<div dir="ltr">CD headphone jack -> audio card could be tricky sometimes with levels, impedance and whatnot. A lot of modern "Windows" drivers are having some form of software layer that "enhances" sound, gives echo/ reverb effects, software EQ and so on. I normally turn these off or if I can uninstall it. I don't know what you recording setup is I'm guessing here.<br>
</div><div class="gmail_extra"><br><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Thu, Aug 29, 2013 at 1:14 AM, Ron Frazier (ALE) <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:atllinuxenthinfo@techstarship.com" target="_blank">atllinuxenthinfo@techstarship.com</a>></span> wrote:<br>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">Hi all,<br>
<br>
I need some help with an audio cd production I'm working on for a private family event. This is a little complex.<br>
<br>
I've been working hard to pull some quality master audio waveform files from cassettes that I own. The audio is as good as can be expected from a cassette tape, and is very decent to listen to. I've worked hard to edit the files, set the levels, eliminate the clipping, and silence the space between songs.<br>
<br>
I saved the MASTER files as signed 24 bit pcm wav files, which are lossless. I then burn the wav files to cd (standard cd audio) using Windows Media Player. Bear with me, this is NOT Windows centric.<br>
<br>
Next I rip the cd I burned back to lossless wav files. I then import the two waves, my master, and the ripped wave into audacity. The waves look identical, as they should.<br>
<br>
So, I know that my master wav file and the wave file on the cd, ripped back into wav are exactly the same.<br>
<br>
Then I play the cd on a cd player and record back into audacity. I make sure the volume on the input is NOT too high. However, the waveform coming out of the cd headphone jack is visually severely distorted and clipped.<br>
<br>
Look at this file.<br>
<br>
<a href="https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/9879631/cd_playback_clipping.png" target="_blank">https://dl.dropboxusercontent.<u></u>com/u/9879631/cd_playback_<u></u>clipping.png</a><br>
<br>
The top waveform, titled ripped, is the file that was ripped from the cd. It looks very nice and there is no clipping or excursions beyond the +/- 1 amplitude levels. It's just like the master file.<br>
<br>
The bottom file, titled played, is what was obtained by playing that same file (track) back and rerecording it. Note that it is severely clipped, BUT, its excursions are nowhere near the +/- 1 limits. This proves I don't have the input volume too loud. This is something that's happening in the playback circuit of the cd player. I've confirmed the behavior on 2 cd players and observed the same thing on a commercially recorded cd.<br>
<br>
Also, I've compared the audio playing back the ripped file, versus the played file from the cd player. The ripped version sounds better and fuller.<br>
<br>
I wonder if they're doing some dynamic range compression on the output of the dac. Whatever it is, it's not stored in the raw cd data.<br>
<br>
Does anyone know what this is and if there is a way to eliminate this, so that the true waveform on the cd, which is the same as my master, is what comes out of the speakers.<br>
<br>
Any help is appreciated.<br>
<br>
Sincerely,<br>
<br>
Ron<br>
<br>
<br>
-- <br>
<br>
(PS - If you email me and don't get a quick response, you might want to<br>
call on the phone. I get about 300 emails per day from alternate energy<br>
mailing lists and such. I don't always see new email messages very quickly.)<br>
<br>
Ron Frazier<br>
<a href="tel:770-205-9422" value="+17702059422" target="_blank">770-205-9422</a> (O) Leave a message.<br>
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</blockquote></div><br></div>