Quake (1996)

[tricil]

...ripping my disc without pre-empasis now as iTunes rips apparently don't account for this...

[Jon]

...ripping my disc without pre-empasis now as iTunes rips apparently don't account for this...

I hadn't gotten around to trying with iTunes yet. Which version of iTunes did you use? If I remember correctly, it properly de-emphasized at some point.

[tricil]

I hadn't gotten around to trying with iTunes yet. Which version of iTunes did you use? If I remember correctly, it properly de-emphasized at some point.

The latest version, aka “Music”

my rip from Apple Music sounds muted but my XLD rip sounds brighter and fuller.

[Jon]

The latest version, aka “Music”

my rip from Apple Music sounds muted but my XLD rip sounds brighter and fuller.

Oh, Mac? iTunes absolutely applies de-emphasis unless we're talking a 15+ year old computer. Also, the more muted rip should (always) be correct when comparing pre-emphasis/de-emphasis rips.

It's much harder to tell on something like this, but instantly stands out in genres like Jazz, or brass-heavy music.

[tricil]

Oh, Mac? iTunes absolutely applies de-emphasis unless we're talking a 15+ year old computer. Also, the more muted rip should (always) be correct when comparing pre-emphasis/de-emphasis rips.

It's much harder to tell on something like this, but instantly stands out in genres like Jazz, or brass-heavy music.

Sent you a PM to compare

[Jon]

Sent you a PM to compare

I am terrible at presentation, but I have finished analyzing all of the rips, and have some "revelations" about Quake.

First, every physical release of Quake has pre-emphasis. Every. Single. One. However, they abandoned adding the pre-emphasis flag at some point. This is the prompt (flag) that ripping programs look at to determine whether or not to apply de-emphasis. If the program is unable to detect the flag, or it flat-out doesn't exist, then you get a non de-emphasized rip. This is true regardless of what program is used.

I can tell you that your iTunes rip is accurate, and how it's supposed to sound. Mine wasn't. Want to guess why? Yours had the flag set, which let iTunes know to apply de-emphasis, my release has no flags whatsoever. That means that any rip from a Quake release which tells you there is no pre-emphasis is inaccurate (you need to de-emphasize it yourself). All of my first rips were inaccurate. I used SoX to deemph all of my rips, and what do you know, they matched your initial iTunes rip. I then de-emphasized your XLD rip, and yep, it matched your initial iTunes rip. Your initial XLD rip matched all of my initial rips, which is what tipped me off.

I have Spek and Audacity screenshots for every rip, before and after using SoX to de-emphasize. I also have shntool, auCDtect, and DR logs for everything. I wanted to get all of the pertinent information out there before (unnecessarily) flooding my point with technical shit that most people don't care about or makes no sense to them. I "have the receipts" though, if you'd like to see a few visual comparisons.

[tricil]

Thank you for this. I'm used to hearing it "right" myself, but ever since I ripped it "incorrectly," I think I favor the brighter version. It makes the de-emphasized version sound literally filtered (which it is, technically).