Is copying an Audio CD using Nero good?

So I just bought a new Audio CD.

I don't want it all scratched up so I used Nero 2018 to make a copy of it as a backup.

Now the question is, will the copied CD have the exact same quality as the original or should I use something else?

 

If you want absolute lossless quality then you need something that converts from CD to FLAC, but you won't ever hear a difference between MP3 320kbit and FLAC which is lossless. Even with top end headsets, soundcards and settings you won't be able to hear a difference unless you are born with very sensitive ears that can detect very tiny differences.

So to aswer your question, it's objectively not the same quality but subjectively it is the same quality, since you won't hear a difference.

 

well I did rip the CD to FLAC using dbpoweramp and chose lossless quality but that's a different thing, that's me backing up the CD as an audio format on my PC.

My question is, wouldn't doing a CD to CD copy using Nero result in the same quality? it's not doing any conversion it's just copying the disc as an image then burning that image onto the blank CD?

 

Oh, yeah thats the same as it literally copies data and not converting it in any way. So a copied CD is the same as the original.

 

I think that's assuming the ripping was flawless. For example if you repeated this process many many times, I think the sound would eventually start to degrade. Though I think the main reason for that would be the surface of the CD itself degrading.

Anyway I agree generally though, I can barely hear the the difference between a FLAC and 320kbps mp3. But it's not huge and my headphones are expensive. In fact until I got these headphones I didn't think there was a difference myself. If you're using anything reasonably priced that isn't high end audiophile type stuff there should be no difference between those two things. So even if the CD rip to flac loses a slight amount of data there's almost no chance it's audible. And assuming the CD is in good condition it should be fine. Nero should be all good.

 

Thanks dude, after reading up more on this, what people said is that as long as you are not ripping them to any other format then the copy should be the same since it retains the exact same info on the original disc with no compression

 

exacly right.

 

people still do this? i haven't done this in years!

 

Rip them as .WAV and then convert them after the fact to your preferred format. I like MP3s, I use the LAME encoder and compress them to either 320kbps or VBR (variable bitrate). Apple's AAC format also sounds good to me, you can add the WAV files to iTunes and then convert them right there pretty easily.

Charles

 

My vote goes to iTunes since it preserves all album_info metadata and its compatible over variety of devices.
If its missing album info use gracenote in iTunes or MusicBrainz Picard.
I personally convert everything from 320 to 32kbps eAAC+ and enjoy an extra hour on music on my portables and low cpu usage. Snappy Phoenix will dislike this.

 

I use dbpoweramp, it is the best for lossless conversion and it does grab the meta data and fill in the ID3 tags properly

 

It includes Volume Equaliser and Replay Gain feature too. Too Good in fact.

 

Tbh I'd never even heard something using that... It sounded very very poor... I'd recommend using at least 128kbs... I don't think it should be a huge battery drain on modern devices. I can play FLAC on my phone with very little power drain.

 

I'm wanting high quality audio not for my phone but for my BMW M4 to get the best out of the Harman/Kardon sound system it has as regular quality MP3s don't cut it

 

Make sure you don't use bluetooth then either. Unfortunately still a ways off from that being able to not lose data. Trust me if you want to talk audio I love audio gear. My headphones are these, perhaps the only thing I may out do you in haha ;p. Dacs, amps, daps, headphones, speakers... It's all so cool I much agree with striving for high quality. I use Tidal as they're currently the only streaming service that streams FLAC instead of mp3s or aacs.

 

Well you smoked me there buddy....

I use these Smokin' Buds 2

[/QUOTE]

 

It's a slippery slope... There are people with 6 figure speakers... And Sennheiser Orpheus is a 50,000 dollar headphone set up.

 

I used a uncommon name, its AAC High Efficiency Audio aka HE-AAC or eAAC+.

Does it support custom speaker setup to tweak F, R and Mid speakers?
You could try lowering your Mid to something like 25-35%. Its just a guess.

 

You could make an ISO image of the disk. This would allow you to then write the image to a new, blank disk, should the original one become damaged. quality will be the same. Saves having lots of duplicate disks lying around, so long as you have enough HDD storage to accomodate the ISO files. The question has already been answered, so it's just an additional option.

 

Yeap, I've done it before

 

Apple's lossless format (ALAC) is similar to FLAC, in that both produce a lossless file that is somewhat smaller than the original CD file. I buy my CD's (from the artist whenever possible) and convert them to FLAC for central storage, because I don't want to deal with iTunes or pay Apple. They already take far too much money that should go to the musicians. EAC is a free program that can convert to FLAC, and pull the metadata and album picture to go with the file. There are, by the way, multiple players for Apple devices that can play FLAC files. The major problem is storage, since Apple in its wisdom, has made it impossible to augment storage in their devices. There are ways to get around that with wireless access to storage. BTW, CD copies are identical, unless there were errors in copying (rare).
Best, Joe