What cd burner is the best for audio music files?

I'm not a pro when it comes to audio burning softwares. I just used Nero and iTunes when I'd like to burn something into cd-r.

Just wondering what audio burning software/s you can possibly recommend (free or paid) according to your experiences and expertise when it comes to burning audio music. You know, I'd like to reproduce the exact sound quality from the mp3 files. And I doubt if Nero/iTunes does exactly that...

Any suggestions, recommendations and advice?

 

mp3s are already crippling the quality from 1440 to 320 at best, so any one will do I suppose.

 

Easy CD-DA Extractor is the one i've been using for years:
http://www.poikosoft.com/

you say you want to "reproduce the exact sound quality from the mp3 files".

the mp3 format is a compressed format.
if you want top quality use a non-compressed format, like FLAC and others.

one thing you must avoid is 'transcoding': transforming a mp3 file into another mp3 file.
it can be done but every time you do so you lose quality.
it's like editing a JPEG image, then saving it again as another JPEG.

not recommended at all.

 

easy cdda imo the best there is for this sole purpose

 

Well, every burning software would decode the audio files to WAV and then burn those. Taking in the fact that decoders are written to the format's specifications and also that some burning programs actually use the same decoding libraries makes them all the same.
Bottom line: use whatever program is most convenient to you.

 

For audio CD, nothing comes close to EAC which features offset correction mode as well.

 

There should be very little difference between programs.

I use CDBurnerXP because it's free.

 

I use MediaMonkey which I've found to be high quality.

http://www.mediamonkey.com/

Whilst moontan is spot on that using a lossless format such as FLAC is the best way,unfortunately this format isn't generally supported by CD players.

 

I have tried many burners over the years, and media.

I have had a great many discs that only work in a computer, not cd player. It has been a combination of the player not liking discs to the type of disc to the burner. I have tried many different things, but never found the best combo.

But, last year I was in a hurry to burn something for my kids for school, and only had win7 installed, so I used media player. It took a bit longer, had no real options, but produced a cd that works in everything.

Since then, I have been using only Sony brand cds and dvds, and only media player to create audio discs. I have not had a bad one yet. All the others (including those mentioned here and many others) have been hit or miss. Maybe it is only like this for me, but as long as it keeps working, it fits me just fine.

Sul.

 

Just to be clear the main issue with the audio quality of MP3 files is the bit-rate. MP3 is a lossy compression scheme, however if you "rip" music at the highest bit-rate - 320 kbps - you get the best sound quality. The trade off is the files are larger, but that's not as much of an issue these days. If you're ripping music from the original recording (WAV) then you will get MP3s that are indistinguishable from the original IMHO.

Regarding "burning" MP3s to CD-R, it really doesn't matter what software you use in my experience. I've never noticed a loss of quality based on burning software. As another poster mentioned Windows Media Player is a reliable choice for burning music CDs. The only exception is if you want to play the discs in a player that has the ability to display CD Text. My car CD player does so I use ImgBurn which has the ability to include CD Text on the disc. This makes it possible for the track titles, artist and album name to be displayed when the music is playing.

 

You know, lots of mp3 format sound files are sold in net coz of their ease of download and it could be transferred to mp3 players/ipod but there are times that we want to burn them into cd-r for some reason or another... ..and that's exactly what I want to consider about...the bit rate...I'd like this thing of the same bit rates when burn to cd-r. then if transfered again into pc that it has the same bit rate like the original ...of course the sound quality.

Do you think Imation, Maxell, Verbatim and Sony CD-R brands are of excellent quality when it comes to burning audio sound files? ....Coz there are times...I've noticed that Imation cd-r got a balanced sounding output compared to other brands. Some cd-r brands sounds a bit of "high-pitch" while some sounds like it lacks high-frequency ranges.

 

okay first once you rip a audio file to a mp3 and say use a bitrate of 320k its pretty much a done deal. YOU CAN go lower with decent results. but you can not go higher anymore and go back to a higher bit rate the system may tell you its is at that higher bitrate but the sound will not get any better. also if you are going to rip a song say rip it to what you want to begin with. if you rip to 320 then go to 256 then etc etc... you will end up with a HORRIBLE sounding track. you should use the highest bitrate you can if you are going to a audio cdr imo.

most cdr's come from the same factory fyi. there are only a handful of actual manufactures and they simply put companies names on them for them. many imations i have used are usually cmc (junk) or ritek. i have also very rarely seen them be made by moser baer which is also a midclass maker who also puts out a lot of junk. you cant go by the brand names anymore. you need to actually put the disc in and see what type of media it really is.

with cdr's you might buy all three of those brands maxell (junk junk junk lol) verbatim (depends if you get the ones made in taiwan or china etc MAKES A HUGE DIFFERENCE) and sony also use various makers. if you want TOP QUALITY discs the only two i can honestly recc anymore are falcon media (imo THE BEST discs on the market as of now period right now all i buy) or TAIYO YUDEN who are imo the second best out right now and both compaines MAKE THEIR own media. ty in japan and falcon in the uae. falcon uses the older original (the real deal not the new junk) tdk stampers for their discs and they are simply awesome burn quality.

dont forget the burner you use make a HUGE difference also. i NEVER recc a laptop drive for stuff you want the best quality out of because they simply just dont cut it. i also stay away from lg drives. my 2 current favs are optiarcs 72xx series (though some are still mediatek chips and some or not) and the previous gen samsungs. they newest ones are okay but not great.

why i like cd/da for a burning program for music is it lets do do pretty much ANYTHING you want. you can change the bitrate, use different codecs, change a pre recorded mp3 to a different codec or change the bitrate etc.. its designed for audio first and foremost.

if i dont use that i just use imgburn for audio and yes it does audio now its just a bit harder to just burn a disc with then easy cd/da.

hope some of this helps

 

I buy digital music from Amazon.com and their files are MP3/256kbps. To my ear that is virtually the same as a commercial CD. Still when I rip my own MP3s I use the 320kbps setting since it is better quality and space is not a concern.

When you transfer MP3 music to a CD-R the files are converted to WAV first. In other words they are uncompressed so it doesn't matter if some of them are 320kbps and others are 256kbps, etc, for recording purposes. I would not recommend "ripping" music from CD-Rs. I always save copies of my original files. Keep in mind that there is always the potential to introduce errors when moving data from one medium to another. In other words you may have good quality MP3s and still have glitches on a CD-R because the burning process is vulnerable. It's a good idea when burning CDs to unload all third party apps and not use the computer for any other function to minimize the possibility of introducing errors.

Finding CD-R brands that work best for you is trial and error. It depends on the players you want to use with the CDs. Some players have more problems reading discs made on computers than others. In my experience CD-Rs degrade over time, but usually by then I'm tired of the music so it's not a problem

 

for me the best compromise between filesize and quality is 192 kbs.
i can't tell the difference above that.

now, storage is very cheap so you can go higher.

i think if you're gonna go for 320 kps then you might as well use FLAC for archiving, and burn whatever bitrates you need for your portable.

 

Haven't seen falcon media and TAIYO YUDEN brands yet in my life.

I'm in the Philippines, so not sure if these brands you've mentioned are available in my country, but I'll look for it. thanks for that info...

You know, I lived in a province in a small city and I just buy what's readily available in the store and those media brands I've mentioned are the common brands I saw here. Hope those media brands you've mentioned are not that expensive or else ....

 

check supermediastore.com i may be wrong but i think they ship worldwide. you may not find falcon buy taiyo you should find almost anywhere

 

It makes no difference what you are burning. An audio CD won't sound better when burnt on different brands of media. What you have described is 100% in your imagination. After all, we are talking about digital audio. It's like saying your JPG photos look better when stored on a hard drive instead of on a flash/thumb drive or something like that.

As far as bitrates go - the true way to encode files is VBR (Variable Bitrate). So many people are still stuck in the 20th century when it comes to audio compression. CBR (Constant Bitrate) is obsolete, because it's inefficient - one either wastes quality, or disk space, or both, depending on what bitrate one has chosen and what music is being encoded. VBR is also known as "constant quality" mode. Let me try to explain. Every track/song is different. Some songs are quite difficult compress effecitvely, while others are easier. And on top of that, in every song there are parts that need less bitrate and parts that need more bitrate. Example with 3 frames: the first frame is simple and even 96kbps would be enough, the second frame is in the middle and 192kbps should be enough for it, the third frame is complex and 320kpbs are needed for transparent encoding. If one had chosen CBR 192 for the MP3, there would be wasted bitrate on the first frame, and it won't be enough to compress the third frame with the best possible quality. If one had chosend CBR 320 for the file, then the last frame would be encoded without quality loss, but there would be a lot of wasted bits on the first and second frames. VBR solves that.

In my opinion encoding in CBR 320 Kbps is the most idiotic thing one can do, as it basically offers the worst of both worlds - one loses quality anyway, because MP3 is a lossy format, but one doesn't save much space in the process. VBR produces the same quality without wasting hard drive space, so if one wants to save space - VBR is the way to go. If quality is important and storage space is not a problem, then one should stick with a lossless codec (FLAC, TAK, Monkey's Audio, OptimFrog, WavPack, ALAC, whatever...) and shouldn't bother with lossy formats at all.

As far as media goes, the most recommended in general is the media by either Verbatim (manufactured in Singapore) or Taiyo Yuden. There is other decent media but those discs are regarded as overall best.