Hi Bert, but Moondrifter is using a Lumin P1, so am I, and you are using a ND555. This could be why his dealer told him what he did.
I would suggest going with a good NAS like Synology. It is just 1 more box excluding the number of hard drives you choose to install inside. As you build an ever increasing digital library it is worth considering the ability to survive hard disk failures or errors without losing files due to time interval gaps between manual backups. It is a solution that can keep up with even library sizes double and way beyond.
You may also consider using Roon which excels in managing large libraries.
I rip my CDs into wav format which sound better than streaming and flac files.
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Agreed totally. It is possible to start out experimenting and learning the technology with just a hard drive. Eventually people gravitate to NAS drives and then the need to backup and secure the data becomes important - so you end up like me with 2 NAS at my house, one at a relatives house and also copies of data in various cloud services as well. In my case the music data is a tiny proportion of the data I store. - photography and video being just some of the other data. 100mp and 150mp photographic images are large!
On the wav v flac front I observed the same years ago that wav sounded better than flac, marginally. Again at a software engineering level in theory that makes no difference because the flac file and the wav file are identical when they are converted into pcm. The flac format is lossless - you can convert back and forth between flac and wav to your hearts content and still have an identical file.
I reasoned it thus - there must be something else at play. Getting the data accurately into the streamers buffer is asynchronous activity and therefore its highly unlikely that the difference is occurring there. So rather like the noise example above something else must be happening. The next step of the process after music data is in the buffer is a synchronous task - processing the audio data and feeding it into the dac. Its a highly sensitive step and prone to errors of timing. I assumed that the cpu was either a) struggling to handle the extra processing load of converting flac files into pcm and as a result generating synchronous data transmission errors. Or b) the extra processing activity generated more noise and that was leaking into the dac stage and thus on to the speakers.
The remedy is a) store the file as wav format or b) store it as flac and let the music server transcode it to wav or pcm and send that asynchronously to the streamer. Most good media servers can do that. I know Naim went with a) as a recommendation. I preferred b) because native wav is poorer at metadata handling and the files are bigger. Frankly its a wash which you use!
I also wonder if the difference was a generational thing in dac design. Do more recent dac and streamer cpu designs have the difference? Linns oraganik dac design uses FPGA chips to handle the pre processing. I would be surprised if the same differences between file lossless file formats are still a thing. But maybe they are. Given b) above is what I do, I haven’t bothered to compare.
Digital audio started out as a geeks game in the early 2000s when I used EAC to rip my first cds. Its gone mainstream now as digital streamers far outstrip cd players in the quality of sound possible. So I totally understand why people don’t use the basic (and super cheap) computer tools and use a solution of convenience that bundles these same technologies I have described into a nice easy package. At a huge premium and markup thank you very much. I don’t mind that even though the simple tools of ripping a cd accurately using a cheap optical drive are ridiculously easy and cheap.
I do mind the exaggerated claims that magic box x extracts and recreates the original data file from the cd better than dbpoweramp and a cheap optical drive. It might handle read errors marginally better at the read stage but dbpoweramp catches those errors with a high degree of accuracy and certainty. It might also recover a badly scratched and dirty cd marginally better than the cheap solution due to a better quality cd transport stage compared to a cheap optical drive. About 1% of my cds were so mistreated that the data on the cd was too difficult and time consuming to recover accurately. When that happens however you know because comparison of your ripped file with several others ripped files tells you that there is a problem.
But the claim that a ripped pcm file from magic box x that is identical to the original pcm file and identical at the bit level to a eac or dbpoweramp file (or for that matter an itunes ripped file if it is later proved to be an identical file) somehow sounds better played through a similar replay chain. That just breaks every law of software engineering. 
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Must go because I am off to hear the new linn dsm versus my linn ds/3. That has the same dac improvements as my ds/3 but a significantly upgraded streamer casing and layout design and interestingly two further strategies for handling the noise from the cables and networking - optical sfp and wifi.
No. How it could happen is beyond your scientific understanding. That is quite a different matter.
You appear to display an approach that has come to be almost a characteristic of many engineers. That is ‘I know how X, Y and Z works because I’m an engineer and therefore anything that doesn’t fit into my understanding simply cannot happen’. Your approach fails to take account of the empirical evidence and fails to attempt to explain it, preferring instead to dismiss or disregard it as a figment of people’s imaginations.
That’s fair enough I suppose on a personal level if you’re comfortable with it in yourself. But it is a most unsatisfactory approach with regards to explaining how the world around us actually works.
I could liken your approach to the following:
A man believes that all cows are brown, since he has only ever seen brown cows. He takes a trip into the countryside one day and spies a herd of black and white cows. He concludes that these cannnot possibly be cows since they are not brown.
Disregarding empirical evidence that doesn’t fit your own personal understanding or beliefs is one way to proceed and as I say if you are comfortable with that approach then so be it.
But the scientific and far more productive approach is to qjuestion and revise your beliefs according to the empirical evidence snd then attempt to explain what you have observed.
This discussion was already been done in many threads. With no conclusions.
However the cd rips by the D100 were tried on another server, and compared to pc rips. The sound was different.
Try, hear first, and then maybe you will loose some assurance. But maybe not.
This kind of discussion is overdone. Always the same. Sorry.
This does not have any direct relevance to how different ripping devices are able to produce bit perfect rips that nevertheless sound different when replayed.
Can’t add to the discussion whether the CD rips are an exact copy of the original or not (although I suspect they are the same since the checksums are what accuraterip checks, doesn’t it?). Most of my rips nowadays go in the other direction: I burn a download to a CD-R (after converting them to redbook using professional software). However, on the playback of those files, the hardware makes a big difference.
I have transports from Aune, Soundaware, Melco and Hifi Rose at home currently, as I am evaluating the Soundaware D300ref against a Melco N50 (hooked up to DAC via USB) and a Hifi Rose RS130 (coax). All using the same external DAC. With the same music files, these devices do not sound the same: even the digital cable adds to the mix.
Incidentally, I have not yet found any streamer or transport that sounds as good as my Accuphase SACD player even though I can’t burn hires signals and the CD-R is inherently more noisy than the original hires download.
I first ripped all my cd’s using the buffalo (melco) cd drive. The one they recommend to use unless you go D100.
This is a cheap drive and power supply, it does a great job, very quick, and most will find it move than adequate even if you use it as a cd transport as well into the melco.
I then borrowed a D100 and ripped a few tracks to compare and there was a slight difference, difference enough for me to once again rip all my cd’s.
I have since messed about ripping a few odd cd’s and found that if you isolate the cheap buffalo drive on a nice platform or isolation feet, this helps inpove it, also a better power supply than the one in the box helps hugely, doing both these things still keeps it cheap, but makes a difference that then makes the D100 look very expensive for what it is.
Obviously the D100 looks far nicer, but unless you are going to use it as a transport into the melco, this works well, and sounds good, but is a bit off a faff to use, plus no remote, and you need a good USB cable as well.
Whilst we are on USB, a good USB cable to connect drive to melco also makes a small difference, and so does using a better power supply on the D100.
But it can all start to get very expensive just to rip a cd, especially if buying new. D100, better power supply, better USB cable, you can soon be over £2000. Much better to buy a secondhand D100, rip your cd’s and then sell it on, hopefully not losing anything if you buy right, or just max out the cheap drive and stick it in the cupboard afterwards like i now do, ready for when i need to rip a cd.
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That is pretty much word for word what Auralic recommend………a good power supply on a cheap ripper, but if you have the money……D100. I use the latter with a Plixir power supply, a little better again.
I’m sorry if my reply upset you both in anyway. 
Sometimes software engineering is a complex field and a whole host of factors can intervene and make the actual outcome be different from the intended outcome. Thats why testing and end user validation is a critical part of the process. You measure the outputs and compare them to the intended results. And then try to work out what is the cause. So most software engineers are always looking to work out what might have gone wrong in the process. I am sure you hear differences. I believe you.
The problem is always that there are risks of coding errors or other external factors impacting the outcomes of the whole system chain not just the software layer. Its why software engineers have huge respect for infrastructure engineers. In that murky world there is so much that can manifest and spoil our party!
It becomes a balance of probabilities. If you tell me that for example roon developers and linn made a software error when they coded roon up and tested it. I believe you. It happens all the time. What catches the defect is good testing. If someone says the defect is caused by say a failure in the tcp code they are using, the developers will start out being highly skeptical and rightly so. Because that code is used by trillions of transactions a second to guarantee delivery. Is there a chance that through poor software engineering practices that the tcp team could accidentally or maliciously inject errors then sure it could happen.
I think all of these differences and risks of software defects are right at the margins of sound improvement imho. Now I really must go as I dont want to be late to hear a nice shiny new bit of kit!
Enjoy your music and your hifi! 
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Not at all. If things like this upset me I wouldn’t be posting here!
Thanks for your considered reply. I think we have different approaches here. My approach to hi-fi is that I have aways relied purely on my ears to tell me what I prefer. Regardless of anything else. And yes, sometimes the results are inexplicable in terms of what is generally accepted as being the case.
I admit that your approach is foreign to me and one that I would never adopt. But that doesn’t matter. We don’t need to agree and we don’t need to think about things in the same way. It’s partly this that makes our hobby so fascinating.
Anyway enjoy your hi-fi too, have fun and happy listening. 
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Me too. I have the Plixir Elite BDC with the Statement cable. My dealer told me that a customer upgraded to the new Plixir Statement power supply from the Elite and as a result decided to re-rip his entire CD collection! Too expensive for me though. 
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I don’t have an answer for you, but the question has been discussed before, with some postulated ideas as to possibilities:
For further discussion on this particular query I suggest it would probably be best to ask Richard to reopen that thread with its existing discussion rather than go into it much here.
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I agree. However such discussions rarely seem to be very productive with both camps becoming more and more entrenched and they frequently end with someone pushing the button and Armageddon! I try very hard not to let myself get too involved these days - it’s just not worth the effort.
The other thing is that most of us here are lay people discussing complex issues way outside of our own fields. One wonders how much good can ultimately come from a bunch of dumb suckers discussing things that we don’t fully understand. As the saying goes, a little knowledge can be a very dangerous thing.
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Well, from all the posts over the last couple of days, its apparent that ripping CD’s is not that straight forward and another can of worms.
To add to the can of worms, can people share their experience with which sound quality is best between connecting your streamer with in- built DAC with either ethernet cable or USB cable when you have the choice between the two options?
I can do both with my Lumin P1 so curious as to which one sounds better from peoples experience with their equipment.
I would dispute the notion that CD ripping is a can of worms, other than for people who choose to make it so!
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I have heard a digital streaming setup with Naim amps equal or better in performance/preference to a fully optioned LP12 in that same system, in a home setting. That level remains the highest I can hear and enjoy. To reach that in streaming unfortunately requires in my experience many boxes of equipment and digital cables can be a truly deep rabbit hole.
However, since I moved to using fibre optic connections specifically with the finisar 1475 and Corning gold cable more than 2 years ago, I have never felt the need to audition any other RJ45 copper/silver(!) ethernet cable. The 1475 just sounds right (doesn’t really have a sound) and I have collected a small tray of various finisar and Cisco SFP modules while searching for the best spunding SFP module 
. Seeing your Lumin P1 accepts SFP modules you might consider it.
If your DAC accepts i2s, a really good rj45 ethernet cable might be reused there.
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OS tuning / cpu clock speed is a thing as well… probably affects low powered streamers for example the ARM type with Linux OS.
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