What ripping software is compatible with the UServe?

Posted by: smiglass on 09 September 2011

Hi all!  

I don't know if this has been asked before, but, I plan to buy an UnitiServe in the future for my CD's.  I would like to start storing CD's on my NAS now but I don't know what software will work the the Serve, preserving tags and album art.  I have a MacBook Pro to use for now for ripping.  In the past I have put everything into iTunes but I want to start over with WAV's.  Can you advise what software would work?  Thanks

Anthony

Posted on: 10 September 2011 by garyi
I think you need to research some more.

A serve will happily rip directly to a nas, a mac book is not required

If your plan is to get ahead then xld for mac is what you need, ripping to flac.

I woud avoid wav.
Posted on: 10 September 2011 by MartinCA

Before the iServe, I used EAC (free, and top quality rip) on the PC to RIP both WAV and MP3 similtaneously, and I used iTunes to create Apple Lossless and MP3, and have big libraries of all these on my NAS.  I also have 24bit FLAC downloads.  When I got the UServe, it happily and automatically picks all top level networked folders with 'music' or 'mp3' etc in the folder name and can play the contents, and I had no real problem with this at all.  The only drawback I have noticed is that it has not picked up all the cover art.

 

But using the UServe to rip is so much easier, and getting all the additional information and cover art works much better.  Quite honestly - I would wait until you get the UServe before ripping WAV.  The best preparation for getting a UServe I would say would be to pick about how you structure your NAS music shares.  These will work like different libraries on the UServe.  So for example, I have a share that is also used by iTunes and that I sync to iPods, and I have a Classical share, and a HiDef share amongst others. Its one area where it works much better for me than iTunes.

 

Martin

Posted on: 10 September 2011 by smiglass

Thanks for the reply, garyi.  I do need more research because I am finding this process confusing.  I was trying to get ahead before I get the UServe and wanted the best sound quality.  I will try xid and  tip to flac.

 

Anthony

Posted on: 10 September 2011 by PBenny1066
Anthony, I would second martin's post. If you're finding all this a bit confusing, all the more reason to wait untilm you get the U.S. and let it do all the rips for you in wav format.

Paul
Posted on: 10 September 2011 by Peter_RN

Anthony……..Half the reason for buying a US is to obtain the Naim ripping engine, the other half is to obtain their optimised server solution. I like the others feel you would/must be better waiting until you have a serve, or be prepared to rip again.

 

Of course just MHO.

 

Peter

Posted on: 10 September 2011 by Tog

"optimised server solution" ?????

 

Tog

Posted on: 10 September 2011 by garyi

Well maybe not the right wording but naims ability to aggregate all music on your network is a great feature, and IMO essential for a music play back device.

Posted on: 11 September 2011 by Guido Fawkes
Originally Posted by smiglass:

Thanks for the reply, garyi.  I do need more research because I am finding this process confusing.  I was trying to get ahead before I get the UServe and wanted the best sound quality.  I will try xid and  tip to flac.

 

Anthony

Hi Anthony

 

Most rips are identical in terms of of SQ. 

 

iTunes, XLD, Max, CD Paranoia, EAC, UnitServe produce exactly the same musical content in files unless the CD is damaged - the non music data does vary. I've compared files bit by bit and have never once found it mattered. 

 

There is a lot of mythology around ripping and I cannot hear any difference between two identical files whatever they ripped on/with. 

 

This is not true of mp3 (iTunes is poor in this respect), but for lossless it matters not one iota. You can convert from one format to another using Max on a Mac Book (WAV, AIFF, ALAC, APE, FLAC).

 

In my humble opinion if you have a limited budget then a Vortexbox/Naim DAC sounds better than UnitiServe/Cheaper DAC. If you're using the NDX and have a QNAP NAS or similar then you don't need anything else: although I think the Naim DAC sounds a lot better than the bare NDX.  


Of course, the UnitiServe/Naim DAC/555 PS sounds really good and looks nice, but there is no magic about ripping. CD Paranoia is just about the best I've found at ripping damaged discs though it has only been necessary on 2 out of 3000 discs I've ripped. 


That said if you are going to buy a US then you might as well use it for ripping as it'll put all the files and cover art and so on in the right place on your NAS for other Naim kit. 


All the best,Guy


If you are going to use a MacBook then do as Gary says - XLD will use CD Paranoia to rip to FLAC which Naim streamers can understand so it'll work a treat and give perfect rips. 

Posted on: 11 September 2011 by Simon-in-Suffolk
Hi Anthony, I agree with Guy. Most rips, and correctly performed rips are identical in sound quality. The differences come in differing strategies for ripping damaged CDs and of course ease and accuracy of compiling the metadata with the rip.
The latter is worth thinking about.
If you a very large music collection, like many of us do, how do structure and search for your music?
This might suggest you require custom tags to your collection so you can access and find the music how you wish, ie by mood, style, record label, producer, British/American/ etc.
Here I find the Unitiserve lacking, it might improve in a later version, but it's database and ripping program can only work with a specific subset of keywords, and even some of those can't be end use edited. Finding hires album art is also awkward, if not initially found by Unitiserve.

Don't get me wrong Unitiserve works quite well, but if you have hundreds or thousands of CDs, you might find it restrictive or frustrating to use as I did.

Other options, well everyone has their views, and there are different options for different platforms. But my favourite is dBpoweramp creating richly indexed WAV files but alas is written only for MS.

My food for thought.... Think of a system or process, try it out for a dozen or so CDs. Optimise and adjust, and when happy start the rip of your collection, that might take weeks. It's easier to get metadata right as you go along rather than  retro fix later with thousands of tracks.( albeit totally possible).
Posted on: 11 September 2011 by Tog

+1 for getting the tagging right first time

 

"The Beatles" to "Beatles, the" etc etc can make you a bit OCD

 

Tog

Posted on: 11 September 2011 by Peter_RN
Originally Posted by Tog:

"optimised server solution" ?????

 

Tog

Hi Tog

 

Sorry if you don’t like my choice of words, perhaps Garyi put it better.

 

The OP stated his intention to buy a US, not that he was considering the purchase.

 

That said if he doesn’t use its ripping abilities it becomes a very expensive server IMHO. In my world the Serve is an optimised solution, its designed to work together, as ripper, server and aggregator (thanks Garyi) and does a pretty good job from what I have heard.

 

It’s not the only solution of course, but I presume that the OP has looked at the options and has decided that the Serve is right for him; why would he not use it to its full ability?

 

Peter

 

 

Posted on: 14 September 2011 by smiglass
Originally Posted by Simon-in-Suffolk:
Hi Anthony, I agree with Guy. Most rips, and correctly performed rips are identical in sound quality. The differences come in differing strategies for ripping damaged CDs and of course ease and accuracy of compiling the metadata with the rip.
The latter is worth thinking about.
If you a very large music collection, like many of us do, how do structure and search for your music?
This might suggest you require custom tags to your collection so you can access and find the music how you wish, ie by mood, style, record label, producer, British/American/ etc.
Here I find the Unitiserve lacking, it might improve in a later version, but it's database and ripping program can only work with a specific subset of keywords, and even some of those can't be end use edited. Finding hires album art is also awkward, if not initially found by Unitiserve.

Don't get me wrong Unitiserve works quite well, but if you have hundreds or thousands of CDs, you might find it restrictive or frustrating to use as I did.

Other options, well everyone has their views, and there are different options for different platforms. But my favourite is dBpoweramp creating richly indexed WAV files but alas is written only for MS.

My food for thought.... Think of a system or process, try it out for a dozen or so CDs. Optimise and adjust, and when happy start the rip of your collection, that might take weeks. It's easier to get metadata right as you go along rather than  retro fix later with thousands of tracks.( albeit totally possible).

Thanks to everyone who has written a reply, especially Guy and Peter.  I have found your information very helpful.  I do have a large library of CD's, approximately 3000 and many have already been ripped to iTunes.  I am definitely going for a US with the nDAC and NDX in the future.  That said, I wanted to start now and have a good amount stored on the ReadyNas Duo.  I appreciate the observation that rips are basically the same, except for MP3's.  I have XLD on my MacBook Pro, so I will use it to rip media to flac.  I have worked with computers for over 20 years but still find this subject confusing!

Thanks to Tog and Garyi as well

 

Anthony

Posted on: 14 September 2011 by Tog
UServe is a great bit of kit and I doubt you will be disappointed with it - although after getting used to ripping with the excellent XLD on the Mac you might find the UServe's rather "Marmite" approach to file management a bit irritating - or you may love it !

Hi Peter -I was being a bit playful -sorry -although you know I'm not a devotee of Naim's file / music store approach. I prefer the drag and drop - rip where you like - store in one central server (paranoid backups of course) and distribute - approach.  IMHO aggregated music storage - though very clever - is a solution in search of a problem.

Tog
Posted on: 14 September 2011 by naimUnT
dppoweramp. Very good software for CD ripping.
Posted on: 15 September 2011 by Peter_RN
Originally Posted by Tog:
UServe is a great bit of kit and I doubt you will be disappointed with it - although after getting used to ripping with the excellent XLD on the Mac you might find the UServe's rather "Marmite" approach to file management a bit irritating - or you may love it !

Hi Peter -I was being a bit playful -sorry -although you know I'm not a devotee of Naim's file / music store approach. I prefer the drag and drop - rip where you like - store in one central server (paranoid backups of course) and distribute - approach.  IMHO aggregated music storage - though very clever - is a solution in search of a problem.

Tog

 

Hi Tog

 

No need to be sorry – I know you can be mischievous at times.

 

I admit it was not the best-put argument, funny, I knew what I meant. The fact is I have to admit that the Serve doesn’t quite do it for me either. I too like total control myself in all parts of the ripping/storing/playback/backup chain (that’s why I’m a PC man I guess  ); oh, sorry ignore that last bit.

 

Anyway, for many the Serve will be an ideal solution I’m sure, they have sold a heck of a lot of them apparently. In many ways I wish I would just accept what it does and buy one, it would make life a hell of a lot easier.

 

Hope the OP gets the very best out of his when he gets it.

 

Peter