It probably took me about 3 months in all to get through my CDs (somewhere around 600 albums) - but not a chore while doing other things: put computer on, set one ripping, go back to it some time later and put another on, etc. Sometimes maybe 10 or even 20 in an evening, other times just 2 or 3. From time to time failures against AccurateRip (or not in AR database) meant repeating on a more intensive setting,with occasional ones on the most extreme, taking an hour or more. I didn’t discover the metadata inconsistencies until a couple of years later when I changed my renderer, the first one having happily gone by my file names/structure, but the new one relying on metadata. (Classical music is the worst - maybe not really an issue if someone doesn’t have m/any.)
Not necessarily: if you believe that identical files can sound differently, then you should also accept that identical ripping softwares may rip differently. No need to invoke differences in the hardware to explain the reported results!
I invoqued indeed that identical software may rip differently because on the difference of the hardware. Same software for melco d100 and entry level melco ripper but better rips for the D100.
Just what I tend to feel…
Sorry to ask- but does one hear a difference btw. flac on melco vs. same flac on synology/qnap/mac with upnp ? (not direct to dac…)
thanks!
…or the way that the software adapts itself to the hardware by, for instance, using a different layout for the metadata?
If the music data are bit perfect, then they are bit perfect no matter what ripper is in use (hardware and/or software). If they aren’t bit perfect then the data may be different between rippers.
However, this principle does NOT apply to the metedata.
Well it only takes about 30 seconds to rip a standard CD using the melco and buffalo
There have been other threads on Roon. It suits some people down to the ground, but is not to other people’s taste. If you want to know more do a forum search.
And, fundamentally, Roon can’t cope with collections having missing, bad or inconsistent metadata, even when well ordered in a simple file structure that is easy to set up, add to and manage. As a result anyone with such a collection finds it displays music incorrectly, or simply doesn’t find it at all. (Such a collecton can readily result if you rip 100s of CDs, or download 100s of albums, all without checking the metadata, or if you have ripped from metadata-free sources like vinyl without realising the need to add metadata at the time of ripping.)
If that is every CD, regardless, then chances are it is ripping with errors. With dBPoweramp as an example, you can rip in a very short time (no idea exactly how fast - maybe also 30s), and you can merrily rip all that way and have done with it. But if you want it to check for accuracy it takes longer, and in my experience that reveals a proportion of CDs that present difficulties in ripping accurately, and need to be done again, typically with slow reading and multiple passes, to get past read errors whether caused by CD faults or non-red-book formats or whatever.
I found the Melco ripper took several minutes per CD - not 30 secs - so it is doing something different.
I also found it correctly ripped a CD with a scratch that my PC could not rip and just tried for fun and was surprised it actually correctly ripped it.
DB.
Not the subject of this topic but,have you ever used the melco as a transport without the server and the need of a network just out of curiosity…
my dealer told me, that a melco direct to dac via usa is incredible good vs. other sources he tested…“more black backround and great dynamic” he said…
If those last two queries relate to using Its rendered output direct to a DAC, I asked of FrenchRooster in one of the current ethernet cable threads, and his view was that it didn’t sound as good. I found that disappointing as, to me, cutting out the network entirely makes every sense and I had thought of Melco as being a possible future option to consider.
You beat it to me, talking of a Naim based sistem one could’t prove it, as per SPDIF you mention(Which melco isn’t equipped with) but especially because of the core actually ripping them.
I remeber when Naim first claimed rips being better than in transport mode, that was then in 2010 or whrebouts and I can vouch the HDX performed as intended.
But cannot help thinking the transport mode was not that good and players like cdx2 would beat it easily.
I have personally at home not, but heard it do that at my Dealer with a Chord DAC on the USB - it was one of my alternative purchase options I would have got if the ND555 had not been better. But the latter was only substantially better with two supplies (which I already had) and at a far higher cost overall so not a fair contest - but I had wanted the best I could get at that time so it was the ND555 with two supplies.
But Melco was originally aimed, I think, at use with DACs via their USB output, so not a surprise it did will with the Chord Dave DAC.
But my Dealer said the Ethernet output on the Melco was what gave it the edge with their first tests in-house with equipment. They demoed to me, several years ago now, just inserting the Melco between the network and an NDS and I was very surprised at the time it seemed to wake-up all the musicians from a snooze. And that was without using the Melco for hosting the data, just ‘pass-through’ clean-up.
It seems there is a lot more to it even now I’m finding than I knew a few years back. There had been something keeping me from adopting streaming for years and it was only the emergence of the newer DACs, like the Chord Dave and newer Streamers like NDS and certainly ND555 and for me in combo with Melco and now other Network tailoring of noise and unwanted interactions that eclipsed finally other sources and allowed Streaming to ‘work’ for me.
DB.
Yes it can pass tracks out via usb into a dac and then onto an amp.
I’m using a Aurorasound Hiface 2 to do that usb to spdif.
So you mean ripping gives you the edge in sound as it allows a melco server into the game and that is the way best sound is to be obstained now after having addressed the known network issues.
Right but not originally aimed at
I use the Audiophilleo + PurePower into nDAC. It’s got incredibly low jitter (see the reviews). I tried the M2tech HiFace 2 but preferred the Audiophilleo. I drive it from Innuos Zenith 2. It has a BNC to BNC connector as they reckon that is better than a cable.
Phil
I meant just what I said. I personally like how the Melco works and have decided to tailor its presentation to what I want to achieve. The ripping is a separate thing that I just wanted to get solved as best I could a year ago when I wanted to rip all my CDs - the Melco and its ripper demonstrated best so I adopted that as solution.
I find with all Streaming solutions there are so many ways to tailor the end-result to suit what you want that it is a bit perplexing at first, especially if you approach it with the idea of a ‘best’ or correct optimal solution as I had originally.
I find there are better and worse ways to go where I want to end-up in the context of my system and my personal taste in how I want things presented that will be different from what another may correctly choose otherwise for themselves. I’m quite happy with this observation - but I observe many are not and get rather upset that people prefer different approaches and solutions.
Once you get within range of what you want - as in you are enjoying your music with your system - then the further improvements fall into category of ‘fun’ if you are not trying to convince anyone else but just telling of your own journey.
DB.