Ripping a CD for Hi res Sony Walkman

[efiste2]

I have just purchased my first Hi-Res audio player, a Sony NWA45 16GB , plus a 128GB SD card for extra storage. Being interested in the best Audio qulaity rather than storage capacity, what is the best format to rip a CD in.
Im not looking to do it with my whole collection but im interested in purchasing Hi-Res versions of my very favourite albums, has anyone got any advice on getting the best quality from reputable sits.....

[teodz1984]

flac

[jan5678]

Well best would be pcm wav, it is lossless.

Flac is certainly a very good alternative and lossless too, with a smaller file size than pcm wav

[efiste2]

Please excuse my nievity, If I download a Hi-res album, it will "in theory" be a better audio quality than a ripped CD......I realise there are other factors involved but a hi-res download will be better than CD

[MindController]

Depending on where you "download" the album from, the .flac files could have been ripped from a cd

[dellsam34]

For Audio CD's use Exact Audio Copy EAC, After loading the CD it would look like this:




After selecting a database from the 4 listed in the red circle it will look like this:




Click on the button CMP with red arrow above to output as lossless compressed FLAC with album info and cover art loaded, When you load the albums to your smart device it would look like this (Ex: VOX Player):

[dannyboy48888]

Flac for lossless, if space comes up qaac LC at max quality is also good. 99% of stuff passes the inverted wav test in audacity to detect lost info. Nice thing about a losses source is you can recode it to others to see if it suits your needs.

[teodz1984]

Please excuse my nievity, If I download a Hi-res album, it will "in theory" be a better audio quality than a ripped CD......I realise there are other factors involved but a hi-res download will be better than CD

If it is deom a legit site, you paid for it properly and the album actually is from a SACD, it could be..
If it is otherwise, i.e. FREE it may or not

[El Heggunte]

Ripping a CD for Hi res Sony Walkman

My question: is there such thing as an ACTUAL "Hi-Res" walkman

OR/AND Hi-Res earphones /headphones, by the way

[lingyi]

Just as with DVDs and Blu-Rays, a CD rip is an exact bit for bit copy contents of the CD. You can't "rip" to anything else but an uncompressed .wav. EAC has long been the most respected and recommended program for CD ripping. If you want the absolute best quality with zero error corrections, you may have to try several different drives (including CD ROM only drives) to get error free ripping.

An error free uncompressed .wav s the highest quality you can get from a CD. Flac is XX% identical to an uncompressed .wav, with some audiophiles claiming there is an audible difference.

This article https://www.whathifi.com/us/advice/high-resolution-audio-everything-you-need-to-know lists the different Hi-Res audio formats:

WAV (hi-res): The standard format all CDs are encoded in. Great sound quality but it's uncompressed, meaning huge file sizes (especially for hi-res files). It has poor metadata support (that is, album artwork, artist and song title information).

AIFF (hi-res): Apple's alternative to WAV, with better metadata support. It is lossless and uncompressed (so big file sizes), but not massively popular.

FLAC (hi-res): This lossless compression format supports hi-res sample rates, takes up about half the space of WAV, and stores metadata. It's royalty-free and widely supported (though not by Apple) and is considered the preferred format for downloading and storing hi-res albums.

ALAC (hi-res): Apple's own lossless compression format also does hi-res, stores metadata and takes up half the space of WAV. An iTunes- and iOS-friendly alternative to FLAC.

DSD (hi-res): The single-bit format used for Super Audio CDs. It comes in 2.8mHz, 5.6mHz and 11.2mHz varieties, but isn't widely supported.

MQA (hi-res): A lossless compression format that packages hi-res files with more emphasis on the time domain. Used for Tidal Masters hi-res streaming, but has limited support across products.

And this review https://www.whathifi.com/us/reviews/sony-nw-a45 states the player supports: .wav, .flac, .alac, .dsd, and .mqa

Bottom line. Uncompressed .wav is the highest quality you can get from a CD with .flac offering XX% of the quality at ~50% size savings.

As for getting other Hi-Res files, research the bitrate for each of the other formats and compare them to the file size offered. Just because it's in a non-.wav or .flac container, it doesn't mean it's the exact same file as the original recording.

[dellsam34]

An error free uncompressed .wav s the highest quality you can get from a CD. Flac is XX% identical to an uncompressed .wav, with some audiophiles claiming there is an audible difference.

Those are the same category of people who claim $300 USB cable sounds better, Don't take them seriously. The only response to those is to just ignore them.