Download format advice for CD's I cant obtain

[pinger]

I listen exclusively to CD's (Classical) but there are a few I just cant locate anywhere . Seem to be out of print. I've looked for awhile. I am considering downloading a file from Presto music in lieu of the CD(s) i cant obtain. What format should i get? My Marantz CD-6007 pretty much accepts any format and has a USB port. Should I get FLAC, WAV, CD quality? MP3 i understand may be lower quality? Suggestions would be appreciated. Never did this before

 

[Chester]

Flac (CD Quality) or Wav (CD Quality) are both lossless so they will offer the best quality. Bigger file sizes though.

 

[pinger]

Flac (CD Quality) or Wav (CD Quality) are both lossless so they will offer the best quality. Bigger file sizes though.

So i can just download them to a USB stick and plug and play in the Marantz CD player?

 

[boswell]

Flac (or Wav?) CD quality should be able to easily burnt to blank CD to recreate an exact copy of original

 

[hat28]

So i can just download them to a USB stick and plug and play in the Marantz CD player?

yep - should work that easily

 

[Berwhale]

FLAC - the files will be the same quality as WAV, but will be smaller due to lossless compression and have proper metadata/tag support.

More info about formats supported for USB playback on your CD6007 here: https://manuals.marantz.com/CD6007/EU/EN/OBAOSYxwxulsll.php

Note the limitation on artwork size, you might want to check the size on the files you buy. 500 x 500 is quite small these days. I try to use 1200 x 1200 for all my FLACs, this seems to be the standard that Apple have adopted (at least, MusicBee often grabs this size from Apple when I ask it to search for artwork). You can always strip out or reduce the artwork size using a program like MP3Tag.

 

[pinger]

Thanks everyone for responses. I'm not interested in burning any CD's so the USB stick will do

 

[DVDdoug]

This is what I found for the Marantz:

Product highlights:
plays CDs, CD-Rs & CD-RWs plus WMA, MP3 and AAC CDs
front-panel USB input (Type A) for USB flash drives
supports FLAC, WAV, AIFF, ALAC and DSD file playback
high-performance digital-to-analog converter handles high-res files from USB up to 24-bit-/192kHz (DSD up to 5.6MHz)

Depending on what you can get, maybe 24-bit FLAC or WAV at the highest sample rate. Not that you need that, but why not? You can keep the best quality "archive" convert to any other lossless or lossy format later.

In case you don't know...

CDs are 16-bit, 44.1kHz, 2-channel stereo. A WAV or AIFF file with the same characteristics has the same audio data as the CD. FLAC and ALAC is lossless compression so you can get the same audio data when it's played and decoded.

And yes. FLAC and ALAC are about half the size and have better, more standardized, metadata support. (Basically, everything is "better" than WAV for metadata.)

MP3 and AAC are lossy compression. Data is thrown-away to make a smaller file. They aren't necessarily "terrible" and you may not actually hear any difference, but beware of the fact that they are lossy and if you later convert to another lossy format that's another generation of lossy compression and SOME "damage" accumulates.



...A lot of people rip their CDs to FLAC and keep a FLAC archive, then make smaller MP3 or AAC (or other files) for "everyday portable" playback on their phone or computer digital audio player, etc..

 

[Timcognito]

FWIW, have you used Discogs to find rare stuff? Just in case you have not tried.

https://www.discogs.com/about/features/app/

 

[pinger]

FWIW, have you used Discogs to find rare stuff? Just in case you have not tried.

https://www.discogs.com/about/features/app/

I actually looked on there and it was unavailable. Thank you though

 

[Timcognito]

FLAC is your friend. I just got a new EV that takes thumb drives with Apple Car Play, Android Audio or its own app and put the 50 of my favorite CDs in FLAC from my NAS on a thumb drive, so no phone, so cool. Music and no engine noise. If you start converting your CDs dBPoweramp is great program to have for Ripping and Tagging.

 

[Daverz]

Depending on what you can get, maybe 24-bit FLAC or WAV at the highest sample rate. Not that you need that, but why not?

You get fewer minutes of music for your money for no audible benefit.

To chime in on the original question, FLAC is the way to go, not just for the lossless compression, but also for the easily extensible metadata.