Ripping a large cd collection, are these the basics?

If you are considering buying a DAC and external storage, I suggest you look at the Blue Sound Vault.

 

They did in the 90s.

 

I've been pleased with dbpoweramp > Wav (especially Wav being that I use minimserver as a UPnP server and wav tags fit like a charm where my control points, Kazoo, or Kinsky don't get weirdly tagged albums)

 

I would agree that there is zero advantage except for the advantage cited.

To the OP: rip your CD's to a hard drive in FLAC or WAV, your choice. If you choose WAV and find file sizes to be too large for your situation, you can convert to FLAC.
OR convert from FLAC -> WAV wth a software program.

Choose a ripping software program that supports AccurateRIP.

 

Rough Diamond's comment makes no sense at all. Flac is lossless, and dealing with wav files is a hassle especially with portables such as a car.

 

I think that the OP has received great responses to their query.
I like WAV myself( I have older devices, car and cell phone and music player) but am not about to start arguing the superiority of either format. That is in other threads.

 

Great replies received, thanks to all.

My thoughts are to either buy the Marantz NA 8005 Network Audio Player or the Bluesound Vault 2.

The Bluesound may be the most convenient but I have reservations about being locked into their eco system and also about whether it is a lifestyle rather than audio quality product.

 

I know there shouldn't be any difference between FLAC and WAV,but i can (in blind tests) tell the difference between recordings that i have ripped in FLAC format via DBpoweramp,to those i have ripped ripped to WAV via EAC..I prefer the later. sounds more solid and transparent.And before anyone says it can't be! Try a direct comparison yourselves.

 

I just looked at the specs of the Marantz NA 8005 and it looks like a nice player. I especially like that it has digital inputs in addition to being a streamer. And that it accepts DSD via USB DAC. Lots of possibilities. But be aware that it only accepts up to 24/96 for WAV and FLAC. For ripping your CDs that is not relevant and it won't be for the majority of hi-res downloads or rips. But for the rare case of files at 24/192 you'll have to convert to AIFF (the only format where it accepts this high resolution). But Foobar can do that for you, so it's really not that big an issue.

But if you should go that way, you might really consider a NAS in combination with a software on a phone or tablet. Going through large collections on a hard drive with only using the little display on your network player is really not an option in the long run.

 

I did and I can't tell a difference. And not sounding different is the whole point of FLAC. But we really shouldn't continue this discussion here, since there have been too many threads already derailed by it. The OP should do the comparison and decide for himself.

 

EAC is great software and I still keep it in my tool set. But dBpoweramp is far, far more convenient for metadata alone and speeds up the process of attacking a large collection a lot.

 

One thing that I found that greatly helped with ripping my large collection was blending new purchases in with the old collection when ripping everything. It helped break up the monotony.

 

Good idea, I'm just a little concerned that the Blue Sound Vault may be more of a lifestyle, rather than audio quality, product.

 

lol not at all. I use the Node2 as I have a NAS. The sound quality is excellent. I had the Cambridge CXN, the Node 2 and what was my existing Logitech Squeezebox in the house at the same time. I was trying to decade between the CXN and the Node. Took the node. It is not perfect but from my search was the very best solution at the price point. If you have a Best Buy around they carry it in their Magnolia area. They matched a lower internet price and if I did not like it were willing to full refund within 30 days. BS markets their ecosystem as a life style approach but it is true HiFi quality.

 

As with Sonos, it probably makes more sense if you've bought into their ecosystem and distribute their speakers throughout your home. However for $1,199, I prefer the flexibility of a Mac Mini for ripping, storage and streaming (e.g. Headless Mac Mini w/ SSD, dBpoweramp, external SuperDrive and direct-attach music storage / back-up). The Mac Mini can also be attached to a DAC via USB or its optical headphone jack.

 

Haha brilliant, but is it worse than any of the recommendations thus far?

 

EAC
FLAC - sounds EXACTLY the same as WAV and can handle tags
Back Up

I've done over a 1000 CDs like this, oh and avoid ripping using a PC that DVD/CD drive does Blu Ray, they can't
seem to RIP properly.

 

Of course it is. What do you think is the reason no one is recommending it here (or in other places)? Just take a look at the capabilities and configuration options of programs like dbpoweramp, CUERipper, EAC or foobar and you'll see what's missing in WMP, for example secure ripping modes and AccurateRip support.

 

Thanks.

It's not a problem that BS doesn't cater for sacd but does the vault 2 rip cdrs that play in normal CD players.

 

Before you start, think about where you want the ripped files. (Like c:\Music as the base folder.) Estimate how much disk space will be required. For Flac files, I use 3 CDs to a Gigabyte as a rough guide.

Then think about how you want the files to be named. For example, c:\Jazz\Goodman, Benny\Compact Jazz\Roll 'Em.Flac. Before you start ripping CDs, you need to specify the base location and the naming rules to the ripping software.

You should figure out how the storage device, the PC and the DAC will be connected. If you store your files on a USB drive and send them to a DAC with a USB connection, you'll need a PC in the middle.

You should also understand what software you will use locate, select and play music files. I have mostly classical music and other music for which the composer is as important. JRiver Media Center is well suited for my needs. Most other software is far less suitable for playing classical music. Understand what you need before you put time and money into ripping CDs.

You need to make sure that you understand how the pieces fit together before you get started.

At step 3, you should check the tag values the ripping software found online. Fix any problems before you start the ripping process.

If you have a lot of files, storage in the cloud may not be very practical. Think in terms of 2 copies of local storage for your files: the copy you play music files from and a backup copy (not on the same physical drive). When you rip another batch of CDs, copy those new files to the backup drive.

I think you need to do some more reading and asking questions before you get started. If you don't understand how everything will work together, you are asking for grief to plunge in.

Putting your music on computer drives isn't expensive but you need to learn some basics and understand what your requirements are. Then do your consumer research and make good decisions.

 

One step that I'd add for myself is to use a ripping tool that allows you to detect if a CD has HDCD encoding or not. I want to know if a CD has HDCD encoding or not. It's important information for me.

dBpoweramp is able to detect if a CD has HDCD, and is also able to decode the HDCD during the rip. dBpoweramp doesn't display whether the CD has HDCD or not by default. You need to manually add the "Track Technical" column to the info that dBpoweramp displays when you insert a CD. Right-click on the columns header and select "Track Technical" in the menu that is displayed.

For HDCD discs I do two rips. One rip with no HDCD decoding. And another rip with HDCD decoding. I tag each appropriately so I know which is which and so that they are listed as separate albums in my media player. I use either dBpoweramp or CUETools to do the HDCD decoding.

dBpoweramp is a very nice ripper. In part because it is able to do things like detect HDCD easily. Things that other rippers don't do. There are many reasons to like dBpoweramp. This is just one of them.

 

Lots of good advice in here - I also use dBpoweramp and have been really happy with it, but I would also add that if you have the available storage (and storage is cheap enough nowadays), go with uncompressed files. When I rip to file, I usually use FLAC and always go with Lossless, Uncompressed (but I'd do this for any format). This *should* provide a bit-for-bit replication of the source and thus optimize sound quality, if not at the very least minimize any potential opportunity for corruption or degradation.

 

The Blue Sound gear provides: options for wired or wireless (WiFi network) streaming of your library to the playback system; DAC electronics to convert just about any digital format to analogue feed to the system; the ability to tune to and playback internet radio audio (yes HiRez streams too); music indexing, organizing and displaying (artwork); and storage if the vault version is used. The system is controlled via an app. using a computer, tablet or phone. It does not play cd's, or offer any tools to convert or rip music.

 

There is a Blue Sound cd ripping product sold here called Vault 2 VAULT 2 : Bluesound »
Apparently it rips, stores and can send the output to the other Blue Sound gear or to an integrated amplifier.

 

From what I understand, the "case" for WAV or AIFF over FLAC is that FLAC is still a compressed format (albeit lossless) and requires more processing by the DAC to decode. Apparently this (allegedly) results in FLAC not sounding as good as WAV or AIFF. I'm skeptical, but if it were true, I'd expect it to be limited to older or poorly engineered DACs.