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CD player died; time to put everything on a hard drive. I plan to load everything on a 2TB network drive in .wav format, access it via my wifi-networked Sony blu-ray player that's connected via coax to my DAC. (House layout won't allow running ethernet to the DAC.) The main functional drawback is that the TV must be on to use the Sony's menu. Any problems with this plan?
I have a few questions too:
1. Is there a simple CD copy program; preferably free, that will be quicker and less cumbersome than WMP for copying disks to the net drive?
2. When I copied a cd to the net drive, all the cuts appeared as .wav files, but on playback the Sony menu screen showed some being played as 88 Mbps DTS files, ie, there was no audio. Is this a wifi issue?
3. Is there a way to control this set-up via iPhone so I wouldn't need the TV screen or the Sony remote?
Follow Ups:
A year ago I dumped my Esoteric UX-3SE for an OPPO BDP-105D universal CDP.i didn't know it at the time, but among other excellent sonic benefits, I was also purchasing a music server. Which at the time I had no interest.
Eventually I started ripping music to a thumb drive and then an SSD. Then plug the device into the OPPO via USB.
Below are my current steps to rip a CD onto my macbook pro that has iTunes installed.
1. Connect my external SSD drive via USB to the mac.
2. Open a window onto the SSD to show SSD contents, create new folders, sub-folders etc by music type.
3. Create folder named CD about to be ripped.
4. Insert my CD to be ripped.
5. iTunes will prompt asking if I want to import this CD and I respond "No".
6. Open CD folder.
7. Select all,
8. Drag all songs to desired folder. on SSD
9. Several minutes later copy is done and I eject CD.Repeat steps 2 - 9 to rip next CD
After a good number of CD's have been ripped I will back up the SSD to another HDD via USB for good measure.
Redbook and DSD formats copy over as AIFF which sonically works well. FLAC and other high-rez formatted files copy over as-is.
Time consuming but it's a shorter process than how I used to do it.With my iPad mini and the OPPO app and the 105D, my iPad makes for simple yet elegant user interface for right now about 200 GB worth of music on my SSD.
Surely there has to be other mfg'ers with other not too dissimilar benefits. If per chance you're looking for wonderful sonic benefits and a music server, I think you might be hard pressed to find better value for the 105D's price of $1300.
Edits: 05/05/15 05/05/15
Your method for ripping CDs sounds OK if you have a handful of discs, but would be most unsatisfactory for a large collection.
Does it allow metadata and cover artwork to be available on the SSD?
Far better is to use a ripping NAS such as RipNAS. It has all the software you need built in including dBpoweramp and will get all track info and artwork from the internet as you rip - and it will verify that your rip is bit-perfect.
Each CD takes a few minutes and it files most CDs into appropriate folders without help. If you want to move to a more useful folder or want to rename one, just use Windows or Mac to do this with Cut and Paste or Rename.
Couldn't be easier!
99% of the time all metadata transfers as well, including artwork.
There should be no reason to verify the rip for bit-perfect copy. I'd be more concerned if I used 3rd party software. But I'm just using a straight copy (source to destination).
The only way I can see really streamlining the process would be if I had a carousel CD tray where I could load up 10 or 20 or 100 CD's at a time and walk away for a few hours, otherwise, my efficiency is still limited to ripping 1 CD at a time.
To streamline my manual process a bit, I'll have 3 windows to the SSD ext. drive opened ready with new folder names (new music titles) opened and ready to receive the rip. Then I have my neatly and gently stacked CD's ready to insert as soon as the current rip is complete.
> I think you might be hard pressed to find better value for the 105D's price of $1300.
I agree! My Oppo BDP-105D is the heart of my audio/video entertainment system. For the price, there is nothing that compares. It is just so versatile! It plays nearly everything digital and it accepts USB hard drives and flash drives directly. It does everything except play vinyl, so keep your turntable. ;-)
nt
"My Oppo BDP-105D is the heart of my audio/video entertainment system."
I just don't see how that's possible so long as you got that Pass Labs X-1 taking the place of the OPPO's extremely musical passive volume attenuator. :)
Below is my config with just the right number of components (2) and not a single component more.
Could you turn the lights on so we can see what you have?
Thanks
You sound like my wife.
If you do it, don't do it all at once. Do a small batch of your favorites and enjoy the rips. After a few months when you are certain that things came out the way you like then you can do more, etc... If you try to do them all at once there's a good chance you will screw up and have to start over. That would be a lot of wasted work.
As to software to do rips, definitely use dBpoweramp if your computer is a PC. It's easy to set up and comes with access to lots of Internet databases that have tag information, saving a lot of labor. You could also use Exact Audio Copy and it will probably do as good a job in the end if you don't screw up the setup, but it has less access to databases and so you will spend more time tweaking tags. I do not suggest using media player software for ripping, as these are easy to set up in such a way that you think you are making good rips when you are not. (Been there, done that.) Always rip CDs to the the original sample rate and bit depth, 44/16. I suggest ripping them to FLAC as it will save storage space and provides good tag support. Eventually you will run out of storage space. Also when you have a disk drive failure it will take less time recovering and making a new copy of your library if the files are have been losslessly compressed.
Be warned, also. Unless you have some kind of a personal disaster, you will almost certainly outlive your disk drives. Their expected lifetime is about four years, although they can fail at any time and may last longer. The good news is that lots of albums can be quickly copied to multiple drives for backup purposes, so the loss of a drive will be a minor inconvenience. You should keep at least two backups of your rips. Yes, if you still have the CDs you won't lose the music, but the cost of a backup drive is minimal compared to the labor involved in ripping. If you have your own personal recordings or have purchased downloads then I suggest having two backups of your library, since you won't have the physical disks around in case of a major disaster. I keep one backup drive off site, bringing it back every month or so to add any new items.
There is file synchronization software (such as SyncBackPro) that will take inventory of your library disk and a backup disk and automatically add new albums to your backup. This can be set up so that if some glitch silently corrupts one of your library files your backup will not automatically become corrupted as well. It only takes a few minutes to synchronize my music library and I do it every day if I have added any music.
Tony Lauck
"Diversity is the law of nature; no two entities in this universe are uniform." - P.R. Sarkar
I installed Music Bee for ripping and its been good except the screen for labeling is erased when the disk ejects, so I have to key in some data that could be re-used on the next disk. It's spotty for finding art, but since the player doesn't show it on the TV menu, it's not an big issue for me. WMP almost always shows the cover art but MusicBee can't find it. I still have much to learn about using it. I hope I can find out why the file structure when viewed via the Sony Blu-ray player (the network link here) shows more and redundant layers than the Win file structure shows. My player doesn't recognize FLAC files, so .wav is my only option.
I understand the risk of HD failure and will be backing up on a second HD periodically as the transfer proceeds. Transferring hundreds of CDs at 15-20 minutes each is going to be a very tedious process. I'll be looking into a sync program as I move ahead.
Do not do it. Get another CD spinner.
I used dBpoweramp to rip all my CDs to FLAC. When you buy it, it comes with some temporary licenses for metadata servers which are helpful when you're ripping lots of CDs at once. Two pieces of advice for ripping: First, figure out what folder structure you want before you start ripping. Second, pay attention to the metadata it pulls down. In my case, about 10% of my jazz, rock, pop, and electronic CDs needed some manual metadata corrections for accuracy or consistency and most of my classical CDs. It is much easier to make these corrections while you're ripping en masse than to go back and fix it all later.
All of my family's media is on a NAS. Not just music but all our photos, videos, DVDs, personal folders, email archives, and important records and data. I run Twonky Server on the NAS and serve up media via DLNA to a bunch of clients. Via Ethernet: 2 Linn DS boxes, an Oppo 103, a Marantz AV8801, and a Pioneer N-30. Via Wi-Fi: A Roku 3 and Pioneer A3 wireless portable speaker.
Which Sony Blu-Ray player? I had a Sony BDP-S380 that advertised DLNA capability but it was only a DLNA player, not a DLNA renderer so it could not be controlled via a UPnP control point app. I had to use the TV and it's network/media discovery and menus. Also, it wouldn't recognize FLAC or a lot of common video containers, so it was pretty well useless for network playback. I gave away the Sony when I moved and got the Oppo 103 which handles a much wider variety of formats and it's a DLNA renderer so it can be controlled by a UPnP control point app on my phone or tablet. But for music playback it's still clunky compared to dedicated music streamer, especially one that supports OpenHome. I only use the Oppo's DLNA capabilities for displaying photos on the TV or playing ripped DVDs.
If your Sony is not a DLNA renderer than I would encourage you to get a dedicated music streamer. You'll want the control point functionality, you'll probably want AirPlay, and maybe some music streaming services too. Support for the OpenHome extensions (e.g. on-device playlists, gapless, etc.) is also a big plus over standard DLNA, but the cheapest option I've seen with OpenHome support is the Auralic Aries. If you have a cheaper, more vanilla DLNA renderer then you should consider installing BubbleUPnP Server.
Another piece of advice is to figure out what you're going to do for backups now. Even though you have the CDs, you should still back up the ripped files because you don't want to go through the labor of ripping again if a drive fails.
I have a NAS which supports folder duplication and hot swapping, so it can tolerate a failed drive without having to take the NAS down and restore from backup. I also do an automated full non-incremental weekly backup of all the important data to an external drive (basically everything but the DVD rips). And there are two external drive backups actually, one onsite and one offsite at my Dad's place. I rotate these when I visit. I don't want to lose 25 years of data and a lifetime of photos if there's a fire.
My network drive is an Iomega that's a few years old. I find no mention of DLNA in the manual but the Sony BDP590 (DNLA renderer) recognizes it .wav files on the net drive though not FLAC.
Edits: 05/07/15 05/07/15
The Iomega drives are advertised as having a DLNA server. Internet posts suggest it's Twonky. If so, you should be able to access its configuration page by connecting to port 9000 or 50599, i.e.:
http://192.168.X.Y:9000
http://192.168.X.Y:50599
Where 192.168.X.Y is the IP address of the NAS drive.
comprehensive advice/read, at least for this computer vet in progress of mating a legacy audio system within a DLNA/UPnP based HT system.
And good luck.
DLNA can be a mine field. Good implementations/combinations can be slick to use, but others can be clumsy, and others practically unworkable. But it's great to have a standard like DLNA rather than being locked into one vendor & product line.
And it is so nice to have one library that I can access from any system or playback device, and control from any phone, tablet, or computer that happens to be handy. I can't imagine trying to manually keep multiple copies of a music library up to date on multiple hard drives.
I prefer FLAC as well. I use foobar2000 to rip CD's and store it on my Synology NAS.
My simaudio moon 180 mind streamer gets the CD's from the NAS using DLNA.
Works (and I prefer) wired as well as using wifi.
Can also stream SACD's.
Foobar2000 after a bit of work will also rip sacd's to FLAC
There's a nice ipad app that shows the CD images (provided it's stored with the FLAC files as folder.jpg or something else you configure)
Buy a Sony HAP-Z1ES. All of your discs will be transferred to it's internal hard drive (currently 1TB but expandable) and you won't need the computer attached to the system.
Yes, do it. CDs are a bore to store, select and play. Rip them to a NAS, ideally a ripping NAS such as RipNAS that has all the software you need to rip, identify and store track details and artwork.
I still have drawers full of CDs but that's where they stay. I prefer FLAC files as the metadata is more stable. My own view is don't bother to fix dodgy metadata - it a very time consuming and boring job - but use Windows (or whatever) to move badly files folders into their right places (Beethoven in a single Beethoven folder, rather than having to mess about with Ludvig, etc) and then use your streamer's Folder browse to quickly find what you want. Make big master folders such as Classical, Non-Classical, World Music or whatever, so you can get straight into the type of music that takes your fancy.
RipNAS - brilliant - uses dBpoweramp as someone else recommended
Sonos - brilliant user-interface but not particularly hi-fi and no high res
NAD M12 with BluOS board - the bee's knees as far as I'm concerned and uses Bluesound Controller on a PC which is sooo much better than UPnP-based ones.
Peter
That's my advice. I ripped everything to my PC and was running Logitech Touches for a few years.
It's a PITA. I disliked maintaining all the files, backing stuff up, messing with the network.
I bought a very nice yamaha SACD player and now I'm happy playing discs.
"A lie is half-way around the world before the truth can get its boots on."
-Mark Twain
Several days ago, several people were listening to some jazz off of CD.... And during the acoustic textures and brushwork amongst the sweet and subtle sounds, I hear a comment, "You can't get sound like that out of a PC"......
The catch is a good CD source.... They're not particularly common.... But once you get one, any thoughts about going the server route will go "poof!!" ....
> Several days ago, several people were listening to some jazz off of CD.... And during the acoustic textures and brushwork amongst the sweet and subtle sounds, I hear a comment, "You can't get sound like that out of a PC"......
> But once you get one, any thoughts about going the server route will go "poof!!" ....
Todd - Could you justify this? A CD is a digital storage device that has pits in its surface that are scanned by a laser. Inevitably, as the laser scans in real time and only once, some digits are missed - hence the error correction circuits that make some CD players better than others.
By comparison, if music files are stored on a hard drive, it is much easier to extract the information with 100% accuracy, so no need for error correction. The stream of information is then sent to or collected by the streamer or DAC. If the music is stored on a PC and sent to the DAC by the PC, then yes, the sound quality will be seriously compromised. If however, the data is called for by the streamer from a NAS for example, the donor device controls the flow of information and should be better than a CD player provided that the files are WAV or FLAC or other lossless format.
The sound from music stored on a hard drive SHOULD and COULD be better than the same music stored in pits on the surface of a CD. The end result will depend entirely on the quality of the equipment used and a PC will compromise the potential. Best to store on a NAS and keep the PC well out of it, except perhaps to control the selection of music.
If a CD is ripped to hard drive, the end result could and should still be better than playing the CD player directly into a DAC. This is because the ripper will first identify the disc, then establish from internet sites the PRECISE bit count that it is looking for and will then read the CD, perhaps several times, until it has found every last bit. A CD laser simply can't do that.
Peter
I agree,
which Yamaha? I have the CD-S1000, it is magnificent!
I gave up ripping CDs and got a sonos connect with deezer elite FLAC streaming service, haven't bought a CD in a long time.
CDS-S2100
"A lie is half-way around the world before the truth can get its boots on."
-Mark Twain
nice. I use a Bel Canto Cd2 into an old bel canto DAC3 for cd. The sacds on my Yamaha are exquisite. Very well build and sort of esoteric since not many would think of Yamaha for high end sacd..
Assuming both the Sony and the Network drive are DLNA enabled, it will work.
I have my doubts about the WAV format. Not because of the audio part but the problems with tagging. E.g. WMP 11 did write a very few tags and at rip-time only. Don't know how de situation is today.
If possible use a lossless format that has excellent tagging support like FLAC
http://thewelltemperedcomputer.com/KB/WAV_KB.htm
Ad 1: almost any media player supports ripping.
Have a look at MusicBee, it is free and supports AccurateRip.
Best imho is dBpoweramp
Ad2: highly unlikely. WiFi doesn't change audio formats.
Inspect the source. Is the source a true audio CD or have you ripped something else?
The Well Tempered Computer
Thanks for the helpful link. I'm using MusicBee and learning my way around the options it offers.
I do think MusicBee a very elegant player.
There is some information about on my website.
Maybe it is of use.
The Well Tempered Computer
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