CD Ripping Software

Posted by: Daunt on 09 March 2012

Being a Mac user and a relative newcomer to quality audio streaming I am wondering what ripping software other Naim and Mac owners out there use?

 

I am currently using a last generation Iomega Stor Centre Raid for my music (which I intend to replace when funds allow). Unfortunately the uPnp firmware on this doesn't seem to be passing the AIFF formatted files I use onto my Uniti which just doesn't see the files or the file structure. At best it sees the odd file and says it is in 'unknown' which isn't a lot of use really.

 

Once I convert the AIFF files to Flac (using switch for Mac) everything is fine, but I don't like adding another layer of processing to the files. Has anyone out there had experience of this and found a solution or workaround? I am right in presuming that drives on the Naim 'approved' list would enable AIFF files to be correctly displayed on the Uniti?

 

I am about to experiment with Rip and Max from sbooth.org, which seem to be offering the quality ripping necessary for good streaming - anyone out there dabbled with these applications?

I am also intending to record a selection of my beloved vinyl using Sound Forge (which works for me) and a couple of excellent plugins, but this programme runs in windows so, again, I am wondering what other mac users out there are using to rip their vinyl?

Posted on: 09 March 2012 by Tog

Max is a great product but I think XLD is better and far more flexible for ripping on a Mac.

 

It will convert effortlessly aiff to flac as well. Don't worry about flac, There  is enough evidence to suggest that as a lossless codec flac sounds just as good as aiff or wav. 

 

 Tog

Posted on: 09 March 2012 by Guido Fawkes

+1 XLD is the best ripping product I have found for the Mac 

 

If you have your Uniti upgraded then it will play AIFF and ALAC files, as you have found the originals didn't understand these format - you'd need your dealer to put the new board in. 


To rip vinyl you need a decent ADC - best I've heard is the Metric Halo ULN but it was not inexpensive, you could use an Edirol ADC or you could a Rega Fono A2D Stage which makes life easy, but is only suitable for MM cartridges like the Decca London 


I don't transfer much vinyl to digital - I'd prefer to do it the other way around - though digital to Dolby S cassette works well. However, the Mac software I have is Bias Peak and the Soap module does a wonderful clean-up job. 

Posted on: 09 March 2012 by Daunt

All very interesting thanks. My Uniti is the latest with latest firmware etc and will play AIFF and Flac no problem, the issue really is the NAS I am using somehow not integrating with the Uniti and messing up the file structure and the Uniti simply not seeing some files at all. They are all there on the NAS and in the correct folders and sub folders etc. Once I do the Flac conversion it all comes good, so that more or less confirms that there is a software issue with my NAS. I am happy to originate future tips straight into Flac, just a bit tedious when I want to also rip onto iTunes. Hopefully a new NAS will allow me to sort that out.

 

Thanks for the info on ripping software, Ill look into it. 

 

I still have my trusty NAC42.5/HiCap as anMM phono stage (though I will probably change that at time point too). My old PC has a really good sound card and taking signals in via that onto Sound Forge gives me pretty convincing  and useable copies of my discs. The plugins sort out any clicks and pops ad replace a little of the sparkle that is lost doing this - it all sounds adequate, well more than really. I just don't want the old pc laying around these days and need to get a good A-D and some decent software so I can do it all on the mac.

 

Some of the best vinyl transfers I heard were onto mini-disc which just seemed to have a sympathetic codec for the medium - but things move on and convenience when I don't want to bother with the turntable is the order of the day.

 

Many thanks so far though, lots to look into.

 

I was an avid NAC A5 user until I heard the Tellurium cables. The cheaper ones will dress around skirtings and other cables ok, but the more exotic are rather chunky frankly. But even the cheapest Tellurium is interesting indeed.

Posted on: 09 March 2012 by Geoff P

I have used dBPoweramp, which refers to the 'AccurateRip' database to confirm successful rips, and Asset UPnP to serve music in PC land for quite a while.This allows the use of pretty much any file encoding you want and Asset is a very flexible and reliable server.

So much so that I have recently installed them on my MAC AIR using Parallels to run a virtual machine copied over from the PC they used to run on. Personally I rip to WAV because HDD storage is cheap and dBPoweramp adds all the tags you need to WAV. I-tunes can 'see' and serve WAV files aswell.

 

For Vinyl ripping on my MAC is use an Apogee Duet 2 USB A->D together with Ableton Live software which allows ripping at up to 192/32 and exporting in a large choice of resolutions. I use 96/24 WAV and find this gives excellent results. I don't mess with the ripped files at all. Basically I am used to the odd noise when I play Vinyl so unless it is a really crap damaged record I live with that bit of noise rather than mutilate the captured audio.

 

regards

Geoff

Posted on: 09 March 2012 by Guido Fawkes

> dBPoweramp .. refers to the 'AccurateRip' database to confirm successful rips

 

XLD can do this as well if you set the read samples offset correction value to the appropriate value, it is not as sophisticated as dBPA, but it's free and it runs natively under OS X - which is essential for me (either that or Linux). 


 

I would have run dBPA if it ran with CrossOver (as I thought it would for a while), but it would not access the CD drive and after reading your posts Geoff I knew it wasn't going to play. I'll try Asset on the Mac Mini under CrossOver when the NDS arrives; I was thinking of a second Vortexbox. 


XLD and VB both use CD Paranoia for ripping though XLD has other options XLD Secure and Burst. I tend to use CD Paranoia III as it is default. 

Posted on: 09 March 2012 by PG

Hi I'm new to this ripping and networking stuff, but use a macbook air (plus separate drive) to rip CDs into FLAC files using Phile Audio (available s an app). This is just saved to a portable drive and then transferred to QNAP 212 NAS.

It all works really well into my Unitiqute.

Posted on: 10 March 2012 by Geoff P
Originally Posted by Guido Fawkes:

 

I would have run dBPA if it ran with CrossOver (as I thought it would for a while), but it would not access the CD drive and after reading your posts Geoff I knew it wasn't going to play. I'll try Asset on the Mac Mini under CrossOver when the NDS arrives; I was thinking of a second Vortexbox. 



Guy

 

I was lucky enough to have a Windows XP SP3 install on an old PC from which I could throw away all extraneous programs. This only used up about 17 Gb on the MAC using Parallels and of course I was able to transfer the original Licence   so not expensive. This is so low on space and cpu usage that it really has no affect on the MAC when it is running.

 

Geoff