Ripping CD's and expensive CD transports

[sKiZo]

BIG difference between ripping and playing. The high end transport won't usually need as much error correction, have a better DAC to convert the 1's and 0's from the disk, and should improve the "on the fly" direct playback.

As mentioned, your el cheepo ripping deck should do a fine job of ripping the disk to FLAC - it may just take longer due to more read errors, buffer fartz, and whatever. There, a lot depends on the software you use, as that's what verifies you have an accurate rip before writing the final version. Good news, one of the best packages out there (Exact Audio Copy) is FREE! It's good enough that the "light" version is built into a lot of front end server software like jRiver Media Center.

Little tip - use the default setting of "5" for ripping to FLAC. Only difference is file size, but not a lot, and it takes quite a bit longer to do the rips using higher settings - There's no audible difference as a result.

 

[cpt_paranoia]

The high end transport won't usually need as much error correction, have a better DAC to convert the 1's and 0's from the disk

A transport won't have a DAC, surely...?

And you may as well buy a high-end integrated CD player ("use a well-designed DAC clock in an integrated player").

As mentioned, your el cheepo ripping deck should do a fine job of ripping the disk to FLAC - it may just take longer due to more read errors, buffer fartz, and whatever

Expensive CD transports don't run at variable speeds (at least that I've seen). They are not intended for ripping; they are intended for real-time playback. So there's no point trying to compare ripping speeds between an 'audiophile CD transport' and an 'el cheepo ripping deck'.

There's an argument that computer CD drives, designed to run at much higher speeds than audio CDs, have better/more responsive control loops than an audio CD drive, and are therefore more able to read damaged disks. Whereas a CD player will simply mute or interpolate errors so that you won't hear them.

A computer CD drive has to perfectly read every bit off a data disk; a single bit error in a program read from a CDROM will cause a failure of the program.

A good ripping program, combined with a half-decent CDROM drive will rip a clean CD at about 25-30x speed (2 minutes for a 60 minute CD). If there are errors, it will try very hard to get an error-free rip. If the errors are significant (long, circumferential damage), it may not be able to get an error-free rip, and it will spend a long time trying to achieve it (depending on your error recovery settings in the ripper). But the same disk is unlikely to play error-free (without muting or interpolation) in a CD player.

 

[Johnny B]

Or wait until someone else -- as this is inevitable -- rips it.

I don’t get involved in that. I can afford the yearly subscription.

So far, yes.

I’m not surprised. Now if I asked in the Grateful Dead thread over at SHF, I’d probably get some takers.

 

[cpt_paranoia]

Or wait until someone else -- as this is inevitable -- rips it.

You seem to be conflating ripping with peer-to-peer sharing.

Ripping is merely taking a digital copy of a CD or DVD.

Making that copy available by peer-to-peer sharing is an entirely separate concept, that does not inevitably follow from ripping.

I have ripped thousands of my CDs. I have shared none of them.

 

[Mystic]

You seem to be conflating ripping with peer-to-peer sharing.

Ripping is merely taking a digital copy of a CD or DVD.

Making that copy available by peer-to-peer sharing is an entirely separate concept, that does not inevitably follow from ripping.

I have ripped thousands of my CDs. I have shared none of them.

No, it's (1) rip then (2) UL then (3) DL rip. Conflation of nuthin', just the usual order of things shared. And, really, this being effin' General Audio Digressions, let's jus' leave it at that. before (still) another pissin' match ensues. (Christ Almighty On A Crutch In Africa, this subforum is a biyotch)

 

[cpt_paranoia]

You seemed to be implying something nefarious about ripping. My point was that ripping and peer-to-peer sharing are not inexorably bound together.

 

[Frank Sol]

I like my newly acquired Audiolab 6000CDT (Transport)... It matches my PS Audio DAC and they make for a Pretty Combo

Good enough ^ for me


Oh... about Ripping

Either EAC or dbPoweramp