TJIann Posted October 20, 2014 Share Posted October 20, 2014 (edited) Is ripping CD's to my hard drive via the same computer built-in player ok or do I need some kind of external player (for quality)? At this point, all I care about is building my library via CD to hard-drive. Rip the CD to .wav file on your computer. No external drive needed. Your computer probably has stock software on there to do this. Or, better yet, there is plenty of freeware online that will allow you to rip them to FLAC files which is a lossless format, but the file size is smaller than .wav files so they don't take up as much hard drive space. Then download Foobar2000 for free as your player (there are others, this is the one I use and like) and you can play the FLAC files. That way, you get lossless high quality music on your computer that you can play through your stereo. Suggest you grab a 1 or 2 TB external hard drive as you will need the space once your collection grows. I bought a cheap PC and a 2TB external hard drive that is dedicated as my music server. I hooked it up via an HDMI cable to my Outlaw Audio 975 preamp which goes to my McIntosh MC2105 amp and out to Heresy I speakers and a subwoofer. Works great. I have a lot of HDtracks downloaded. Best digital sound quality. Of course, I still think my LPs sound better. Edited October 20, 2014 by TJIann Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joessportster Posted October 20, 2014 Share Posted October 20, 2014 I bought a used laptop and a 2 tb hard drive I started with WAV using windows media player, however I moved to itunes for its ease of use and the ability to imbed the data Flac will save you about 1/2 the space if that is a concern I dont use it as I find it complicated. I have not personally found any reason for any outside players etc... other than itunes.....................if you decide to use flac then you will need an outside player like j-river, media monkey, foobar etc... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
muel Posted October 20, 2014 Share Posted October 20, 2014 My favorite player is Foobar2000 but it can get complicated if you want to customize. I'd stick with "easy" to start. Mediamonkey is probably the easiest solution to use for a free player. It will even rip your CD's to FLAC files if you like. For ripping CD's I prefer EAC (Exact Audio Copy) the best due to it's awesome error correction but it is a little more technical to set up and works slowly as it verifies each sector is correct. EAC works well with slightly scratched up CD's when everything else fails. Of course, some CD's are beyond recovery. dBpoweramp is awesome for file conversion and will also rip files very quickly. Not as good for error correction though. I bought it so I can lower the resolution for the garage setup which won't do high res files and to create MP3 files for my wife. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wldrns1 Posted October 20, 2014 Author Share Posted October 20, 2014 Thanks to all for the suggestions and methods! I'll get busy building my library after visits online to learn a little about FLAC, EAC, Foobar and other players etc, to get a basic handle on things. Looking forward to the fun. Thanks again. This site is great! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cantilope Posted October 20, 2014 Share Posted October 20, 2014 I use a few different things that have not been mentioned, I have 40K songs about half are lossless, the rest are 320 that I have ripped over the years from CD. I use a great server called Subsonic which allows me to listen to my collection from my phone or any PC. I cannot recommend Subsonic enough so check that out. I have not found a better server for large collections. On my iphone/tablet I stream from subsonic to an app called isub, that works very well on my IOS. I know they also have apps for android as well. This method plays any music in its native format losslessly. I can go into my apple TV, to my smart TV, or to my PlayStation 3, lots of options. I also use DLNA through Foobar2000 as mentioned above. I have a decently sized ripped SACD collection of about 200 albums. These I play through foobar2000 and use the PlayStations capture audio stream to play it or my Smart TV will also grab the audio stream. Downside with that is to skip a song I have to be at the PC. Between Subsonic, Foobar2000, and isub, I can listen to anything I want at anytime. There is not time left in my life to listen to it all, so I refuse to pay for a streaming service. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kent T Posted October 22, 2014 Share Posted October 22, 2014 Get thee a Turntable, tonearm, and cartridge and lots and lots of vinyl. Patience and the willingness to learn the art of analog upkeep. Your system was made to spin vinyl all day long with unfettered musicality. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wldrns1 Posted October 22, 2014 Author Share Posted October 22, 2014 Get thee a Turntable, tonearm, and cartridge and lots and lots of vinyl. Patience and the willingness to learn the art of analog upkeep. Your system was made to spin vinyl all day long with unfettered musicality. Have my old Dual 704 on my workbench now. Need to see if it works and if yes, a cleanup. Also a Peachtree crate packed with vinyl. I'm hoping to get to this project soon. Gradually doing some finishing touches on the basics first. Everything's in an open back, glass front cabinet under TV. Flashlight's a pain in the ***. Picked up a 'Hammerhead' book light yesterday at Barnes & Noble. Perfect! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kent T Posted October 22, 2014 Share Posted October 22, 2014 Excellent, we are here for you if desired or needed. Vinyl spoken here. Enjoy thy music. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Dude Posted October 22, 2014 Share Posted October 22, 2014 I am using winamp to Rip in a flac. It's free and has been working great. I tried foobar bit it was more complicated to setup. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mattSER Posted October 22, 2014 Share Posted October 22, 2014 I've tried multiple other audio programs and always end up going back to Winamp. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bubo Posted October 23, 2014 Share Posted October 23, 2014 In decending order, the best sound quality is: DTS Master audio at 24 x 96 Vinyl records, if they are good recordings GIGO CDs with an external DAC or a decent DVD player with RCA out, the DSP tech has really come down in price. After the above, less bits is less quality. And keep a mind to which DAC you are using, the 50 cent DAC in a phone is probably not as good as the one in a quality $35 DVD player, which is not as good as the one in a solid mid range $300-500 DAC etc..... More bits equals better quality, ceteris paribus. NO matter how expensive the gear, it can not fix a bad recording or over rated performer.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wldrns1 Posted October 24, 2014 Author Share Posted October 24, 2014 (edited) In decending order, the best sound quality is: DTS Master audio at 24 x 96 Vinyl records, if they are good recordings GIGO CDs with an external DAC or a decent DVD player with RCA out, the DSP tech has really come down in price. After the above, less bits is less quality. And keep a mind to which DAC you are using, the 50 cent DAC in a phone is probably not as good as the one in a quality $35 DVD player, which is not as good as the one in a solid mid range $300-500 DAC etc..... More bits equals better quality, ceteris paribus. NO matter how expensive the gear, it can not fix a bad recording or over rated performer.... In the old days, a small reduction in THD cost a lot once you hit a certain low percentage. Maybe the same applies today to reducing THD. The BIG THING to me was weighing whether the difference was perceptible to the non super critical listener which I would say describes me...non super critical. I do appreciate good sound though. Does the same THD story apply to DAC's? If yes, approximately what is the comparable bits rate to look for? I know there's listener preference, application etc. FYI...I tend wade into the 'questionable benefit' area just a little. Edited October 24, 2014 by wldrns1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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