conclevage

iTrader: (1)

Hey Guys,

After many, many....mannnnnnnnnnnny attempts of burnng a DVD-Audio discs..I've finally been successful. First off, you guys are going to want to grab one of the following programs:

http://www.discwelder.com/

The Bronze is the cheapest one. This will enable you to burn tracks on one playlist.

Never tried the Steel.

The Chrome will enable you to burn multiple playlists (groups) with an on-screen menu so you can choose/select which album/playlist you want to listen to.

The software does not support mp3's, however; supports wav's. What you'll want to do is convert any of your tracks to wav format. The program will then recognize the music file format and allow you to drag-and-drop your music files. I'm not sure how many songs can hold on a DVD but I was able to burn 5 albums on 1 DVD-R. If you guys are able to find LOSSLESS/FLAC files of songs, I recommend using these instead of your standard cd track. CD Tracks are at 320kbps and FLAC files are around 1024kbps and up. There are freeware programs out there that can convert lossless files to wav files, thus being able to utilize them in the discWelder program. DVD-Audio discs and FLAC files prove justice to the ML system. I, too, was dissappointed with the results when playing CD's. And the selection of DVD-Audios on the market is very minimal. I can now blast my DVD-Audio discs (with lossless files) with a smile.

As far as the type of discs to use...gotta use DVD-R's. Brand-wise...I've tried HP, Sony, Memorex, and Verbatim...Verbatim is the best from all of those listed. After multiple uses, my HP DVD-R would have a hard time reading and I'd get a DISC CHECK error. Same with the other brands. You can buy a 50 pack of Verbatims for around 20 bucs at Best Buy. Since I'm ****, I bought the 10 pack of Verbatims with "Disc Guard." They come with the DVD cases. I haven't had a problem ever since. I can't say where to find lossless files *ahem* bit torrent, but I'm sure some of you guys can manage

Also, make sure your DVD-Burner is using its latest firmware. I had to update my firmware on my BenQ drive for successful recording.

Let me know if you guys have any questions...I can now say I enjoy listening to my ML system on a regular basis.

ellite100

hello, congrants on your first DVD-a, i used diskwelder to create DVD-a before and it didn't sound right on my ML, because you make a mono singal to each channel. disckwelder needs 6 mono wav files to make a track. Instead, try 'Audio DVD Creator' it takes mp3s as input and creates dvd-a with 24bit/96khz tracks - which is the best you can get. Diskwelder Bronze only will allow 16bit track...

conclevage

iTrader: (1)

You may drag-and-drop regular mp3s (converted to wavs) using Bronze without needing 6 mono wav files. Once the mp3 is dragged, the program automatically converts to a 2 channel stereo, not 6 channel mono.

Using Lossless (.flac) files crushes the quality of mp3s.

Also, try the Chrome edition

ellite100

i have an older chrome version, which didn't have drop mp3 feature, and that one needed to drag each wav to each of 6 channels for surround sound. new chrome is a bit $$$ for this purpose, were audio dvd creator is like 40$ but does the same job...

conclevage

iTrader: (1)

You're right, it is more $$$. However, I like to create menu's for my playlists and with the NAV override, users will be able to make selections via there touchscreen on which track to select. (If any of you have bought a DVD-Audio, you'll know which menu's I'm talking about.) I'll have to see how your program works out but it seems very limited.

Thanks for your input, ellite.

ellite100

you are welcome, audio dvd creator also creates menues that you can use just like on any dvd-a, check it out u'll see that it is a cool program in this regards. I am crazy on music in the car and i already went over all these options to get the best quality sound... this is the only way with dvd-assssss

DrexLex

Good to know there’s tools that make successful DVD-A discs. I was checking out these options a while back but then opted for the Vaistech adapter for my iPod, which is loaded from my CD collection, using WAV files to best preserve the fidelity.

While DVD-A discs are able to deliver high resolution PCM, 96/24 and such, it cannot do anything to increase the sound quality of any source. It can perfectly preserve the quality of the source, but no more. So if your source is MP3, which is probably made from a CD, the best quality will already be preserved with DVD-A files at 44.1/16. The same is true if you make DVD-A discs directly from CDs, and this will then give you the maximum playing time from the DVD-A discs. If you upsample CDs or MP3s to 96/24, you’re cutting down the playing time to less than 1/3d, but gaining zero in fidelity.

If fidelity is really your goal, try to avoid MP3s and get the original CD source. Or a lossless file made from the CD.

In addition, the ML system can play back only 2 channels of PCM from DVD-A. So don’t bother making any source files with more than 2 channels. If you have a source of 5.1 programming, then you’re better off making a 5.1 Dolby Digital DVD, or make a DTS CD. Both of those will play perfectly and preserve the discrete 5.1 quality.

If the lossless/FLAC files are made from original CDs, they will sound identical to the CD. (Standard CDs use 1.4 Mbps. 320 kbps means it is a lossy compressed file of some sort--like MP3.)

If FLAC files are made from higher resolution sources, like DVD-A sources, then they can potentially sound better than CDs, and this would finally justify using higher resolution on your DVD-A disc. I’d recommend 48kHz and 20 bits. 20 bits is way better than 16, and well more than humans can hear—let alone what can be heard in a car. 24 bits is a waste of data space. As for sample rate, since ML’s DVD-A player ties into the amp via an analog connection, and the amp undoubtedly uses either 44.1 or 48 kHz A-Ds and DSPs, then again there’s no reason to waste 50% of your disc space on 96 kHz.

Just FYI, the CD player is connected with a direct digital path to the amp, so it avoids DACs and A/Ds completely—making it a superb quality connection. There’s no reason CDs should sound disappointing unless it’s the fault of the discs’s content.

conclevage

iTrader: (1)

Damn, we just got owned by Drex, haha.

Thanks for the information man.

ellite100

DrexLex - thanks for the info, yes you are right about these facts, the issue is that all my tracks are in mp3s and therefore, i was looking a ways to improve on sound quility of them in the car. Regular CDs made from mp3s or mp3s on CD with 320kbps don't sound as good as my DVD-a made from the same mp3s at 96/24bit - Audio DVD Creator allows also to make 5.1 DVD-A from these mp3s, but since the mp3 source is in stereo, it's not a good idea, therefore, I choose stereo 96/24bit option. I had tried to converst mp3s to AC3 5.1 files, Nero will do it, but if i burn ac3 directly as data to DVD it's not playing??? is that because ML doesn't have a decorder for ac3? Also, since the source is stereo 2.0 mp3 - how can it be converted to ac3 5.1, what is added?

ellite100

Also, since in ML - CD and DVD are in the same spot inside, why would cd player have separate digital connection to amp and dvd analog? is there the same laser beam reads the disk (cd or dvd) and sends singal to amp via the same digital connection?

DrexLex

No, the ML system has a DVD player, and all DVD players have Dolby Digital (AC-3) decoders. The reason it does not play is the ML system wants a standard DVD-Video format disc. But since your source material is stereo, there’s no point in making 5.1 discs anyway.

In some programs, a 2-ch source will be mapped to the L/R channels of the 5.1, and the remaining channels have nothing. Kind of pointless unless you have a means to upmix from 2-ch to 5.1. But the ML system already has a nice upmixer, called Logic7, and that converts 2-ch programs to 7.1 feeds in the amplifier.

The digital connection that exists in the ML system cannot carry DVD-A PCM audio, since that requires copy protection as well as higher bitrates.

ellite100

DrexLex - thanks for comments, it looks like you know what you talking about, too bad for analog DVD a connection, oh well, I can live with it for now. At my home stereo, ONKYO I can play PCM 24/96 DVDa disks that is why I make them out of mp3s... and also listen them on ML. Do you think that if i use surCode DTS encoder for CD and make CD out of mp3s --> wav it will sound better then DVDa at 24/96 from the same mp3s?

conclevage

iTrader: (1)

ellite, I tried 24 bit versus 16 bit with my lossless files (made from CD) and DrexLex is right...no point...just a waste of space on the DVD...same fidelity...I'm gonna stick to discWelder Chrome...has a nicer format...plus it makes an actual DVD-Audio disc and not a DVD-Video...thanks though.

ellite100

yes, in your case it's no point, you already have a source in good quility and not mp3s... did you buy the discWelder Chrome? how mutch was it?

DrexLex

I just want to mention again that if your source material is MP3, there will be no improvement in the sound quality of the discs you burn whether you use a standard CD or DVD-A with 96/24. The MP3 was made from a CD (at best), and in fact has been somewhat degraded due to MP3 encoding. You'll find that AAC sources probably sound better--iTunes--and especially if you rip your CDs to higher bitrate AAC, such as 256 kbps. But regardless of what codec you use to rip a CD, even FLAC, the final sound cannot get any better than the CD no matter how you record it to the next disc.

So, it's no to the DTS idea. That was only mentioned in case you were mixing some 5.1 programs on your computer.