I’m having trouble telling who’s pulling whose leg lately… 
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I probably missed any humour in the question 
Recently a member here bought a Core and was positively surprised that the rips by the core sound better than the rips he had via a laptop.
There’s also several guys who found that Melco D100 rips sound better than Core rips and pc rips.
But I am not saying that some are perfect , other not.
Neither that a person has to believe what I wrote.
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Hi frenchrooster. I didn’t see that thread having been away from the forum for a bit. I think I would have been asserting that the world was round in that thread also as its not possible to get a more accurate rip than an accurate rip if you understand computing 
. Good job someone didn’t suggest a 60k ethernet cable not only as a way of improving the sound but of warming up the core faster by transmitting heat from the streamer as well as the power supply 
As an aside I was actually bored whilst David from the sound organisation was upgrading my DS/3 to utopik. And a fabulous upgrade it is too - almost as big as going from Katalyst to Organik. Take care.
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I remember bing unimpressed with the Core into a couple of DACs when I first got it, this was before the ND555 was announced but the NDS’ days were obviously numbered so I was trying a few cheaper ones, namely the Rega DACr and a Chord (Uniqte?) Neither were satisfactory with the two Chord cables I tried but much more enjoyable with a Belden 4974R 12G SDI from Bluejeans. I’ve since used it to run my DVD5 into the ND555 but used ethernet and now wireless from the Core to 555. The Belden cable was a suggestion on the previous forum from Jon Honeyball, it only comes with BNCs so needed an adaptor at one end for the Rega DAC. I ended up listening to Core-4974R-Rega DACr in preference to my CDX2/555ps a lot of the time just for the emotion it could convey and yes the CDX2 was on full Fraim.
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Insofar as the data representing the audio is concerned, I’d agree. But (for example) there is still scope for variation in what metadata is written to the file, even what order the same metadata appears in the file… and there is always someone who will claim to be able to hear the difference as a consequence of the differences in processing on playback.
And that said, I’ve yet to read any objective evidence of audible difference once such variations are accounted for…
Hearing the meta data thats hilarious! Its, er, metadata 
and stripped out of the stream of data fed to the dac. Maybe the order of the letters confuses the streamer when its handling and processing the file . Probably why linn used an FPGA chip in their bepoke dac to stop it tripping up!
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… ah - but there you are assuming that any processing prior to feeding bits to the DAC doesn’t affect the analogue output…
It shouldn’t, of course, but coupling of that processing noise (sorry, used the ‘n’ word… ) into supply rails or ground plane is possible, and not all implementations decouple as well as they should. Cost is not a reliable guide.
In the case of metadata it would be pretty ropy software engineering to cause an issue! But of course you are right about the potential for processing overhead to impact the stream - hence the wav/pcm v flac debate earlier and why I on earlier incarnations of linn ds could definitely convince myself that I could hear a difference. Whether that is still valid with organik / fpga processing I don’t know but as my HP desktop is still mostly idling when roon converts 192/24 bit flac files direct to pcm (with no metadata ) its isn’t worth testing it to find out.
Actually… I suspect that might be possible too - if a streamer is fed a file with ‘bad’ metadata, the effect could be unexpected…
Which good software engineering would regression test to expose
I’m not arguing… I think my view is that there are physical effects that could affect the analogue output; whether in any specific case such effects are audible (controlled test, etc, etc) is a different question. My ears, my system, my room - I don’t consider it worth pursuing.
Edit - I guess RAAT does encapsulate metadata; if it didn’t you wouldn’t get ‘now playing’ or album art on your streamer screen… I’d assume at the start of the stream, but of necessity during playback too if gapless playback is gapless…
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True. I’ve just switched on the RAAT streaming on my DS about 3 weeks ago. Before it was the previous linn special implementation. However it will likely be a handshake upfront with the metadata and then a pcm stream so don’t think it would be an issue. Enjoyed the conversation whilst my utopik just gets better in front of me. now that is a verifiable sound upgrade!
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I remember that the Melco rips were not written exactly the same, or something like that.
Both exact rips, but written differently.
Just read the melco thread from 22. Files are bit level identical. It’s a very very funny thread.
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Enjoy the Utopik upgrade !
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We may be drifting a long way in topic, but some say that the only difference in SQ on a streamer or a NAS is the DAC used (and perhaps its PS). I am not sure that’s a universal view, but is that what many here think?
Huge differences I think. DAC which can be off the shelf or home grown like linn organik, power supply and casing/isolation all make big differences for sure. I’ve heard all three make massive differences over time just with linn (Akurate casing, klimax casing ds/1, ds/2, ds/3). I will hear the new kdsm for the first time next week.
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Mad, I don’t know who specifically I’m replying to as there’s many a valid post, like a jazz band jigging around a theme.
But here’s the issue I have with ripped music; if they’re ripped ones pc/laptop - many many days worth, it ain’t straightforward copying across:
- Cannot edit on the Core.
- Some albums have no pictures.
Frustrating, because I love the ability to do so much with the Core when playing an album - art work etc. And it sounds good as well.
Does anyone have a solution- I don’t mean rip again!
There must be an app recommended which tidies up???
Factoring in that 1 Tb ripped music transfers to the core, in about 24 hours, from USB. That means the digital music on my PC is the source to apply the app to, and then transferring across again. Is it that simple??
Jon
I was too hasty!
Those above questions, do not apply to be necessary as I have learnt that the Core can update metadata itself and it’s doing a great job.
Hats off to the app designer as it is so slick.
Jon
PS No one will answer this, but I speculate:
Core into ND555
Sounds better than
ND555 steaming
Why? I speculate but think streaming sites have their own compression/decompression that do not compare to local source + cable distance + EM + jitter. That’s my thinking. 
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