Elegant solution for ND555 + cd transport?

There are plenty of one box ripper/servers around from Naim, Innuos and others.

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You can ask @Darkebear . He has the Nd555 and D100. @Michaelb also.

Rip store and play is fine as it is all directly done, the question would be to just connect then directly to the nd555. It seems there are very few rippers that can double as firect transport? The Melco D100 did, but has only USB outputs so cannot connect to the nd…

I understand you perfectly now. But normally, if you rip cds , it’s to be stored after.
So I see only one which rips and stores in the same box, with a top quality level : Innuos Statement. 10k. Or Innuos zenith mk3 before it.

The D100 can be used as a transport, but physically. You have to put the cds in the loader. When ripping, it is after transferred to their Melco nas. @Darkebear should confirm however.

Audiostore aka VortexBox UK has good ones at a range of prices. Worth a look if only to get an idea of the variety out there. The Bluesound Vault is another option.

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Tiberio, As I have both the cdp 555 (over 10 years) and the nd555 (3 days) it is my clear belief that a same cd physically through the cdp 555, will sound inferior than the rip played through the nd555.
If this is assumed, the question then becomes how to get my cd through the nd555 optimally and with the least possible boxes…this is where I’m struggling. Of course I alway can buy ghe melco ripper and also a melco n1 or n10, but I would like to stay as directly connected as possible. In the end I have only one room, the living room, and I’m fine to store all my files on the same drive.

The whole point of a streamer is that location of the source material becomes irrelevant. With a network connection you can conceal a server pretty much anywhere you like, and web based streams come from multiple servers dotted around the globe. Connecting a music store/server directly to your hifi is simply not necessary.

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Naim’s Uniti Core would seem to fit your requirement
Vortexbox with SPDIF out is another option.

Well, not quite sure how to chime in here.

I don’t own any Melco products but do have a ND555 and had a CD555 beforehand. Even before my recent faffing about with different ethernet solutions, the ND555 with 2 x 555PS provided better replay to my mind (and ears and emotions) than the CD555, so I simply ripped and forgot (in a Freudian sort of let’s repress any memory of two and a half of the most boring months in my life way).

I am now quite happy never to see either a CD or any form of transport ever again in my little life…

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I ripped all my CDs via Melco CD ripper onto the Melco music server, in my case the N1Zh-2 (6TB) model.

I do find playing the Ripped CD sounds better, so there is no incentive to also have a CD player to give me slightly quicker reduced-quality replay when I can Rip onto the Melco the disk - and begin playing track 1 after it has spent 20 secs ripping it while it continues to rip the rest of the album, so there is just no advantage to playing direct from the CD drive - for me.

In my case I connect and remove the CD drive as I need it - easy via USB cable - as the system sounds better when it is out of circuit. It can sit there ready to be used, but connecting takes 5 secs to I see no need to have it sitting connected for no purpose, so just put it into and out of Ripping duties as required.

I also vastly prefer the Melco Rips - why/how I do not understand but they are cleaner and more lively even though I understand that it is ‘impossible’ it is easy to have a demo and hear the Melco rip removes a halo of noise in background easy to hear on a good system if you just listen with open mind. Hence I want the best and that is what I do.

DB.

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One reason why rips might (counterintuitively) sound better than the CDs from which they were ripped is that the ripper compares the data to other copies online and corrects errors.

The Replay via ND555 uses far better reconstruction filters developed after the CD555 so there will be more possibility of accuracy - and there is no servo-motor spinning the CD noise.

I’m finding the music recorded onto old CDs is far better than we have had access to replaying - until recently. :slightly_smiling_face:

DB.

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I agree but what if I’m a single room guy? I do not have this “distributed” mindset, and I do not mind if I have sometimes to carry a storage like a cd or a flah drive or else. And also it is fine to have 2 systems that are not connected…

Hi DB, this is also my deep belief. I already can hear it through AK connect with my AK240 (where I had ripped several cds from a mac several years ago) as server to the ND through wifi. But I am looking for a solution to rip and transport to the nd without intermediary…it seems only naim core or innuos fit the bill…

Can’t comment on the Innuos, but I found dbpoweramp rips from a Mac external drive to a QNap NAS (now replaced by Ron Nucleus for SQ as well as convenience) sounded better than the Core.

Hi, It seems there is no way out…it is the sound of inevitability: 2 boxes have to be added…which also entails a 3rd fraim In the living room (I already have 2 entreq ground boxes on the floor) besides the 2 fraims…I’m afraid my wife will notice!
What a pity that the D100 ripper cannot be connected directly to the nd555!
Hopefully naim would also come up with a reference core.
I can wait quite a long time with qobuz on the nd 555 through mconnect.!

Hi Nestor_Burma,
Both DB and TonyM have great success with Melco servers. DB has the 6TB unit, while Tony has the 2TB SSD version. These can be connected directly to your streamer, though I’m not sure if the latest new generation includes an integral disc drive.

The Innuos Statement is considerably dearer but I have found it to be most impressive during dealer demos. If it is too dear, the Innuos Zennith mk3 is increasingly regarded as the benchmark to beat, especially if you like to use Roon software (Melco does not support Roon).

I use an Audiostore Prestige 3, which also has an integral high quality TEAC disc drive, as well as the SSD music storage drive. This can also be fitted with twin ethernet ports to suit your streamer and can be powered to good effect by a high quality external linear power supply (either 12V or 19V). Mine has all of these features.

The Antipodes CX is a class act as a music server but needs the optional disc drive (which physically fits under the main unit).

Would any of these suit your purposes?

Hope this helps, BF

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I thought from memory you had the D100 ripper. Sorry and thanks also.

Sure, you can put your server in the same room if you want. The point is that it’s location is unimportant. Unless it’s a Tidal or Qobuz server, in which case two tracks from the same album may not even come from the same continent, but you will never need to know that.