.
If you want clean rips, lets EAC takes care of that.

/edit/ clarify.

As LIF, I used to use Cdex. Before that I used Nero. However, since I started using EAC about 8 months ago, I wouldn't use anything else now.

Peace of mind counts for a lot....

It's not JUST the quality or condition of the CD you are trying to rip from either. It is ALSO the CD or DVD drive you are using to rip from.

Which is another BIG advantage of using EAC to rip. It tries over and over until it can rip it correctly, where as many others won't. They will just have a glitch wherever the drive had a problem.

How dare anyone polute the MP3 pool with glitched MP3's! Use EAC to prevent it from ever happening.

:-)