What's the difference btwn CDA and WAV?

[chamois]

Happened to buy a CD made in China, couldn't play it, even on branded players.
I manage to get the files via computer, they are WAV.

Question:
Is there any difference in the sonic quality or information encoded (any true losses?) btwn the conventional properly pressed tracks CDA and WAV file format ?

Will there be any difference in reproduction ?
I am interested in faithful exact sound reproduction, not whether it is psychoacoustically discernible by human ear.
I am rather sensitive to mp3 and wma difference and playing the original CD(CDA), especially the high frequency notes and basses.

Thanks.

 

[Cheez]

To be played on a CD player, the files must be in cda format (or CD Audio). The files are inherently wav files. All you need to do is to convert them into CD format by using standard CD burning software.

Looks like you've got a pirated CD...

 

[chamois]

Cheez,

You are not answering the question.

My concern is about true reproduction - playing via CDA original pressed tracks or the WAV file.
And which one is "truly" lossless, or more accurately/closely represents the original analogue recorded information.

WAV is A file format more for those working with the sound using computer.
I think most PC users will work with audio data on computer via WAV file format. I not sure about Mac users.

CDA is not a file format. Many CD players can play CDA/WMA/MP3/WAV files now.
But sometimes if the name of the file contains unicode or many ".", the device may not be intelligent enough, it is the case I am encounter now.

Regards

 

[tim098]

VERY OFF TOPIC but i happened to notice the timings of each reply in this thread (except probably mine) are so nicely similar.. heh. sorry.

 

[blueprintstudios]

Q:
Is there any difference in the sonic quality or information encoded (any true losses?) btwn the conventional properly pressed tracks CDA and WAV file format ?

A : not that I can tell. after all CD standard quality is 44.1khz 16bit unless stated otherwise, so there shouldn't be any loss if you "cd rip" , unless boils down to your CD RIPPER.

Q :
Will there be any difference in reproduction ?
A:
you could try rip CD > wav >burn to CD > rip to wav > burn to cd > rip to wav a few hundred times and find out.

Q :
I am interested in faithful exact sound reproduction, not whether it is psychoacoustically discernible by human ear.
A :
1) grab a huge hard drive. now 500 gb for $180
2) use nero or a CD Image ISO software to "Clone" your CD as .nrg or .iso
3) use a software called daemon tools to mount them as "virtual cds" for future playback.
that would be your best form of reproduction.

Q:
I am rather sensitive to mp3 and wma difference and playing the original CD(CDA), especially the high frequency notes and basses.
A:
then you gotta stop downloading files, avoid myspace,imeem etc and not use cd rippers for playback? or if you want it mobile, encode at 320kbps mp3. but as long as you keep the original cd image should be fine?

 

[MadWerewolfBoy]

At the rate he is going, I think even 1mbps mp3s are not good enough... Not that they exist anyway but you get the idea...

 

[The_Rover]

Cheez,
WAV is A file format more for those working with the sound using computer.
I think most PC users will work with audio data on computer via WAV file format. I not sure about Mac users.

Mac users will use AIFFs

Q:
you could try rip CD > wav >burn to CD > rip to wav > burn to cd > rip to wav a few hundred times and find out.

Wahahahaha! That is actually something interesting I have never thought of!

 

[godchuanz]

Haha no need for the trouble.

WAV and CDA are both valid perfect PCM representations of digital audio, as is AIFF. You can convert between the 2 a million times and it will end up the same.
The reason why CDA is used in the CD is because of error checking and recovery through very intelligent encoding and "parity checks". So, even if your CD gets scratched, your CD player can still try to "guess" the audio data.

If you rip a normal audio CD into WAV (assuming no errors), you'll get a perfect copy. If you create an audio CD image, it'll be perfect duplication again. It is strange that your CD holds data in WAV format, but whatever the case, pirated or not, it should still be usable.

 

[ac]

.cda is just a file extension for computer media players so that they can enumerate the contents of an audio cd.

If you rip the cd to any 16bit 44.1khz pcm format, or container formats such as aiff, riff, wav, avi, etc. it will be exactly the same as the CD, bearing in mind that ripping itself is susceptible to errors, jitter, error correction etc.