Has anyone come across a tool to test for artifacts? I often sit down to rip & then encode a pile of CDs at a time. When its done, it might be a while before I actually hear the resulting MP3s.

I would like to know that the MP3s are not full of pops, clicks, & echos (actually, I'd like to know that there are NO pops, clicks or echos!).

I'm not looking for something to repair the MP3. I just want to know if I should re encode.

Thanks in advance.

Rather than validating the MP3's, you probably want to validate the ripped WAV audio (before it is converted to MP3). If there are pops or clicks, they shouldn't have been added by the encoder, but by the ripping program (which can't read the CD due to scratches, for example). I'm assuming that when you say "artifact" you mean skipping/popping and not "compression artifact" (smearing of transients, rough sounds, high-frequency ringing...). If I've misunderstood, you can disregard the rest of my post.

The way to prevent pops is to guarantee a high-quality rip, and the best way to do that is to use Exact Audio Copy (if you're not using it already). If you set up EAC properly (and there's plenty of discussion regarding proper EAC configuration on this board), you can guarantee that either a) you won't have any pops in your audio, or b) you'll be warned if an audio track might have pops, and where you should listen to the track to check if you can't hear any problems.

I agree. The problem could be with the ripper, rather than with the encoder. But, I'm already using EAC. Perhaps I need to check the setup in EAC.

Thanks for the help.

To get you started, here's the PiMP Ripping Guide, which has details on all of the EAC settings you'll want to set for optimum quality. There are other guides floating around if this one doesn't do it for you.

Pio2001 knows a lot of stuff about audio ripping... if you do a search for posts by Pio2001 with the word "EAC" in them (search over the last year), you'll find more information than you'll know what to do with.

Oh, here's another good thread: EAC T&C without C2. Overkill?