Going from 24bit 5.1 DTS to 16bit 44.1KHz 2-ch CD

[carlmart]

I want to rip some music files from a DTS 24bit 5.1 48KHz track onto a CD that I could play on my car, which is 16bit 44.1KHz.

Just to see how it sounded, I used Audacity to convert to 2-channel wav, both in 48KHz and 44.1KHz sampling, comparing with the original video file. Except for the ambiance information, the front channels sounded pretty much the same on my relatively high quality home audio system.

What I wonder is:

1) Is Audacity the best program to go from DTS to wav?

2) What are the most transparent options for this task?

The final CD burn I will do with Exact Audio Copy, which does accept loading 48KHz files, but I wonder if it does convert the files to 44.1KHz.

Each music I will further process with Soundforge 8, to add start and end fades to each song, as the original track is live.

Another option would be to do a 5.1 disc that I could play at home, though I would have to change my car player onto a DVD player. If I wanted to go that way, what program or path should I go and how can I edit each song as I do with Soundforge?

[El Heggunte]

Basically:

a: decode the 5.1 DTS to a 5.1 WAV (or six mono WAVs)

(a+b)/2: edit the uncompressed WAV(s)

b1: resample to 44.1kHz and b2: recompress into 5.1 DTS at 1234.8kbps

c: pad with "zeroes" and transform it into a stereo WAV

d: burn as CD-DA

Steps b2: and c: can be done either manually with dcaenc.exe (with or without sox) plus spdifer.exe,
or very-lazily with

e: the ancient and outdated Surcode DTS Encoder

f: the latest and greatest Master Audio Encoder Suite

HTH.

[hech54]

My experience (with AC3 5.1) is to use BeSweet to convert to 6 waves, load the wav files into Reaper and adjust to my liking manually, then render out to 44.1 .wav file(s).

[carlmart]

Audacity is fine for step a?

Soundforge 8 is fine for step a+b and b1?

Don't know how to do b2, even with any of programs suggested. Never used them.

Can I burn CD-DA with Exact Audio Copy or with IMGBurn?

If I go with a simpler 2 channel versión, is there a way to mix the 5.1 onto 2 channels? I think not and that it might involve more complicated things than the other ways suggested with DTS or even AC3.

[hello_hello]

EAC3toGUI

[jman98]

Yes, it is possible to downmix from 5.1 DTS to 2 channel WAV. Unless you have a car DVD player that specifically supports DTS audio, EL Heggunte's recommendation to make a CD audio with DTS audio will give you a disc that your car player won't be able to play at all. You'll just hear static. hello_hello's suggestion is probably the easiest way to do this.

I'd suggest using ImgBurn for burning the CD, but be sure that you are making an audio CD and not a data disc. I do not use ImgBurn at all for audio CD burning, so I can't help with this.