If this is true, then anything (other than compression artifacts) that I'm hearing in a rip should be correctable by careful equalization.

Well, that's true within limits. If your MP3s sound bad because they are too compressed, you can always reduce the compression level, and increase your hard disk capacity to compensate. But if your MP3s sound bad because your sound card sucks, there's not much you can do about that.

One particular problem in sound cards, from my understanding, is "harmonic distortion." You may have seen measures for "total harmonic distortion" in the specs for stereo equipment. Harmonic distortion occurs due to nonlinearities in your analog chain (or the D/A). If you feed a 1kHz sine wave into your sound card, harmonic distortion will show up as unwanted components at 2kHz, 3kHz, 4kHz, etc. Well, the problem with harmonic distortion is that it can't be eliminated by equalization. Once it's there, it's there.

Needless to say, one of the things you pay for in more expensive audio equipment is a design that minimizes noise, provides a flat frequency response, and minimizes nonlinear distortion. And that is really the important point: evaluate your sound card just like you would evaluate a piece of stereo equipment. That may mean considering the numbers: SNR, THD, dynamic range, and so forth. That may meen going on recommendations of computer audiophiles you trust. But that may mean listening, since quality is so often in the ear of the beholder. If possible, listen to a sound card connected through your favorite stereo, playing a variety of music, before you commit to buying it. I admit that's quite hard to do without a solid return policy from the computer store.

So when you say your .WAV files sound harsh compared to your CD player, I'd definitely finger your sound card as the culprit---if, of course, you're feeding your sound card's output to the same stereo system as the CD player.







Michael Grant
12GB Green
080000266