What is true lossless? For DIGITAL Audio Only.

Actually, CD manufactured in bulk are Pressed (Not burned). The Digital information is Pressed into a very thin metallic layer. Usually, the metals used are: Aluminum or Gold or Silver or a Silver alloy. Gold will not tarnish, and is stable over much longer periods.
Aluminum has the highest reflectivity, yielding the best Reads (Lowest Read Errors) by the laser. After much research, JVC's premium XRCDs are manufactured by pressing / stamping an Aluminum layer.

Only CD-R (Recordable CDs) are burnt, in a process that takes a fairly long time. The Laser Power is increased to generate enough heat to change the reflectivity of an embedded layer of dye. CD-Rs have Much poorer reflectivity.... typically 30% of a stamped CD. That is why an old CD player with a fading laser may not be able to read a CD-R but will read a stamped CD.

Yes, the extra bits required by the Reed Solomon (RS) error correction are an intrinsic part of the data 'words' written into the CD. The original CDDA file contains all the extra bits required for RS data correction.
Every digital 'word' on a CD contains the Data (Music bits) + extra information required for the RS Algorithm to provide error correction)


On the side.... Not part of the main discussion on lossless, Ripping individual tracks and then burning them on a CD-R, actually destroys the identity of the CD. The CD-R will not be recognised by the ripping software (eg EAC or dBPowerAmp) and the CD Databases. So in that sense, the CD-R is NOT Lossless ;)

To burn a 'lossless' CD-R, the original CD must be ripped as an Image file. This will create a .cue file (small size, typically 2 KB to 5 KB) and a single large .wav or .flac file. When this 'Image' is burnt onto a CDR, it will result in an identical replica of the original CD, which will be recognised and all track & artist meta data retrieved by any ripping software such as EAC or dB PowerAmp....... but I digress......
 
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My understanding, lossless and sound quality both are different things. lossless format never guaranteed sound quality, sound quality comes from the recording source and media (in case analog audio) Lossless and lossy are just name of processing. If source is good lossy can sound better
 
My understanding, lossless and sound quality both are different things. lossless format never guaranteed sound quality, sound quality comes from the recording source and media (in case analog audio) Lossless and lossy are just name of processing. If source is good lossy can sound better
Yes. I have few hindustani classical tracks in mp3 which sound many many times better than FLAC. I'm sure the original source used for mp3 was better than the version that was used to make the CD. So the most important thing is the recording. Once you have a good recording, the lossless versions will be better than the lossy versions and hi-res lossless will be better than non-hires version.

Watch this video from Darko where he shows that the dynamic range of the tracks ripped from original vinyl is better than the tracks from the streaming services and also better than the tracks ripped from the remastered vinyl.
 
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1. PCM is the pure and native form of digital audio.
2. Cannot make out - .Wav or .Flac are lossless containers of music data, designed to hold PCM data, but both can also be loaded with .mp3. So a .Flac or .Wav file by itself means nothing. But here the file size will show if it is holding a .mp3. But my next point is also important.
3. Used to be yes, but with modern remastering software like PGGB, size is no longer a arbiter of sound quality. We can today convert a 320 KBPS .MP3 to .Wav or .Flac with 16 bit / 44.1 khz resolution. So no way to find out.
4. Best bet is a original first recording audio CD. I dont know about Qobuz or apple music as I havent used both.

I bet my answer was the most useless one ever. Wrote a lot...but didnt say anything in the end 🤣
You said it all. I no longer crave for lossless, got youtube premium for Rs. 129 a month and the premium music has almost everything. Now I enjoying listening to music VS finding lossless stuff years ago.
 
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