CD player / streamer

[Headcoat]

If (and only if) the PC has all the required software to achieve a perfect rip that a dedicated ripper has, then the rip may be identical. My ripper has dBpoweramp, it has access to 3 databases to establish the precise bit count it is looking for and goodness know what else, some requiring a subscription.

OK, let's take it that the PC is loaded with all this software and a perfect rip is on its hard drive. How do you get it off the PC into your audio system? The PC will have a very poor DAC, so forget using that. It will have inferior difital interface connectors (apart mybe from USB) and will be a source of jitter. Best to transfer the file to a proper server to serve your hi-fi. You might as well get a dedicated ripper in the first place that is designed solely for audio. If you are happy with compromises, then OK, but you are likely then to accept compromises all along the way and you end up with mediocre sound. Lots of things can be done with PCs but they are not designed specifically for this purpose.

Interesting re. dedicated ripping software. Is iTunes not good for ripping CD's? I've used it for years and played back via an old iPod classic without any noticeable loss of sq.

Re. how to get the music from computer to audio system: the Marantz and Yamaha CD/streamers I mentioned both have a USB input that can be used for external storage devices i.e. a back up hard drive. So, simply back up the file from the computer and use the hard drive to feed the 1's and 0's to the CD streamer.

 

[Headcoat]

I’m with @Lurch on this one. I’ve owned the Marantz you mention and it was a tremendous cd player but to be honest I could live without one now I have the Zen Mini.

How did the Marantz sound to you?

 

[Chumpchops]

Interesting re. dedicated ripping software. Is iTunes not good for ripping CD's? I've used it for years and played back via an old iPod classic without any noticeable loss of sq.

Re. how to get the music from computer to audio system: the Marantz and Yamaha CD/streamers I mentioned both have a USB input that can be used for external storage devices i.e. a back up hard drive. So, simply back up the file from the computer and use the hard drive to feed the 1's and 0's to the CD streamer.

You can do this. But you are limited it’s to mp3 and ALAC codecs if you take this route. I did that years ago, but quite quickly defaulted to FLACs whenever possible, then MP3s if necessary.

Make your library better suited to other platforms for playback.

 

[bencat]

I have at admit up front that I hate all things Apple and do not own any of their equipment . I loath iTunes due to is insistence of changing the names and order of everything so that only iTunes can find things and they have never supported FLAC which is the open source universal lossless for almost everything else . Mp3 is only ever used if there is no alternative .

 

[Headcoat]

You can do this. But you are limited it’s to mp3 and ALAC codecs if you take this route. I did that years ago, but quite quickly defaulted to FLACs whenever possible, then MP3s if necessary.

Make your library better suited to other platforms for playback.

I rip the CD's at 1411 kbps .aiff in iTunes, and not ALAC or mp3.

 

[Headcoat]

I should add my experience with ripping to ALAC *seemed* to create artefacts - sounded like a weird cymbal click. Happened when playing back via the iPod and also on some CD's I burnt from converted to ALAC files.

I've not had the same issues with purchased ALAC downloads or ripped .aiff files.

A curious one for sure.

 

[Chumpchops]

I rip the CD's at 1411 kbps .aiff in iTunes, and not ALAC or mp3.

AIFF and ALAC are effectively the same. ALAC is aiff wrapped in a container (MP4a.)

Its the container that allows such things as lossless compression and tag editing etc.

i did have all ALAC at one time but converted to FLAC over a few months, as it was then easier to play the ripped files across a broader multitude of devices, without clicks n errors in playback.

 

[bigfool1956]

ALAC is now open software, and as such won't have any issues. In the past the ALAC decoders used by non-apple software was based on a reverse engineered decoder, and I also had SQ issues with that. Now that ALAC is open, that situation has changed.

Note that an iPod is restricted to 16 bit playback, even though you can store 24 bit files on it, and it does it by brutally truncating the last 8 bits instead of correct dithered processing.

As for needing a dedicated audio ripper, that's simply not true. Ripping with dbPoweramp or EAC and checking the rips with Accurip will give a true copy, which can be file transferred to your server or NAS with not change in data. Jitter is not a factor in file transfers. Bear in mind if there was a chance of the transfer being a problem, then sending the data to accurrip would also not work...

I use dbPoweramp and it initially does a burst rip, if that checks out against accurrip, then it accepts the file immediately. Burst ripping is exactly what iTunes does. In my experience I have had very few CDs that didn't rip accurately just from the initial burst rip, which means in most cases an iTunes rip will be the same as a dbPoweramp rip, except FLAC isn't possible. What dbPoweramp gives you is the confidence that the rip is a good one, plus the ability to properly rip those few 'difficult' CDs.

 

[Chumpchops]

ALAC is now open software, and as such won't have any issues. In the past the ALAC decoders used by non-apple software was based on a reverse engineered decoder, and I also had SQ issues with that. Now that ALAC is open, that situation has changed.

Note that an iPod is restricted to 16 bit playback, even though you can store 24 bit files on it, and it does it by brutally truncating the last 8 bits instead of correct dithered processing.

As for needing a dedicated audio ripper, that's simply not true. Ripping with dbPoweramp or EAC and checking the rips with Accurip will give a true copy, which can be file transferred to your server or NAS with not change in data. Jitter is not a factor in file transfers. Bear in mind if there was a chance of the transfer being a problem, then sending the data to accurrip would also not work...

I use dbPoweramp and it initially does a burst rip, if that checks out against accurrip, then it accepts the file immediately. Burst ripping is exactly what iTunes does. In my experience I have had very few CDs that didn't rip accurately just from the initial burst rip, which means in most cases an iTunes rip will be the same as a dbPoweramp rip, except FLAC isn't possible. What dbPoweramp gives you is the confidence that the rip is a good one, plus the ability to properly rip those few 'difficult' CDs.

Yup. DB poweramp can also batch convert rips across formats. This is how I moved my MP4a rips to FLAC. It’s A great tool to have on your PC.

 

[Headcoat]

AIFF and ALAC are effectively the same. ALAC is aiff wrapped in a container (MP4a.)

Its the container that allows such things as lossless compression and tag editing etc.

i did have all ALAC at one time but converted to FLAC over a few months, as it was then easier to play the ripped files across a broader multitude of devices, without clicks n errors in playback.

That's interesting. So my 1,411 kbps .aiff rips are the same as an ALAC rip just without the container that enables the lossless compression. In other words they ought to sound identical?

 

[Headcoat]

Note that an iPod is restricted to 16 bit playback, even though you can store 24 bit files on it, and it does it by brutally truncating the last 8 bits instead of correct dithered processing.

Fortunately my download box sets are 16 bit. I need to check if I'm ripping at 16 or 24 bit then for CD's.

 

[Jules_S]

That's interesting. So my 1,411 kbps .aiff rips are the same as an ALAC rip just without the container that enables the lossless compression. In other words they ought to sound identical?

Er, "depends". In theory, yes, the fact that it's a lossless CODEC means that the original datastream can be recreated exactly. The reason that perhaps it's not always true that they sound the same would be down to the ability of the decoding equipment to do that job correctly. All equipment "should" be capable of doing that but then again CD "should" be perfect...

 

[Headcoat]

Er, "depends". In theory, yes, the fact that it's a lossless CODEC means that the original datastream can be recreated exactly. The reason that perhaps it's not always true that they sound the same would be down to the ability of the decoding equipment to do that job correctly. All equipment "should" be capable of doing that but then again CD "should" be perfect...

My word, it's confusing. I'm going back to CD

 

[Southeast]

Here is a british company who make amps but recently they made a cd player that can also be used as a pre amp and has internet radio/dab and Bluetooth
DLNA / Upnp renderer.
It can be connected to your home network for streaming services.
I had their integrated amplifier and was very impressed.
https://www.iotaenterprises.co.uk/products/iotavx-np3-pre-order
It is though £599 but is another option

 

[Chumpchops]

That's interesting. So my 1,411 kbps .aiff rips are the same as an ALAC rip just without the container that enables the lossless compression. In other words they ought to sound identical?

Yes they should sound identical. the Data contained will be the same. But the file if compressed will also have smaller footprint in the ALAC. Compression in this context removes no music, it only removes strings of duplicate data patterns and then leaves a little token in its place. Container is unpacked and data reinflated on playback, the meta data knows where the tokens are and they are to be replaced by the original data strings prior to playback. This is lossless.

MP3 compression works quite differently , using psycho acoustic algorithm to physically trim the data. Nothing is added back in prior to playback. That is lossy.

 

[DomT]

My word, it's confusing. I'm going back to CD

It’s possible to have two types of conversations about ripping CDs and playing them back.

A) Rip your CDs to a hard drive and play them back from your streamer. Works well and sounds great.

B) (to be read with lots of sucking of teeth and exaggerate exasperation) well you need to consider xyz and depending on z you may need reconsider x and then again there is data and data and well did I mention that a might be tricky after all because of electricity and other HiFi stuff etc etc.

I found A) to be true a couple of years ago and am thoroughly enjoying it.

 

[Ceko]

How did the Marantz sound to you?

Oh that sounded great! And I’m sure it would look real great combined with the PM8006! I’m leaning more towards the bits-are-bits community though so the things I’d say were really great about the Marantz were the silent disc operation and the connectivity/features (i.e. The dac inputs and network features).