Need a new optical drive for ripping CDs for streaming

[Echolane]

I’m having my dual boot Windows 7 Windows 10 Computer rebuilt next week and I plan to rip CDs on the computer for my streaming audio system.  I’ve read there are differences in optical drives in quality of rips.  Should I upgrade my ordinary optical drive for something special?  Are there actually differences in quality?  Would be good to have it burn too.  Any suggestions appreciated.

[sandyk]

I get excellent results when using an internal LG BR writer. You may not need to use the BluRay part for now, but it also gives the opportunity later for ripping the audio from BluRay Music Videos,  as well burning audio files (RBCD and High Res) to Blu Ray for archival/Backup purposes .

 In fact, where I have done this, they sound very good indeed when played using my Oppo 103.

 Perhaps due to less Jitter due to the precision of the Optical block needed to read a Blu Ray disc ?

[CatManDo]

I would also recommend a drive that reads Blu-ray discs, since it's very convenient for ripping Blu-ray discs,

 

Drives that write Blu-ray discs are usually twice as expensive as those which just read BD (and write CD/DVD) - 60€ vs 120€ -, so you may skip that option if you don't need it.

 

 

[Echolane]

I hadn’t considered BluRay because I didn’t think they were copyable, or should I say rippable.  What am I missing?  Can they be copied?  Actually, the same is true for DVD. So far as I know they can’t be copied either.

[firedog]

1 hour ago, Echolane said:

I hadn’t considered BluRay because I didn’t think they were copyable, or should I say rippable.  What am I missing?  Can they be copied?  Actually, the same is true for DVD. So far as I know they can’t be copied either

They both can be copied. You need d some specialized software. There are instructions on this site written by Chris.

 

[Norton]

4 hours ago, sandyk said:

they sound very good indeed when played using my Oppo 103.

 

Interesting.  If you've compared, would you say that, using the Oppo,  RBCD burnt to BD-R sounds better than to CD-R (or even vs the original CD?). Or that HiRes sounds better on BD-R than from a thumb drive?

 

I’ve never burnt anything to disc let alone played one back in my Oppo.  What is the max PCM and DSD res. that the Oppo can read from BD-R and indeed DVD-R?

 

I can see a whole new vista of time consuming and slightly inconvenient  audiophilia opening up for me here!

[Rexp]

6 hours ago, sandyk said:

I get excellent results when using an internal LG BR writer. You may not need to use the BluRay part for now, but it also gives the opportunity later for ripping the audio from BluRay Music Videos,  as well burning audio files (RBCD and High Res) to Blu Ray for archival/Backup purposes .

 In fact, where I have done this, they sound very good indeed when played using my Oppo 103.

 Perhaps due to less Jitter due to the precision of the Optical block needed to read a Blu Ray disc ?

Sound as good as the file? 

[sandyk]

37 minutes ago, Rexp said:

Sound as good as the file? 

Pretty similar to the file saved to USB memory and played via the Oppo 103, and better than the original CD played directly .with the Oppo

TBH, I was quite pleasantly surprised, as the 2 BR discs were only made for backup purposes  of my favourite CDs .

YMMV.

 

 P.S.

 My internal LG BR writer is powered by a highly stable Low Noise PSU add-on (<4uV noise) which undoubtedly helps to  create a high quality burn.

[sandyk]

2 hours ago, Norton said:

 

Interesting.  If you've compared, would you say that, using the Oppo,  RBCD burnt to BD-R sounds better than to CD-R (or even vs the original CD?). Or that HiRes sounds better on BD-R than from a thumb drive?

 

I’ve never burnt anything to disc let alone played one back in my Oppo.  What is the max PCM and DSD res. that the Oppo can read from BD-R and indeed DVD-R?

 

I can see a whole new vista of time consuming and slightly inconvenient  audiophilia opening up for me here!

See my previous reply.

I haven't done an indepth comparison between high res Audio both burned to BD-R and saved to USB memory, but they sound much the same.   ( I use mainly high res Music Videos on both BD-R and USB, much of it sourced from USA HDTV .ts streams from Saturday Night Live etc. as found with UseNet)

The Oppo 103 does to 24/192, and I haven't tried DSD with it. IIRC, it needs an unofficial  firmware update to play DSD files ? 

[Norton]

4 hours ago, sandyk said:

IIRC, it needs an unofficial  firmware update to play DSD files ? 

 

Thanks.  I have a 105 (and a 205) and the 105 certainly plays dsd64 files from SMB shares (and I presume thumb drive though not tried) - just official FW, but I think it played DSD files from outset without needing upgrades.  I guess the 103 is the same.

 

What your post got me wondering about is what PCM and DSD rates the 205 will play from BD-R.  Can’t see that quoted anywhere.

[Echolane]

I’m learning a lot from this thread, mostly about copying but I’m still wondering if one brand does better than another at rips or burns.  There are two issues, accuracy and SQ and accuracy has not been directly addressed.  Perhaps that’s in the software with error checking and not in the hardware?   In the absence of specific comments, perhaps there is no issue to be concerned about.

[kumakuma]

The rip either matches what's on the CD or it doesn't.

 

Use software that checks the rip against the AccurateRip database:

 

http://www.accuraterip.com

[sandyk]

5 hours ago, Echolane said:

I’m learning a lot from this thread, mostly about copying but I’m still wondering if one brand does better than another at rips or burns.  There are two issues, accuracy and SQ and accuracy has not been directly addressed.  Perhaps that’s in the software with error checking and not in the hardware?   In the absence of specific comments, perhaps there is no issue to be concerned about.

 

Ignore this checksum rubbish from the usual suspects. I am able to demonstrate that there is way more to this area than just getting the data 100% correct, (although that is comforting to know) and the quality of the power supplies used is paramount, as are means for reducing Jitter. Use anti vibration mounting measures for  optical devices too.

 If you think that I am alone in this area , then check out Rajiv's massive thread in Music Servers. Very few posters there believe this outdated Digital dogma about correct checksums being the "be all, end all" either.

 Even when you get a couple of masked errors in a rip, and the checksums are no longer correct, it doesn't usually mean that the music will not be playable, and the music will still sound the same. The same applies to Digital Video as well.

[Samuel T Cogley]

7 minutes ago, sandyk said:

 Even when you get a couple of masked errors in a rip, and the checksums are no longer correct, it doesn't usually mean that the music will not be playable, and the music will still sound the same. The same applies to Digital Video as well.

 

IMHO, this is horrible advice to give someone.  It's rank pseudo-science.

[sandyk]

5 hours ago, Norton said:

 

Thanks.  I have a 105 (and a 205) and the 105 certainly plays dsd64 files from SMB shares (and I presume thumb drive though not tried) - just official FW, but I think it played DSD files from outset without needing upgrades.  I guess the 103 is the same.

 

What your post got me wondering about is what PCM and DSD rates the 205 will play from BD-R.  Can’t see that quoted anywhere.

 

[sandyk]

11 minutes ago, Samuel T Cogley said:

 

IMHO, this is horrible advice to give someone.  It's rank pseudo-science.

 

 With many older CDs it is simply no longer possible to obtain the correct checksums, even when ripping in Paranoid Mode. The main thing is that the track plays O.K.

If you are concerned, then obtain the best rip that you can ,and burn a new CD from it if it is one of your favourites, and there are obvious signs of wear, or visible pin holes when the CD is held up to the light.

This is even more important if you purchase 2nd hand CDs.

[Norton]

7 hours ago, sandyk said:

 

 

Unless I’m missing something,  that doesn’t specify the max PCM and DSD rates the Oppo will play from a BD-R disc.  The Oppo knowledge base clarifies the (different) input rates supported from various sources (USB DAC, locally attached storage, network shares etc) but not from optical disc or BD-R specifically.

[sandyk]

1 hour ago, Norton said:

 

Unless I’m missing something,  that doesn’t specify the max PCM and DSD rates the Oppo will play from a BD-R disc.  The Oppo knowledge base clarifies the (different) input rates supported from various sources (USB DAC, locally attached storage, network shares etc) but not from optical disc or BD-R specifically.

 

Your model is certain to have some improved specs over the 103, but the max PCM read from a BR disc will most likely only go as high as the specifications for standard Blu Ray videos , which means that it will be unlikely to support more than 24/192

[Samuel T Cogley]

16 hours ago, sandyk said:

 

 With many older CDs it is simply no longer possible to obtain the correct checksums, even when ripping in Paranoid Mode. The main thing is that the track plays O.K.

If you are concerned, then obtain the best rip that you can ,and burn a new CD from it if it is one of your favourites, and there are obvious signs of wear, or visible pin holes when the CD is held up to the light.

This is even more important if you purchase 2nd hand CDs.

 

In my experience, the best way to get an error-free rip is to have at least 3 different optical drives available.  A disc that won't rip on one will typically rip correctly on one of the other two.  Other than some rare cases where the CD is physically damaged, this method always gets error-free rips for me.

[audiobomber]

IME, software matters far more than hardware for accurate rips. I ripped most of my CD's with the internal drive on a laptop, later ones with a Pioneer Blu-Ray burner via USB. I used Windows Media Player and Exact Audio Copy. WMP was more convenient due to better tagging, and worked just fine for most of my collection. Some rips made from damaged CD's had distortion and/or skips, so I re-ripped with EAC, and with a couple of minor exceptions, they cleaned up perfectly.

 

EAC bit checking is awesome. My worst CD, which will not play at all in my CD player, played after ripping with WMP, but still had some bad sections. Ripping with EAC took several hours, but it plays perfectly now.

[Echolane]

1 minute ago, audiobomber said:

IME, software matters far more than hardware for accurate rips. I ripped most of my CD's with the internal drive on a laptop, later ones with a Pioneer Blu-Ray via USB. I used Windows Media Player and Exact Audio Copy. WMP was more convenient due to better tagging, and worked just fine for most of my collection. Some rips made from scratched CD's had distortion and/or skips, so I re-ripped with EAC, and with a couple of minor exceptions, they cleaned up perfectly.

 

This is the sort of thing I suspected when I posted my original inquiry.  These sorts of details matter.  It’s why I’ve been reluctant to abandon the Naim Uniti Core that I want to move in from.  Because it does a great job with ripping.

[sandyk]

8 hours ago, Samuel T Cogley said:

 

In my experience, the best way to get an error-free rip is to have at least 3 different optical drives available.  A disc that won't rip on one will typically rip correctly on one of the other two.  Other than some rare cases where the CD is physically damaged, this method always gets error-free rips for me.

 You probably don't have some of the original before "Loudness Wars" CDs that I have, that developed pin holes due to the printing inks used at the time.

 I had to use EAC running at speeds so slow with a couple,  that it took well over half an hour to rip them at speeds as low as .1 times  .

I then reburned the originals before they completely failed. I had to do that with my original Vertigo copy  800 088-2 of "Dire Straits-Love Over Gold", which also developed a crack on the side, like several others did .

 A couple of Norah Jones "Come Away With Me" Hybrid SACDs needed replacing due to cracks developing too. This was a documented problem with a particular pressing plant.

Some earlier CDs also had too thin a layer of aluminium deposited where you could see through them when held up to the light, that also became problematical.

 There were many factory rejects in the earlier days.

 I have previously posted a photo of an Elton John CD showing the huge pinholes, but can no longer find it.

[sandyk]

4 hours ago, Echolane said:

This is the sort of thing I suspected when I posted my original inquiry.  These sorts of details matter.  It’s why I’ve been reluctant to abandon the Naim Uniti Core that I want to move in from.  Because it does a great job with ripping.

 

 I had a 1 page article about what you mentioned.