Playing DVD-Audio in iTunes

Question

Level 1

77 points

Playing DVD-Audio in iTunes

Hi,
Does anyone out there have experience listening to DVD-Audio discs in iTunes? Just to be clear, I'm not asking about importing movies on DVD.
I have a few albums published in hi-definition sound on DVD-Audio discs, a format used for audiophile recordings. Nothing to do with video. I have two of them in front of me right now - one is recorded in 48/24-bit sound, the other in 96/24-bit sound. They are both playable on all DVD players.
So what I'm asking for is tips on how to import into iTunes while maintaining the highest possible audio fidelity.

Thanks!

Dual G5 2.5Ghz 2GB RAM, Powerbook G4 1.33Ghz, iPod 60GB, Mac OS X (10.4.9), 500GB internal HDD

Posted on Nov 2, 2007 10:16 AM

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Answer 1

Timmy Y

Level 4

3,115 points

Nov 2, 2007 10:40 AM in response to Jason Woolfe

I don't think iTunes itself can rip it. Music on a DVD is in multi-channel format. It has Left, Right, Center, and surround channels. iTunes works with stereo material. But, you could use something like Wiretap:

http://www.ambrosiasw.com/utilities/wiretap/

Convert it using DVD Player/VLC as the source, and then import it into iTunes.

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Answer 2

Jason Woolfe Author

Level 1

77 points

Nov 2, 2007 10:51 AM in response to Timmy Y

Hi Timmy Y,
Thanks for the message. I should have clarified - yes, I'm aware that iTunes can't rip it! In fact, I'm grateful to you for the WireTap idea. I've used something similar in the past (Audio Hijack, I think) to achieve the same end but posted here really because I wonder about achieving the highest audio quality I can. I'm not a sound guy and don't understand the significance of hi-definition sound but realise I'm going to listen to the iTunes output through stereo speakers and want to keep as much of the sound quality as possible.
Actually, (while i'm warming to the subject) I now remember that with Audio Hijack, there was an additional problem: maximum file size was capped at some limit (3GB?) which effectively prevented ripping an entire piece of audio as WAV in one go.
This all makes me think I should suggest this kind of functionality (surround sound capability) for a sort of iTunes-Pro product that Apple should develop.
It looks like I need to try WireTap and see how it goes...

Cheers,
Jason

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Answer 3

Timmy Y

Level 4

3,115 points

Nov 2, 2007 10:57 AM in response to Jason Woolfe

Yeah, it'd be a good idea for iTunes to have some sort of surround. It'd be good to leave them some feedback here:

http://www.apple.com/feedback/itunesapp.html

Tell me how the Wiretap goes 🙂

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Answer 4

Jason Woolfe Author

Level 1

77 points

Nov 22, 2007 2:29 PM in response to Timmy Y

Sorry for the late reply - been busy with work.
But I ripped the DVD-A tonight. Having bought the discs, I thought I'd better read up on the format. From what I've read (and I'm absolutely an audio newbie so may be wrong) I now gather that it's a (failing) competitor to SACD and that playing it through DVD player on the Mac probably invalidates its (questionable) audio benefit. But anyway - to answer your question, I used Audio Hijack to rip via DVD Player to AIFF. Then I converted (via XLD) to Apple Lossless and edited the album down to its tracks (in Quicktime). This whole process is a pain: with 1x rip speed and no cue sheet, the job is slow. This particular disc contains three pieces of music, two in four movements and one in five movements. I just couldn't face the task of finding the exact movement breaks, so ended up with three tracks for the iTunes library. One piece, nearly 17 minutes long, comes out at 65mb, 541kbps which is certainly not the highest I've seen by a long way.
So, conclusions:
Does the music sound good? Sure!
But does it sound any better than a 'regular' CD? Since I don't have a comparison disc and am currently listening through fairly standard speakers, I can't swear, but I think there's no discernable difference. I suspect good CD mastering and audio engineering in the first place probably makes more difference.

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