WAV files and Astell & Kern

On a Unitiserve, it is essential to convert WAVs to FLAC on the Unitiserve before moving them to any other device, if you want to be able to see the metadata properly. I'm pretty sure this will be the case for the Core too, but I dare say someone who runs one will be able to confirm this.

So if I don't want to disturb my Core and decide to rip newly purchased CDs on my Mac (and then transfer to the A&K) what do i need to achieve high quality FLAC rips ... i seem to recall that DB PowerAmp has been recommended.

I'm certainly not going to re-rip my entire collection but i'm in the midst of  a buying frenzy so happy to double rip new purchases

Andrew, I rip twice (in fact sometimes three times for some stuff that I rip on my MBP for iTunes) - once in WAV on the Core, and then on a Lenovo with dbpoweramp to FLAC.  I use the Lenovo for cleaning up downloads and anything that requires lots of tag editing.  It's also is where I keep any FLAC files for transfer onto stick, cards and portable devices. Works well for me.

If you really have to rip again, yes, use DBpoweramp and save in FLAC. Once you've done this, and made any metadata edits, you could even copy these to the Core downloads folder instead of ripping them again on the Core.

Alternatively, store your Core CD rips in FLAC, so that you can copy them to other devices, although I have a feeling it may not be possible to transcode back to WAV on playback like you can on a Unitiserve.

Thanks guys looks like i have a solution!

If you copy your rips from the Core's MQ folder onto a PC then there are ways to tag the files.

As I understand it, Song Kong Commercial will parse Naim metadata files and tag the Wav files with the info. Song Kong exists for MAC as well which is handy.

Or alternatively, as a PC only solution, Tag & Rename has the ability to tag files based on file names. It can also tag artist/album based on those folders with a little work. I can post the required mask to do this properly as required.