Back to plastic coasters

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Posted by JimF on November 2, 2005 at 14:36:18

In Reply to: Magnetic/hard-drive vs. optical/CD: Who has made the switch? posted by Srajan Ebaen on October 30, 2005 at 08:10:47:

> What level of conventional digital did you own before
> (Rotel, Audio Aero, Meitner)?

Pretty fancy DACs. Camelot Uther v2 Mk4,
Audio Note 4.1x Signature (Bel Canto DAC-2,
others). Also fairly fancy
jitter busters (Genesis Digital Lens) and
"resolution-enhancement" devices (Perpetual P-1A).
I've never been into fancy transports (well,
unless you consider Sony SCD-777ES fancy).

> What, exactly, replaced it (hard-drive/CPU, sound card/DAC,
> interface [S/PDIF, AES/EBU, USB, other])?

cd3o 802.11-B wireless player and music server
software.
http://www.cd3o.com

The player has S/PDIF out (coax and optical) and
the player and server software (unlike most such
devices, at least "low-end" ones) handles uncompressed
WAV files as well as MP3s. The software runs under
Windows XP (or Windows 2000) only.

The indexing, for WAV files, is a bit difficult --
it utilizes (non-standard) MusicMatch ID tags,
which means you also need MusicMatch (their
"supertagging" is a nice feature;
in all other respects, MusicMatch is a bloody
nuisance).

"Replace" isn't exactly the right word -- the cd3o(s)
replaced, or supplemented, transports only -- the Genesis Digital
Lens, Perpetual P-1A, and various DACs remained the
same. (The Genesis Digital Lens's RAM buffer **will** activate
with non-transport-sourced S/PDIF, contrary to some
reports I've seen).

> Was your move convenience, price or performance based?

Entirely convenience. A friend bought one, and when
I saw it and realized it could be compatible with
a high-end system, I had to have one too.

> What's the retail cost of your HD-based digital rig
> now compared to the best conventional digital you owned before?

The wireless players are a few hundred each, and didn't
add significantly to the overall cost of my system(s).
The computer I already owned. ;->

> How many CDs did you rip to hard-drive?

A couple of hundred, before I pooped out. (I've since
returned to CD-ripping with a vengeance!)

> Did you use something like EAC to do it?

Yes, EAC. I'd ripped a dozen CDs with MusicMatch before
I became aware of clicks and pops in the ripped copies.
Then I put further ripping on hold, researched the matter
on the Web, and discovered EAC. I started over again
and ripped everything afresh with EAC. It's great!
I use Freedb (via EAC) to name the files, and then use
MusicMatch **only** to "super-tag" the WAV files from
their names (and to re-name the files).

> Please specify your "data acquisition" protocol,
> real time vs. hi-speed. . .

EAC works at very high speed -- 5x to 25x, usually --
via my Sony DRU-510A DVD drive. Except in the case
of "difficult" CDs (most of which I knew were difficult,
because they'd caused problems on stand-alone players),
in which case the ripping speed drops to less than
real time, and a single disc can literally take
overnight to rip (which must put a terrible strain on
the disc drive). I do have discs with manufacturing
flaws that had audible problems, or which were unplayable,
and which were totally recovered by EAC.

EAC "specs" your drive as part of the installation process,
and knows, for example, whether it can take advantage
of "C2" error detection/correction. When EAC finishes
a rip with "No errors reported", that means there
were **no** (uncorrected) errors -- the ripped copy is
absolutely bit-perfect. It gives you some confidence
in how your CD collection is holding up after 20 or 25
years -- in the vast majority of cases, very well
indeed! (contrary to hysteria about self-destructing
CDs and laser rot). The few exceptions are generally
discs that have always been problematic (and with
EAC, there's a good chance of recovering those too).

> Do you download music?

No.

> If your experience with HD-based music servers thus
> far suggests that the format is inherently superior. . .

It didn't; but neither did my experience suggest it was
inherently inferior, at least sonically. Having a computer
involved in listening to music giveth and taketh away --
you don't have to go hunting for that particular CD
if it's in the database, but all too often I'd sit
down at the machine only to find out that the server
software had "lost contact" with the player, necessitating
re-booting the player, re-booting the server, and/or
screwing around with the wireless router and/or network
bridge. Also, computers just make too damn much noise,
wherever they are in the house.

However, I've now gone back to plastic coasters after
discovering the Eximius "re-mastering" software
http://www.eximius.nl/dvdaudio.php

It sounds **fabulous**. Nevertheless, I'm happy I had a head
start learning how to rip my CDs to WAVs, because I'm now
Eximius-processing them and burning them to DVD-Rs.

Jim F.

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Follow Ups Full Thread

Topic - Magnetic/hard-drive vs. optical/CD: Who has made the switch? - Srajan Ebaen 08:10:47 10/30/05 (34)

Back to plastic coasters - JimF 14:36:18 11/02/05 (1)

The backup problem - JimF 14:52:14 11/02/05 (0)

Re: Magnetic/hard-drive vs. optical/CD: Who has made the switch? - InTheCornFields 06:52:57 11/02/05 (0)

Re: Magnetic/hard-drive vs. optical/CD: Who has made the switch? - bloosquare 20:19:06 10/31/05 (0)

Cataloguing disc content is another issue... - Wellfed 17:58:13 10/31/05 (0)

Re: Magnetic/hard-drive vs. optical/CD: Who has made the switch? - Ralph 10:51:54 10/31/05 (0)

Re: Magnetic/hard-drive vs. optical/CD: Who has made the switch? - tcain 09:32:54 10/31/05 (0)

Re: Magnetic/hard-drive vs. optical/CD: Who has made the switch? - Gulliver 09:29:44 10/31/05 (0)

Re: Magnetic/hard-drive vs. optical/CD: Who has made the switch? - Christine Tham 04:45:46 10/31/05 (0)

Underestimating Power of free software - Jon L 21:36:12 10/30/05 (1)

Questions about your set up - SKVinson 14:20:29 11/11/05 (0)

I'm holding out for soild state storage. nt - Steve Eddy 21:07:03 10/30/05 (0)

Re: Magnetic/hard-drive vs. optical/CD: Who has made the switch? - gbeard 19:11:54 10/30/05 (0)

Re: Magnetic/hard-drive vs. optical/CD: Who has made the switch? - jeme 18:21:56 10/30/05 (0)

Re: Magnetic/hard-drive vs. optical/CD: Who has made the switch? - RioTubes 17:32:45 10/30/05 (3)

Re: I2S chips - rupertdacat 18:27:11 10/30/05 (2)

Re: I2S chips - RioTubes 21:52:59 10/30/05 (1)

Very helpful... Thank you. n.t. - rupertdacat 01:22:38 10/31/05 (0)

Having heard the VRS system sound great at RMAF and noting it convenience, I have been interested. - Norm 17:05:32 10/30/05 (0)

Re: Magnetic/hard-drive vs. optical/CD: Who has made the switch? - EdM 16:35:32 10/30/05 (2)

What "USB concerns"? (n.t.) - rupertdacat 18:18:32 10/30/05 (0)

Thanks for the posts thus far - Srajan Ebaen 17:04:41 10/30/05 (0)

Not quite yet and still run both... - kuma 16:34:27 10/30/05 (2)

Re: Not quite yet and still run both... - EdM 16:37:04 10/30/05 (1)

except the Roku didn't work in my house~! and wish they support a G-card... - kuma 16:46:33 10/30/05 (0)

Re: Magnetic/hard-drive vs. optical/CD: Who has made the switch? - andy_c 16:08:30 10/30/05 (0)

Answers. (kind of long) - Sordidman 09:10:13 10/30/05 (3)

More - Sordidman 09:26:01 10/30/05 (2)

Re: More - nutprof 15:33:02 10/30/05 (0)

Re: More - nutprof 15:28:48 10/30/05 (0)

Good questions and I'd like to add another... - Wellfed 08:21:05 10/30/05 (3)

Caveats - andy_c 16:57:54 10/30/05 (0)

Re: Good questions and I'd like to add another... - Srajan Ebaen 16:49:49 10/30/05 (1)

Re: Good questions and I'd like to add another... - Vincent VRS 14:39:51 10/31/05 (0)

Follow Ups

Back to plastic coasters - JimF 14:36:18 11/02/05 (1)

The backup problem - JimF 14:52:14 11/02/05 (0)

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