[wushuliu]

So I was ripping CDs last weekend onto an external drive that I have connected to my WDTV for audio. I hadn't used EAC in a few years so I checked around and decided Burst Mode was the way to go as I'm lazy and had a lot of CDs to rip. The CDROM is what came w/ my girlfriend's Dell from 2006 and it took too long in Secure Mode so that was another reason.

So I ripped all the CDs, sat down to listen and man... I was kinda bummed. I kept thinking to myself something about the music doesn't sound quite right. So I did some more checking around (haven't really paid attention to the ripping/burning scene since 2k5 or so) and by all accounts there should be no difference in sound quality from a CD, etc. So I figured well maybe it's my mind and let it go for a bit but when my ears don't like something they don't like something. Something wasn't right.

So I ordered a new burner from Newegg: the old couldn't burn DVDs and isn't SATA and I've been meaning to get one that could anyway. And heck thery're only $25 now! With free shipping! sheesh.

So I figured let me be more thorough and rip a cd w/ the new one. I tried:

Uncompressed Burst Mode (like the original rip)
Uncompressed Secure
FLAC Burst Mode

The new drive is a zillion times faster so I was just psyched about that.

So I went and had a sit down and just jumped back and forth between the first 30 sec. of the
rips. This is what I heard:

Uncompressed Burst Mode - no difference from original rip
Uncompressed Flac Burst - no difference from original rip
Uncompressed Secure - different from the original rip

I went back and forth with this multiple times and I'm confident that most could
hear the difference if familiar w/ the track.

The Burst modes made the vocals kind of dry and forward in that slightly fatiguing
sense, which is why I was so bothered. There was sibilance in female vocals. Not a lot but
enough for you to feel that it wasn't quite right if you're familiar with your setup. Just nags at you.

The Secure Mode put me at ease right away. Vocals were integrated properly, low end was
solid, etc. It sounded great, just as it should.

I did not have a Secure Mode rip from the original drive, but I presume it's not drive related
as the Bursts were identical, couldn't suss out a difference at all.

Anyhoos my 2 cents. Interesting experiment.

 

[tonyptony]

wushuliu, a couple of questions. Are you using the latest version of EAC? If so did you set it to interface to Accuraterip? If the answer to the first is yes but the next is no, set it up so that it uses Accuraterip and then do the experiment again. Assuming you're ripping a fairly common CD as a test it would be interesting to see if there are differing results from the Accuraterip check.

[wushuliu]

wushuliu, a couple of questions. Are you using the latest version of EAC? If so did you set it to interface to Accuraterip? If the answer to the first is yes but the next is no, set it up so that it uses Accuraterip and then do the experiment again. Assuming you're ripping a fairly common CD as a test it would be interesting to see if there are differing results from the Accuraterip check.

Yes, I did use the Accuraterip... pretty neat feature!

[tonyptony]

Did you get the same result each time?

[wushuliu]

Did you get the same result each time?

100% accuracy, no errors each time.

[tonyptony]

Well that's a head-scratcher. I always use Secure Mode as well, but hadn't really experimented with Burst. Any chance you could do a binary file compare of the different files to see if they are all truly identical? AccurateRip, while useful, apparently has some critics with respect to how accurate it really may be.

[carusoracer]

I have not used burst mode, and I think I'm in secure mode with the latest EAC version, uncompressed FLAC, using accurate rip. I tend to hear some of the same qualities as listed above. Dry vocals, slight forward sounding or etchy, and enhanced sibilance. 
Maybe a bold statement but... I prefer the original always to the burned copy, independent of CDR Burner. I have performed several A/B comparisons of burned material and it still seems just so slighty unnatural or lacks the sense of ease of the original recording.

The only time I have not been able to discern is the "Masterlink" process, I think that is the terminolgy that Chris Hoff at BPT uses for their demonstration discs. Very, very good quality rip's.