does it matter: Macbook ripping or Mac Mini 2010 ripping

[soundslikemusic]

Guys,

 

does it matter which machine does the ripping/copying of a cd to a hardrive between a mac mini and a macbook or macbook pro for that matter ?

Granting both machines are using the same program like MAX or XLD ?

The hardrives are external.

 

For example, i'll rip some cd's using my macbook and store them into an external hardrive.

When i reach home, i use that same external drive & play it into the Mac mini server ?

 

Would the quality be the same on both machines when it comes to ripping a cd in AIFF, Lossless , or WAV ?

 

thanks for insight.

 

SLM

 

[1957Goldtop]

I was just wondering the same thing... did a google search and came to this thread. Unfortunately it wasn't answered.

 

Does drive quality effect ripping quality? Or, are the bits the bits regardless of the drive/system it came from?

 

[soundslikemusic]

I'm hoping someone can shed light on this regards.

 

 

[wgscott]

No.

 

Except maybe for speed issues.

 

[Paul R]

As long as you get an error free rip, there is no difference. It isn't music yet, it's still just bits and bytes that are either correct or not.

 

-paul

 

[Audio_ELF]

First off, the CD drives in the MacMini and MacBook are both laptop style so are likely to be pretty identical.

 

Given a good quality CD the results should be identical. You may find differences with a damaged / old CD but all drives are capable of reading the CD (assuming they are not broke). Some people will say there are differences but there is no evidence beyond listening tests that this is possible.

 

Eloise

 

[soundslikemusic]

thank you for the clarifications. Guess nothing to be concerned about whether ripping from the mac mini, or macbook or any apple based machines for that matter.

 

[wgscott]

I got into computer audio mainly because I managed to damage about 1/3 of my CDs by taking them to England with me and storing them in horrible vinyl CD holders. (Never do that.) They skip all over the place in CD players. I found ripping them worked much better. The computer keeps trying until it gets it right. Out of about 100+ damaged CDs, exactly one track on one CD had audible errors in it. I ripped all of them in my Mac minis or iMacs.

 

[soundslikemusic]

wgscott

 

thank you for chiming in. that is very enlightening.

any chance you have compared the Peachtree Nova coaxial input (mini-halide to coaxial inputs of Nova) and USB input (macmini to Nova via USB cable). Is there a big sonic advantage of using the Halide ?

 

Thanks in advance.

SLM

 

[wgscott]

The Nova USB input does only 16-bit, 44.1 or 48 kHz input, so it isn't the first choice if you want to hear anything better than redbook. I only listened to it once, for a few minutes. It sounded no better or worse than the optical input. Both the optical input and coax do up to 24-bit, 96kHz on the Nova, so it is best to use one of those. A very good glass optical cable or a USB to Coax converter is worth getting, in my opinion. The Nova seems quite good at handling the jitter associated with optical in.

 

[Paul R]

Actually, you can rip the CDs on whatever you happen to have handy, Mac or Windows, or even Linux. It's one activity that isn't very dependent upon the hardware it running on.

 

iTunes works well, as does XLD and dbPowerAmp. All great ripping programs!

 

-Paul

 

 

[soundslikemusic]

wgscott

 

of the optical and the halide, which of the two do you prefer ?

and which yields the better sound quality ?

Glad the ripping doesnt have which machine to use.

 

 

[wgscott]

It is very close. For 96kHz, the halide bridge wins out, because the Nova sometimes (maybe 25% of the time) fails to lock onto the 96kHz signal from the optical cable. If you screw with it by fiddling with audio midi, you can get it to work, but it gets a bit tiresome. When it is working correctly, it is very hard for me to tell the difference.

 

[soundslikemusic]

Any tips you can hint at on how to tweak things at the audio midi ?

My set-up is a nova as well and am just using the usb inputs of it.

The sound is pretty decent.

i recently ordered a Halide and am waiting for it.

Hoping you can shed some light on what to tweak for.

Would greatly appreciate it.

 

thanks. SLM

 

[wgscott]

Sorry, what one normally wants is the sampling frequency in Audio MIDI setup to match that of the track being played. What I found is that sometimes, when using optical out to the Nova, 96kHz didn't seem to work. If I manually switched it to a lower value and then back again, it would give the DAC a second chance to lock on to the signal. Sometimes it would help, or sometimes I had to just quit and start over. I never have that problem with the Halide Bridge, so to me, removal of that irritation was the main advantage.

 

[soundslikemusic]

thanks WGscott.... which port of the Mac Mini or Macbook pro do you plug the optical cable ? is it a mini toslink to a regular toslink cable ? who make such cables ?

 

Thanks.. Something worth looking into..

 

[wgscott]

The optical out is the same as the 3/4" minijack analogue out. You put a mini toslink ended cable in there and you will see light coming out the other end of the hose. Many manufacturers make them. One is in my sig line. It is a high-end glass one. Amazon has some decent inexpensive plastic ones.

 

[mary768]

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Sheds Ireland