yet another: dbpoweramp via iMac internal drive, FLAC stored in Synology NAS connected to dedicated NUC running Roon Core. Works fine, but questioning the utility asQobuz has most stuff and it/s easier. But when I’m supposed to be working, I might as well shuffle the CDs through/
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dbpoweramp on windows to rip to both flac and mp3. Sanity check the metadata using mediamonkey then copy to synology NAS running minimserver (although recently using Roon much more). mp3s are handy for copying onto a phone. Oh, and a shoulder operation after spending an entire summer doing this !
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Mac Mini using iTunes to lossless, with max-quality and error correction turned on…
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Windows 10 PC using dBPoweramp.
Save straight to NAS.
I do this in Dublin but from the replies above it seems to work in many geographical locations 
.sjb
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EAC with mp3tag here. Drive is on a Windows 10 tower.
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Thank you all!
Anybody saves in (external from the computer) HD ?
I have a usb plug in ssd for hd backup. I have played direct from there, no issues.
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How? With ripper software dBPoweramp on a Windows computer with inbuilt CD drive.: I rip to flac, default compression level 5, default ripping conditions with AccurateRip check - if problems then try progressively more rigorous read attempts, though they can be a lot slower. (I’ve only ever had a handful of tracks where the most rigorous still reported errors , but nothing obviously untoward on playing the rip). I check filenames and amend as appropriate, with classical in particular I often make changes, wanting the album folder name to be the name of the work, then conductor, orchestra & soloist names (often abbreviated) and if relevant the year. Track filenames I check commence with track number 01 - etc, except double albums 101… 201… I also check the metadata, normally OK apart from classical when some tweaking for consistency is often needed. If a disk image hasn’t been generated I search for a suitable one online and save as folder.jpg (1000x1000 pixels or less) in the album folder. Any album artwork/information/lyric sheets that I want to keep I see if I can find online, otherwise photograph, and add to the album folder. Finally I copy to Mac Mini (my player store/renderer) and to my primary backup device (NAS), in both cases putting into the folder for the artist (creating if new), that within folder for my preferred separation of genres. Periodically I bring home my secondary backup device from work and backup the NAS onto it.
Where? As the computer is a laptop, anywhere but almost always at home in the British Isles in either the music room or sunlounge.
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Like others, I rip with dBPoweramp using an external drive. (None of my Mac computers have internal drives.) I then use Metadatics to edit the metadata. Finally, I move the files onto my NAS and make a backup copy on an external hard drive. But these days, I usually buy downloads unless the CDs are much cheaper.
How are you intending to find and play your files? I started with files ripped to and played, using iTunes, from a headless MacMini connected optically to my Naim nDAC. But I have gradually moved to a full streaming setup. That requires storage of the files somewhere (a QNAP NAS in my case), server software (I have Asset and MinimServer on my QNAP) and a renderer (streamer). It’s a bit of a faff to set up initially, but now I find it just so convenient to pick up an iPad or phone and have music playing in seconds, not to mention streaming from Qobuz. If you’re like me, that is where you’ll end up eventually.
Roger
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A steep and on-going learning curve! When I started streaming it was via a Logitech SB Touch and as this accepted the WMA file format, that was what I used.
Rip WMA Lossless to Win10 PC (mostly using a separate Pioneer drive but I will use the PC’s own drive if I encounter any ripping problem). I no longer allow metadata to be collected, but enter all details manually … I find this quicker than correcting/amending pre-filled data. The files are stored on an HDD attached to the PC and therefore can be accessed via File Explorer (stored in 12 genre folders by Artist/Album).
When “happy” with the rip and music has been separated if necessary (e.g. different works go to individual sub-folders) I then convert to FLAC Lossless using level 4 and store on a NAS drive for streaming to NDX - nearly always use AssetNAS. Various backups of both the WMA and FLAC directories are maintained.
I can still stream the WMA files to the SB Touch which is attached to an AV amp and this is useful if I want to hear an album encoded in Dolby Surround rather than hear it in 2 speaker stereo (albeit overall sound quality is lacking 
)
I’ve spent many hours creating my music library so that works are accessible and I’m forever amending metadata to this end. I use Tag&Rename for this though many of its facilities are beyond my understanding!
Regarding metadata, I reverse names so that, e.g., Frank Sinatra - in whatever form - appears as Sinatra,Frank and, contrary to some views, for Classical/concert hall and Film Soundtrack music, use the Composer, rather than the Performing Artist, as the (Album) Artist.
Up until a few years ago Naim displayed the Album Artist (Control point and NDX screen) but following an update to AssetNAS it shows the Track Artist (i.e. the Performing Artist). I asked Naim if this could be made adaptable - i.e. as user, could I choose which to display - but was cold-shouldered and told, in effect, to go away. A great shame as I’ve now spent many hours amending Album titles to incorporate the Composer’s name … an on-going task but at least I enjoy working on my music library 
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I perform three rips for each CD; First is usually on my “music” MacBook Pro through iTunes and set to rip to ALAC; second is on my “music” Lenovo using DBpoweramp and set to rip to FLAC, and also I use it to rip hi-res from DVDAs; third is on my Naim Core, set to rip to WAV.
The MBP iTunes rips are great for just playing music through one of the MBPs while working, travelling, or for loading onto iPods. The Lenovo is where I do most of my editing of rips, downloads etc… and the FLACs are a perfect for use in the Ponoplayer. Both also give me options where I can’t get a clean perfect rip on the Core.
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I too use the omnipresent dbPoweramp and rip to Flac. I am a bit careful getting the tags right at rip time, so as not to forget. Otherwise, I use MP3Tag or Foobar2000 to fix tag errors in post. There are surprisingly many errors, actually, in online music databases (Musicbrainz, Allmusic etc.). Particularly non-English releases being title-cased following English capitalisation rules. Illustrate (who make dbPoweramp) have a tool called PerfectTunes, which is pretty good at finding inconsistencies, albeit a bit time-consuming. Once in a very seldom while we run that on our libraries.
Flac files are then tagged with a unique ID and stored on a Synology, running Minimserver and BubbleUPnP. The unique ID is used in a local database, where tag changes are done during daily playback, e.g. that one folksong on an album tagged as rock, or when suddenly realising that Al Di Meola is playing cymbals, not guitar, on that one record.
This is the storage from where our main renderers get their music, e.g. Roon, LMS, DLNA and OpenHome. We still have a couple of Sonos endpoints (that we couldn’t sell 
). They don’t play well with large libraries or hi-res files, so they have their own subset library with Ogg Vorbis versions of the majority of the main library.
We have a small cabin 150km away, where we have another Synology running. All files are backed up to there via VPN. This too runs Minimserver and BubbleUPnP, connecting to the home libraries remotely, serving a Mu-so Qb. The cabin is indeed very small, so the wee Qb and a Bruichladdich is all it takes to make it a home 
.
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Thank you All!
I see that almost everyone (more or less) uses a computer cd-rom mechanism to rip cd’s.
While I see that very few use a specific hifi music server to store files, which instead are stored mostly in nas, computer or HD.
Do you think it is more effective and functional than the “one box” solution as a music server that stores and manages the files?
Or am I missing something in my reasoning?
David
There are lots of people here using proprietary rippers from Naim, Innuos etc. but you specifically asked for opinions from people who don’t use them, and that’s what you got!
I wouldn’t claim that these off-the-shelf rippers give you better rips, but they can be a good way to get your CDs onto a hard drive relatively quickly and painlessly. The range of features varies from very limited (Core) to very wide (Innuos) so it’s worth thinking carefully about what you want from such a device.
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I was considering a Naim core earlier in the year and asked the forum for views. What I learnt was, was that I didn’t need to spend £2k to get what I wanted. I even considered an inuos zen mini3. Again, didn’t need it.
Rip via PC, store in my NAS was most of the replies. They were correct.
I already had the gear. Maybe Apples ITunes ripper to Alac can bettered. But I can’t be arsed to spend hours fiddling. The artwork comes across from iTunes ALACs.
And yes, even the best Melco boxes will use a cd rom drive. Add some magic Dust and then store onto a HDD/SSD. Then fire it onto your network.
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I plan on re-ripping some CDs and will use dbpoweramp for the first time on my Mac. I have an old Phillips DVD/W USB drive that I used previously. Is it worth updating to a new USB drive? I recall some conversations about accuracy of some drives but didn’t know if that’s still relevant.
dbPoweramp compares the checksum of your rip to the checksum of other peoples’ rips. If it matches, it matches
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Ok, thanks. I guess I’ll find out. Are there any settings I need to be mindful of or are default settings sufficient? I was going to rip a few this weekend and play with it.
For ripping, the default is burst mode. This is fast and reads in one go. Should suffice most of the time, I have a cheap Dell USB model and it matches every time. In addition there is the slow secure mode, where it tries a lot of things to get an accurate reading. May be needed for scratched CDs, but stresses the drive more. Try https://www.dbpoweramp.com/Help/dMC/cd-ripper-setup-guide.htm
Then of course there are many things you can adjust for file name composition and other things. https://www.dbpoweramp.com/Help/dMC/CDhelp.htm
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Cool, thanks, I’ll give that a shot.