Well, speaker cables are different so there is ample potential for difference in sound.
Bit-perfect copies of computer files are not. They are identical. It does not matter if you copy one using the cheapest drive you can buy, if it’s bit perfect (which is what accurate rip confirms) then by definition it is identical.
As IB has alluded, files may have differing checksums owing to differences in the metadata whilst being ‘identical’ from the perspective of the music. Whether they sound identical is debatable - and is subjective.
Then there is the psychology around buying an expensive piece of kit and the validation of that purchasing decision… This is somewhat difficult to quantify but we’re all prone to it to some degree.
Again you are the reason people don’t want to come in here!! You are just too perfect mate!!!
You mean he doesn’t just agree with you but actually has the temerity to rationally discuss the matter?
happy Xmas!!
That is the entire point of digital - that’s the entire premise it was sold on - that copying a file would introduce no changes, and that a copied file could be checked to ensure it was a perfect copy.
What the file is played back on, well, that’s a different matter of course.
Yes if you think a CD player is better,then you know that the ripping is not perfectly executed.
Have you compared the Melco to a Naim ripp (Waw) ?
Yes my dealer has done the same and we could hear it but some people I am sure won’t as it system dependent and if you personally can hear it! Telling someone your wrong is not helpful that’s all I am saying
Hi Marki, sorry if I am being stupid, but I’ve read your original post a couple of times, and I’m still not clear on what you are comparing against what. Are you comparing:
a ripped CD ripped and played on a Melco
against
a ripped CD ripped on the MAC (using db) then copied to and played on a Melco
Media files are just containers.
A FLAC file has the bitstream (compressed or not) and metadata held separately. A WAV file has uncompressed bitstream and metadata held separately.
Two audio files with identical 100% accurate audio bitstream which sound different on a streamer would point to a technical deficiency in the streamer software or hardware implementation. Metadata should not influence audio.
naim gen1 streamers allegedly suffered from this, where it is generally accepted WAV sounds better than FLAC since the device performing decompression negatively influenced sound quality. That is a technical deficiency. As owners of a SU, and previously having had a 272, our uPNP server was set to transcode to WAV to mitigate this.
Comparison of two audio files is trivial using freely available tools. Rather than metadata differences perhaps one rip was subject to DSP, or has different ReplayGain tags or some other difference. Dynamic range can be easily found and frequency content can be seen on a spectrogram.
You understood perfectly! What annoys me here is that I came on to show what I had found and what others are now perceiving to hear too including Melco who have a £1000 ripper that they see as important. I too was not sure it could be of importance. But I have been met with the assumption that I need psychiatric help 
and that my hearing is somewhat degraded so I must be wrong! I never asked for peoples opinion nor guidance I have been in this game for more than 40 years. It was my findings right or wrong, but somehow forums bring out the worst in people’s desire to tell you you must be wrong! Like listing to a Tory trying to tell you you need to make cuts to make ends meet while he is in his mansion! I don’t need advice or your opinion it was something I found! Kind Regards 
You are preaching to the converted here. Nevertheless if as claimed the Melco rip sounds different there must be a reason, and IIRC in the earlier thread there had been reasonable steps to verify it wasn’t bias, and this thread is someone else observing the same thing.
If, as was reported in discussions in a previous thread, simple checks on the files reveal no differences in the data, then more detailed assessments are needed which would need ti examine more than just the data. Leaving aside the insidious possibility (mentioned only because of the potential and not any suggestion whatsoever that it has happened) that a brand whose own rips sound better than those done on another device has added a watermark to its own rips and deliberately degrades anything without the watermark, hypotheses that fit the known facts are needed and then need to be tested. My reference to attached metadata was one such hypothesis someone suggested in a previous thread, but not pursued further…
Thank for the clarification. So perhaps let’s assume for argument sake, they do sound different (and I’m happy to go with that) then we just need to understand what the differences are. Physics dictates that two accurate rips must produce the same data. IMHO that is fact - so therefore we have to ask ourselves, how does the Melco play two files with the same Music Data but different Metadata.
Perhaps the answer is in that question. What if the Melco knows by the metadata what it was ripped on, and therefore adjust the SQ (DSP) on the output? (oooh, now there’s a conspiracy theory)
The way to test this would be to play the same two files from a different music server.
Oh dear.
Don’t bother, many here have the Melco ripper with Melco server, as Gazza, Darkbear, Meni, Dunc….and they all compared to rips done by a Mac or PC., finding each time the Melco rips better sounding than the computer rips, played on the same server.
But as audiophile switches, the discussion always turn in “ it’s not possible, no reason to, fancy boxes, expectations bias….
Good to hear from you FR👍
Just to clarify, when you say “played on the same server”, do you mean the same Melco server, or any UPnP server?
And if reasonable steps have been taken to verify that the observed difference is real (which sadly some people dont seem to like), , the discussion also turns to trying to understand what us happening to cause it, because some if us don’t believe in magic, rather we believe that some physical cause hitherto unknown or unrecognised is at play. Aside from the benefit and pleasure of knowledge and understanding, if known and understood it could be that the benefit could be attained some other way.
In holidays in 5 days……I will certainly post more my friend 
Same Melco server.
As IB said, the only easy possibility to be understood is that the Melco server makes the Melco rips sounding better than other rips.
Or , even if both rips are 100% accurate, Melco rips sound better for another unknown reason. The better cd drive, better ps….less noise…
Some found that adding a better ps to the Melco ripper still enhances the sound quality of the rips played after.
