Question concerning FLAC Accuracy

[omrsc]

Great software…and EASY to use!

Three Codec choices are available: FLAC, MP3 and WAV. I’ve compared a few samples (same songs) between FLAC and WAV and can’t tell any difference in sound quality/fidelity, so I use FLAC since file sizes are reduced around 30-40%. I also rip using MP3 so I can play this in my car. In both formats, I use the default settings.

Now, a question concerning “confidence ”…and here’s an example.

=====================================================================================
Track 1

Filename C:\Users\Home\Music\Flac\Fleetwood Mac\The Very Best Of\01 Monday Morning - Fleetwood Mac.flac

Stage 1 SHA-1 checksum: 0134558a6857d7a4d106ff85355696ff1242e7ae
Accurately ripped (confidence 88)
Track has been read error-free

=====================================================================================

For this entire album (Disc 1 & Disc 2), every “Track” reads “error-free”, and the “confidence” varies from “77” to “88”.

What exactly is the “confidence” # telling me?

[korth]

FLAC is a LOSSLESS compression codec so has no loss in quality.

Easy Audio Copy makes use of the AccurateRip database. "Accurately ripped" means the audio matched results stored in that database and the Confidence refers to the number of matches. The term "Confidence" (in my opinion) was a poor choice by the AccurateRip developer. Technically, 200 isn't any better than 2. 

[omrsc]

Many thanks, korth.

I ran a google on "Confidence" for AccurateRip and there were tons of responses...most of them very confusing.  Your explanation explains that in easily understood terms.