[Dtooth]

Would like to open this by apologizing if this is in the wrong section - I narrowed them down and my question seemed to best fit here. Also apologizing as this question is fairly elementary and I'm disappointed in myself for even asking it haha.

So now for what I'm reaching out to you experienced audiophiles and enthusiasts for: what external optical drive should I get for ripping lossless flacs from my CDs onto my MacBook Pro (don't own yet, waiting on 2016 refresh). Are not all optical drives the same? Will the "quality" of the drive affect any bits of the rip or the quality of the final sound? Should I just go with the cheapest option? Am I overthinking this?

Essentially I lost all my files after wiping my tower I built 2 years ago before I sold it and instead of transferring my flacs I just let them get lost in the wipe. However, I still have my entire cd library so I'm looking to re-rip them onto my future laptop.

All help is appreciated and thanks in advance !

 

[chann3l]

I would say you are definitely over thinking it. I have a 50 dollar external asus drive for the odd occasion that I rip or burn something and I have never had issues with anything.

 

[Oink1]

Have an Apple SuperDrive. (Is it really super?) Does the job admirably, a far cheaper alternative would do just as good a job I expect but wouldn't look half as sexy! 

 

[chann3l]

http://m.ncix.com/products/sku/69632/

This is the one I have, it looks ok, it's cheap and it gets the job done. Can probably find elsewhere for less money or you know in your currency (I don't know where you are)

 

[Dtooth]

http://m.ncix.com/products/sku/69632/
This is the one I have, it looks ok, it's cheap and it gets the job done. Can probably find elsewhere for less money or you know in your currency (I don't know where you are)

Oh wow thanks! I appreciate the help! However, I've decided to just use my brother's Lenovo laptop to rip my CDs since Mac doesn't have EAC or a credible equivalent, and then use a thumb drive to transfer the FLAC files to my Mac. But just out of curiosity, are all optical drives the same quality, like will my rip turn out fine on his laptop, or should I get a "premium" optical drive? Probably sounds stupid but I want the purest rips I can get

 

[chann3l]

Oh wow thanks! I appreciate the help! However, I've decided to just use my brother's Lenovo laptop to rip my CDs since Mac doesn't have EAC or a credible equivalent, and then use a thumb drive to transfer the FLAC files to my Mac. But just out of curiosity, are all optical drives the same quality, like will my rip turn out fine on his laptop, or should I get a "premium" optical drive? Probably sounds stupid but I want the purest rips I can get

Optical drive quality is more about the speed at which it can operate which even then doesn't really matter now because they are all pretty much at the same level. It shouldn't affect sound quality of the files in any way. Save yourself the money and use your brother's computer.