Is it worth it to rip CD collections to FLAC anymore?

[BAJACRACKER]

That’s the reason i have 4 copies of my music. 3 external drives and two 1TB mucro SD on a DAP with two alots

I like the way you think ! I have also made redundant copies since that issue.

 

[The Jester]

I allude to this in my post immediately above, just a little long winded and rambly.

I get the sense, especially early CD’s which used the LP masters to directly generate CDs, where the tape masters had greater dynamic range than the LP format, the direct transfers have the snap and range better apparent than the 90’s and 2000’s when compression became all the rage. Given the higher noise floor of the LP format, the potential dynamic range of CD in many cases sounded better. Even with the early DACs built into the CD players of the 80’s and 90’s.

I am looking forward to seeing if the USB implementation of the Topping D70es changes what I heard vs the 13/14 yr old Caiman. Or if it is the Apple Hi-res master being more compressed. Not sure how I will differentiate between the two though. But the CD at 16/44 definitely sounded better than the Apple hi-res thru USB

Did the same a while back now, ripped my CD collection via Jriver and now have a purpose built PC as a music server as well as two USB Hdd’s with backup copies, disc space is cheap these days so just ripped to 16/44.1 wav files,
Indeed some of the original release CD’s sound better than some remasters which just seem to have volume and bass level boost where others are a genuine improvement,
New PC uses a good motherboard, slowest Gen 10 i3 cpu with onboard graphics and Nvme system and storage drives along with a quality PSU,
Comparing the sound from the PC to a Cambridge CD transport feeding Qutest/MScaler and it’s hard to choose via headphones, with speakers I have a slight preference to the PC.

 

[vcoheda]

hard drive failure is a real possibility, so it is a must to have a second or back-up drive. i currently use two wd my books (same capacity). one is the primary drive and the other is back up. i also use a simple and free program to replicate the drives (see link below). i'll note that i have never had a hard drive fail but have read enough posts/comments about others who have.

https://www.karenware.com/powertools/karens-replicator-backup-utility

 

[The Jester]

If the collection is large enough and regularly being added to a NAS DNLA server with mirrored raid drives is the best option for automatic backup,
But some sort of backup is essential, if you play with computers long enough you’ll experience a Hdd failure, I’ve had more than one conventional drive fail and one SSD system drive over the years, luckily all backed up so just replace the drive and all good to go …

 

[dufferdan]

Did the same a while back now, ripped my CD collection via Jriver and now have a purpose built PC as a music server as well as two USB Hdd’s with backup copies, disc space is cheap these days so just ripped to 16/44.1 wav files,
Indeed some of the original release CD’s sound better than some remasters which just seem to have volume and bass level boost where others are a genuine improvement,
New PC uses a good motherboard, slowest Gen 10 i3 cpu with onboard graphics and Nvme system and storage drives along with a quality PSU,
Comparing the sound from the PC to a Cambridge CD transport feeding Qutest/MScaler and it’s hard to choose via headphones, with speakers I have a slight preference to the PC.

Post in a different thread on the full “review” as such, but I installed the Topping D70S MQA on Monday and ran coax digital out from my 5 disk Rotel CD player (built somewhere between 2000 and 2008…purchased a LOOOONG time ago) to the Topping D70sMQA DAC. From the DAC,RCA single ended audio cables to my Cambridge 640 integrated amp. I also have the Rotel CD player connected via RCA to the CD input on the Cambridge.

So I put on a couple of CD’s and was listening via my AKG 704 headphones plugged into the Cambridge amp, which are damn neutral headphones. PLaying the same CD and swapping the input source on the Cambridge, I honestly couldn’t tell a difference between the two inputs. The switching on the Cambridge was so quiet I honestly thought the input was stuck on the previous one, there was no click at all. Which really brought home how seamless the sound was between using the CD player DAC or the Topping.

 

[piglet]

I have been buying CDs and ripping them to my Mac Mini for a while now. It has surprised me actually because I thought that I would be using streaming services exclusively a few years ago. I do have quite a big CD collection from the 80s and 90s but I had thought it was never going to get any bigger. At the moment I listen to music either with the Apple Music streaming service or a CD I have ripped. On the Mac I use Audirvana Studio to organise and listen to the CDs and I also have some on my iPhone in VLC.

So, what is the appeal?

Well you can get them very cheaply second-hand. There is no risk of them disappearing from the streaming service for some unknown reason. Personally I think they sound better on my Mac Mini although there are many factors there of course. Sometimes the version of an album on Apple Music is not the one I want and I can find the one I want on CD. Recently I purchased Massive Attack's Blue Lines CD for £2.23 on eBay here in UK, postage was free. This is the original 1991 production not the 2012 Remix that you see on Apple Music and I much prefer the original. I have this album on vinyl actually, I bought it in 1991, however I don't have a turntable today and actually that vinyl version is pretty worn.

I'm not into vinyl at all. In the 70s when I was a teenager I became the expert amongst my friends for setting up turntables, I know all the stuff about cartridge alignment and bias adjustment and all that, but today I don't actually like vinyl playback very much. I do think that they pretty much nailed it with CDs, the sound quality available from them is really excellent. I don't crave higher resolution than you have on CD myself, I think that there are probably other factors much more important in producing good sound quality than that, at least for me there are anyway.

I do really value having the Apple Music streaming service but I think that I will always be enjoying buying a CD every couple of weeks as well.

 

[Andrew_WOT]

I've donated collection of all my CDs to Goodwill before New Year, they were just collecting dust taking space in the garage. They are all ripped to FLAC but I find modern remasters (reissues) on Qobuz sounding better.
Question for CD collectors, if you rip them anyway why not buy digital to begin with. Qobuz, acousticsounds, HDtracks, all sell lossless albums, even in high res and DSD format?

 

[chesebert]

I've donated collection of all my CDs to Goodwill before New Year, they were just collecting dust taking space in the garage. They are all ripped to FLAC but I find modern remasters (reissues) on Qobuz sounding better.
Question for CD collectors, if you rip them anyway why not buy digital to begin with. Qobuz, acousticsounds, HDtracks, all sell lossless albums, even in high res and DSD format?

Because they are different distribution copies and they sound different. Sometimes Qobuz sounds better other times old issue sounds better. It honestly depends.

 

[gimmeheadroom]

Because they are different distribution copies and they sound different. Sometimes Qobuz sounds better other times old issue sounds better. It honestly depends.

This is very true. And the problem is it's really hard to know what master various services are serving.

 

[Andrew_WOT]

This is very true. And the problem is it's really hard to know what master various services are serving.

Qobuz has information on individual releases, label, year of release, if it's a remaster, etc.

 

[chesebert]

Qobuz has information on individual releases, label, year of release, if it's a remaster, etc.

Music labels make different master/distribution versions for different delivery channels, Qobuz, Tidal, Apple, Amazon, Radio… they all may be different one another and from the CD version.

 

[Andrew_WOT]

Music labels make different master/distribution versions for different delivery channels, Qobuz, Tidal, Apple, Amazon, Radio… they all may be different one another and from the CD version.

Never heard of that, interesting, any links to the source of this info?
I mean if it's in digital form, what do the do exactly, remaster it specifically for Tidal, Qobuz, or Amazon. I've read some streaming services have watermarking in audio stream, but assumed it happens at the service level, not studio, and it's not audible anyway.

 

[chesebert]

Never heard of that, interesting, any links to the source of this info?
I mean if it's in digital form, what do the do exactly, remaster it specifically for Tidal, Qobuz, or Amazon. I've read some streaming services have watermarking in audio stream, but assumed it happens at the service level, not studio, and it's not audible anyway.

I believe the answer is yes. I don't remember where I learned that.

 

[dufferdan]

I've donated collection of all my CDs to Goodwill before New Year, they were just collecting dust taking space in the garage. They are all ripped to FLAC but I find modern remasters (reissues) on Qobuz sounding better.
Question for CD collectors, if you rip them anyway why not buy digital to begin with. Qobuz, acousticsounds, HDtracks, all sell lossless albums, even in high res and DSD format?

HD Tracks can be pretty premium priced. I can get a CD for 8.99-12.99. I have bought 20-30 HD Tracks downloads over the years and frankly, hard for me to tell the difference if the master is the same.

 

[gimmeheadroom]

Qobuz has information on individual releases, label, year of release, if it's a remaster, etc.

Qobuz is one of the few services not available here. But, aside from pics of the album covers on Tidal and Deezer, I have no indication of the master. Anyway @chesebert is saying what I have read, the music business distributes a lot of different stuff all over the place.