Please, help to do an experiment!

[Behind]

Hi guys,

After many years hearing that Japanese editions of some CDs sound better , I've decided to become a Mythbuster since I have now the same record in eu and jap version.

I'd like just to ask which is the best program to extract a very exact .wav (or other) from a CD. I just want to take the waveform of both and compare them.

Maybe it has no sense and it's not the way I can compare them... In that case I'd appreciate you to tell me that, to avoid the waste of time mainly

I won't reveal which song or which artist is going to be until I have the results!

TIA!

 

[joeymusicguy]

Hi guys,

After many years hearing that Japanese editions of some CDs sound better , I've decided to become a Mythbuster since I have now the same record in eu and jap version.

I'd like just to ask which is the best program to extract a very exact .wav (or other) from a CD. I just want to take the waveform of both and compare them.

Maybe it has no sense and it's not the way I can compare them... In that case I'd appreciate you to tell me that, to avoid the waste of time mainly

I won't reveal which song or which artist is going to be until I have the results!

TIA!

just so you know, i've done a couple of records that were released in multiple countries (including the ones you speak of)

and there's absolutely zero sound difference between them(i made the masters, i would know)

most of the time, its a difference in track order / additional tracks

 

[Psych05]

http://www.exactaudiocopy.de/

 

[Behind]

just so you know, i've done a couple of records that were released in multiple countries (including the ones you speak of)

and there's absolutely zero sound difference between them(i made the masters, i would know)

most of the time, its a difference in track order / additional tracks

haha, i was expecting that in some way

In any case, I'll try this just to proof it "visually" since it's easy that in the same room, different people hear (or just say they hear...) different details. I've been told that this record is certainly different in dynamics and transients depending on the region it's been released, so I'm very interested about it.

@Psych05: Thank you very much, I've just downloaded it. I'll post the results as soon as I have them.

 

[wishtheend]

+1 for EAC.

Is this in regards to the SHM-CD format? If so, it's completely bunk. The quality of the disc may be more durable over long periods of time, but the data written to the disc is the same as a typical CD.

 

[Behind]

Ok, the thing is done.


The record was In Requiem from Paradise Lost

What I've done is:

- Extract with EAC the 1st track

- Take both files into Reaper

- Cut several clips from the files and paste them into a new frankenstein file to do a blind test (hearing test).

- I zoomed to death the waveforms to recognize possible differences (visual test).


RESULTS

- Hearing test: before doing this, I was switching painfully the records and I was able to detect some subtle differences. So, a blind test would be the best way to avoid mind lies. The result was that there's no difference AT ALL, even if I knew the position of the cuts, both versions sounded absolutely the same. Here's with the name BLIND TEST

- Visual test: you can take a look by yourself.

Maybe I'm completely blind but I cannot notice any difference between both waveforms.


BUT... here the paradox. When playing both clips at the same time (previously synchronized), I was just expecting that it sonds louder but... that's what happens: WTF Cip.

So... WTF!? Why this thing sounds so different to the individual clips? Any ideas about it??

 

[ahjteam]

haha, i was expecting that in some way

In any case, I'll try this just to proof it "visually" since it's easy that in the same room, different people hear (or just say they hear...) different details. I've been told that this record is certainly different in dynamics and transients depending on the region it's been released, so I'm very interested about it.

@Psych05: Thank you very much, I've just downloaded it. I'll post the results as soon as I have them.

The myth is partially truth, there is a difference in sound, but only applies with VINYL records. The european presses were usually pressed in the UK or Germany, while the US versions were pressed in the States and the JP versions were pressed in Japan

 

[Behind]

@ahjteam: interesting info. Unluckily this has nothing to do nowadays since almost everything is released in CD.

In any case, I've heard that some vynil records sound better that the CD. It's the case of TOOL's aenima.

Oh, and I forgot to say it:

(in this particular case) This Myth is... BUSTED?

 

[John_C]

urm those two waveforms are not exactly the same. Look carefully

 

[Behind]

urm those two waveforms are not exactly the same. Look carefully

I think you're right. I tried something new to compare them in a better way and it shows some differences.

NOTE: The thing is that it's a zoomed area showing just 0,35 seconds of the wave and I'm now wondering if such subtle differences can make any audible difference at all. Expert opinions needed!

 

[Metaltastic]

Dude, the easy solution is to click the little "0" with a "/" through it on one of the tracks to phase flip it, and then play them both back simultaneously - if they're identical (and are properly lined up), there should be no sound!

 

[Behind]

Dude, the easy solution is to click the little "0" with a "/" through it on one of the tracks to phase flip it, and then play them both back simultaneously - if they're identical (and are properly lined up), there should be no sound!

Oh, I didn't know that. thankyou! I'll try this

 

[Behind]

Amazing, so there's sound. It's like someone stole all the low end frequencies from it but the song sounds perfectly

I don't really know how to interpret this since I have no idea what exactly does the "Ø"

 

[Metaltastic]

All it does is flip the phase (so when the wave normally goes up, now it goes down, and vice versa) - thus, if you have two identical tracks playing at the same time, but one of them is phase flipped, all sound cancels out!

 

[Notuern]

If i have understood this principle right, that means that the Japanese edition has more highs then the EU(The parts that disappear are exactly the same, and the things you still hear are the difference between the files.).

 

[John_C]

not neccesarily more, could be just slightyly different highs

 

[Behind]

ok, I get it... So there's difference between them after all

I didn't believe that there would be any difference, but this inverting phase tool says it all. As I said, what I can listen is just the high frequencies. In any case, when I did the blind test, there wasn't any difference. At least I wasn't able to detect them.

 

[Behind]

not neccesarily more, could be just slightyly different highs

As far as I can hear, there's a good amount of highs going on there, but I can be wrong and maybe I'm underestanding this in a wrong way.

Here's the clip with the normal and the phase inverted so you can judge it by yourself.

File name is IR Paradox

 

[derfbonker]

i bet they are not lined up perfectly and u r just hearing some comb filtering.

 

[Behind]

i bet they are not lined up perfectly and u r just hearing some comb filtering.

I don't believe it, since there are just some particular frequencies being cancelled. If I slightly move one of the clips, there´s not that amount of cancellation and the frequencies being cancelled vary. Anyway, I'll play a bit more with this in the evening.