Buy/rip CDs or download MQA digital music files?

JimDog posted:

Nigel or anyone - have you used Asset, and is it worth getting the paid for or free version of it?

If you get the full version you can use it to play with on your PC & learn all the tricks.   Once you have a purchased version,  you have a purchase number & Illustrate (the cmpy who own & develop Asset) have your e-mail on file.  Then when you get your QNAP you can get another no charge copy of the software.   The same applies for updates,  you get them free against your original purchase.

Ripping itself can be perfectly accurate on a computer - but might not be. DBPoweramp software, which is well respected in this regard but is not alone, has various modes to try to get the best out of even a difficult to read CD, and a facility calked Accurate Rip that compares with an online database compiled from other users, verifying that it is the same as othef people’s (unless, rarely, yours is the first rip in that database). Without such a reference it is hard to be certain as to the accuracy, while damage or errors on disks themselves of course is limiting

Aside from that, the format of your files will be critical to sound quality - any lossy compression like mp3 will mean sound quality will not be as good as the original CD. However, they should be playable across a network if you have uPNP software on the computer to ‘serve’ them. Whether Asset in readiness for putting same on a NAS, or other.

I’ve used Asset for a few years now and really like it. I have the paid version, which is hardly expensive. You’ll need to check what format your rips are in. If they are MP3 you’d be advised to redo them to flac using dBPoweramp. It’s made by the same people as Asset so there may be a bundle available. DBPoweramp will take care of your metadata needs as well as being a top notch ripper. 

Brill - that gives me something fun to do tonight!

thanks everyone

Jim

hungryhalibut posted:

..............   If they are MP3 you’d be advised to redo them to flac using dBPoweramp. It’s made by the same people as Asset so there may be a bundle available. DBPoweramp will take care of your metadata needs as well as being a top notch ripper. 

  Jim,  before you ask,  if you do have some MP3 files you'll need to start over & re-rip the CD to FLAC.     MP3 has a lot of stuff missing & as good as dBpoweramp is it can't replace the missing data.

Indeed. My ‘redo’ could have been clearer. 

Yes - I was planning to play one or two of them to see whether I can make it work and what they sound like.

Then ripping some CDs again with dBpoweramp in FLAC format - and see how much better they are.

Then delete all the existing ones (if they are worse) and replacing them with FLAC versions.

JimDog posted:

I haven't actually bought any hires files in any format. Would it better to buy in Wav, rather than buy in FLAC and then convert to Wav?

Does the 272 prefer to decode Wav signals?

Or is transcoding worth it because FLAC has higher resolution/more data than Wav, and so is better long-term bet as the format for a library of music?

WAV is a very old file format (as is its Apple sister; AIFF). It was conceived in the late 80s/early 90s. Streaming and streaming apps didn't exist back then. Nor the whole idea of a digital file being the actual primary playback medium. As a consequence, it never came with a metadata standard. Nowadays, it's bolted on top of it but it is not an official standard and your mileage varies as to which apps recognise what metadata fields.

FLAC is, together with Apple's ALAC, the latest generation of digital files. It has been designed with streaming in mind, is open source, is incredibly flexible with regards to metadata, supports extremely high resolutions (32bit / 384Khz, unlike ALAC), and is lossless while taking up less space than WAV.

I have used both MinimServer and Asset. Both are probably the two best music servers on the market. I found two major differences

• Agent's implementation of ReplayGain is better than MinimServer's.
• MinimServer has better support for platforms. Agent only supports Qnap for example, where MinimServer supports other platforms (Synology) as well.
• Agent uses ID3 standards to read metadata tags from FLAC files. Your FLAC files need to strictly use ID3 tags or else Agent cannot read them. That matters greatly because MinimServer can read tags natively from FLAC. FLAC has a much more flexible metadata standard than any other file type because you can create your own tags for FLAC (that helps with cataloging classical music for example). If you want to structure your CD catalog by some specific fields, Agent won't work in this case.

Hi Pepsican ......... a minor speeling typo,  I assume "Agent" is "Asset" UPnP.  

FYI re platforms,  Asset are at a public beta stage with a Synology version,  unlike Minimserver it's a very simple one package install,  no Java or Minimwatch required.     And having used Synology's Media Server & Minimserver,  I find Asset (so far) as good if not better than Minimserver,  Synology's UPnP is not in the same league.  I would however agree that Minimserver is better suited to the complexities of classical music.

I can't comment on ID3 standards reading FLAC because I'm all WAV (& DSD).  However with so many people on this forum, plus the worlds of Linn & all other streamer brands who do not seem to have issues,  maybe nothing to be concerned with.