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JRiver vs. dBpoweramp for ripping CDs? Opinions?

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Theleb_Kaarna:
My first post here!

I'm on PC and will be using JRiver for the first time ever once I receive and install my new 1TB SSD (couple days). In the mean time I'm researching all I can, and, needless to say, it's a bit daunting... a lot of it's over my head.

Anyways, as a high end audio enthusiast, I want to get the best sound quality I possibly can. So a friend of mine (who works for a high end audio retailer and who's opinion I've come to trust over the years) recommended JRiver to me, but said I should use dBpoweramp https://dbpoweramp.com/ to rip my CDs instead of JRiver's built-in rip. He then went on to say however, that he hadn't used recent iterations of JRiver, so his comparison was based on JRiver version 18 and 19 vs dBPoweramp.

So my question is, how does the latest version of JRiver compare to the latest version of dBpoweramp for ripping CDs in terms of quality? I realize we all hear differently, just seeking people's opinions and reasoning. Also, any info/links. ALL APPRECIATED and Thanks in advance!
 

AndrewFG:

Personally I use dbPowerAmp.

One reason is its AccurateRip feature which allows you to compare the checksum on the rip against other persons checksums on the same tracks. If there have been more than about 5 other people who ripped the same track and got the same checksum as you, then you can be pretty sure you got a perfect rip.

Another reason is that the ripper gives you more control over the ripping parameters of the drive (like lead ins, repeats, rip speed, error correction).

JimH:
There is no advantage to using dbPowerAmp instead of MC, and it can introduce new problems.

MC has a "Secure ripping" which does multiple reads to confirm that the data read is correct.  Listener posted a comparison with dbPowerAmp several years ago.

Andrew, MC allows you to specify the ripping speed.  I believe the lead-in adjustment is not relevant.  It's tiny, as I recall.

mwillems:
I agree with Jim that there should be no sound quality difference between an MC rip and a dBpoweramp rip, so if you're only concerned about sound quality, MC is perfectly fine for ripping.

That said, I use dBpoweramp for ripping, but not for audio quality, but because there are two "convenience" advantages to using dBpoweramp to rip:

1)  Accurate Rip may not be more accurate than a secure rip, but accurate rip only reads the CD once (if there are no read errors).  Secure ripping necessarily involves reading the CD (at least) twice.  This takes (at least) twice as long.  If you're ripping more than one or two discs at a time, the time savings using accurate rip can be very substantial.  I used MC for ripping for a few years, but then I needed to re-rip a thousand or so CDs (ripped to .mp3 in the dark days of my windows media player usage :-[ ). After doing a few dozen in MC, I bought dBpoweramp and the time savings were substantial.

2) JRiver's metadata sources are improving year to year, but (at least for the kind of music I like) their metadata is not as complete as the metadata dBpoweramp fetches.  Again, I used JRiver's ripping and metadata for a while, filling in the gaps as needed, but when I had a mountain of ripping to do, dBpoweramp was much more convenient to use.  I still "test" new albums against both services periodically.  My "hit rate" with JRiver hovers around 75% or 80% these days.  My hit rate with dBpoweramp is 95% or higher. 

MC has a perfectly good all purpose ripper, and rips from the two programs should be indistinguishable.  In fact, dBpoweramp offers a tool (I think it's bundled into their PerfectTunes suite?) that will allow you to check existing rips against the accurate rip database, so you can verify for yourself that the JRiver rips are in fact the same.   The real differentiators IMO is the convenience factor.

AndrewFG:

--- Quote from: JimH on January 09, 2017, 10:09:08 am ---Andrew, MC allows you to specify the ripping speed.  I believe the lead-in adjustment is not relevant.  It's tiny, as I recall.

--- End quote ---

I don't doubt you Jim. I just said what I use and why..

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