Some years back I sold my Unitiserve, due to the arrival of the Core. Then, when I got aware of the limitations of the Core I looked at other solutions. After a period with ripping to NAS, I purchased a Melco N1a2, later upgraded with EX software and Songkong subscription. To be honest, I like the Melco a lot and ripping works very good through a Buffalo drive. I have managed to solve some coverart and Metadata issues by using Sonkong, but I`m not too familiar with it.
I have about 1000-1500 cds with classical music and here is where my problems started. Most cds rip nicely, some don`t and I get challenged by the Songkong functionality. As an example, a classical CD box Melco reads each cd as the same cd and that was the drop for me.
After that experience I have changed from Asset to Minimserver, but not tried if that solve the issue.
I want a streamer/ ripper that dont take to much attension and I wonder if my issues with classical cds are easy to solve by using some more time to understand Melco/ songkong functionality or if an Innuos will be a better choice in my humble world?
Most products read the meta data for discs from broadly the same locations so switching product doesn’t solve the initial issue. No-one has really solved the many issues raised by classical music as yet. Your solution then is really about which one allows you to best edit and fix those issues.
A significant problem I found ripping classical (also occasional other) CDs, and also some downloads, was inconsistency and even correctness, of metadata.
I ripped before awareness of the importance of metadata in streaming, and my first streamer, ND5XS, fed from a basic NAS running first Twonky then Logitech Media Server. I had no trouble at all browsing and selecting, even ripped LPs with no metadata at all, done via my methodical file structure of genre - artist (composer for classical) - album, with my album naming giving all the info I might want to differentiate. This way is so simple, and infinitely easier and more reliable than metadata based systems, at least for classical music, yet for some completely inexplicable reason library/playing software mostly completely ignores file structure, with no option to force.
Thanks both. I guess theres no easy way around switching from one to the other, I will dive further into Melco/ Songkong functions to se if that solves it. I manage to edit metadata and coverart, it just cannot part the cds from eachother when ripping some of the classical boxes.
Its worth having a look at roon again for classical. When I first got it, roon was poor in this regard. But they did a major upgrade a while back and the whole structure of composer, composition, performance (ranked by release date or popularity) makes it a really good experience especially when combining streaming and music server sources. In addition to all the reviews and commentary on compositions and performances. You may have already looked at it and discarded, if so apologies. The side effect is that it also takes a lot of the hassle away from post rip flac file tagging.
Thanks for the suggestion. I did have a trial of Roon on two occasions, though some years ago now. I didn’t find it had anything of value to me to justify its cost. More concerning have been reports that it is not the best for sound quality, though I have not assessed myself. Interesting that it has been tweaked to better handle classical. Can it yet browse by file structure, e.g. if no or bad metadata, classical or not?
Incidentally, you mention its file tagging capability, but am I right in understanding that tags are held in Roon’s database not added to your files themselves, so if you leave Roon the tags are lost?
Correct metadata held in database so you need just enough metadata in the flac files to identify the cd correctly. In my case it’s certified by linn as roon ready. I think thats similar for chord?
The side effect is that it also takes a lot of the hassle away from post rip flac file tagging.