[al2002]

Allow me to answer  your question by quoting from my own post on another thread. See:http://www.audiocircle.com/index.php?topic=89285.0
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I have used EAC for many years and have tried dbpoweramp. I currently use the auto ripper built into Vortexbox (vortexbox.org). I have ripped several hundred CDs now on my VB. I did some ripping tests on discs before settling on the VB ripper and can tell you when  ripping unscratched discs all three rippers returned the same check sum. Only a very few tracks on some  scratched discs reported errors, and my reaction is so what?  I've ripped 700+ CDs to date,  have 2000+ more to rip    , so if on 700+ CDs, say a TOTAL of 10 tracks  were not bit perfect, who cares as long as they play back without glitches? I mean if VB or EAC  or dbpoweramp did not make a bit perfect rip of the Beatles original recording of of 'Love Me Do' but the rip plays well from my server, am I going to sit down and spend a zillion hours trying to get a bit perfect copy or get a another copy of the CD? Not bloody likely  .

To sum up, IME most quality rippers, i.e. the big names,  produce bit perfect copies from unscratched CD almost everytime. If the odd CD here or there returns checksum errors I play the track to see if any audible dropouts/clicks/pops exist. If not, I ignore the errors and move on to the next  disk.

I take the pragmatic approach; sometimes I think audiophiles are too obsessive about second or third order effects to the detriment of their listening pleasure  .

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How accurate are your rips?? I know one of the reasons I want to do a VB is to re-rip a bunch of my CD's that did not import well on my laptop. Clean the CD, throw it in the Vortexbox, and an accurate rip??
TY

[Rusty Jefferson]

I did an A/B with the Squeezbox and my CD player running identical material simultaneously. Although there are very subtle differences in the sound quality I attribute that to the CD player vs. the Squeezbox and not to the material coming from the VortexBox. I do mean very subtle. All the same info is there but the CD has a bit more "air" than the Squeezbox. The detail of the info is identical as far as I can tell while listening for buried instruments, rim shots, triangles, etc.

I may be off base here, but I've learned in recent months of listening, that for normal cd listening, that is redbook, and hdcd, different ripping technique or software shows very little difference in sound quality. I can't speak to 24/96 (or higher) and sacd as I haven't experimented. I have heard some amazing differences recently on the output side.

I don't anyone who has "upgraded" their Squeezebox digital output section for use with an outboard DAC yet. Is anyone here using one? I know there is at least one company specializing in this mod.

Here's why I ask. I spent much of this past weekend at a friends house who wanted some help trying to improve the sound of his system. I was not familiar with, but knew of the digital system he was using. He ripped his cds to an external drive via itunes in wma. He was playing back through his ipod on a Wadia 170(?) station with digital out to a Dacmagic. The sound in his system was nothing short of terrible. Very harsh. I was suspisious of the ipod/Wadia.

I introduced my Dac. Better, but nowhere near where it should be. Introduced a transport via digital cable, and it's night and day. ipod/Wadia sound brutal A/B against the transport. So he takes out an old laptop and hooks up the external to it. We used a USB/S/PDIF adapter (this is what I'm hoping to do in my system from VB to DAC) and bang, excellent sound that matches the transport exactly. When we changed from my DAC to the Dacmagic, the quality suffered slightly, but equally from the transport or hard drive. He's listing that Wadia on Audiogon today.

When I got home, I did the same experiment with my Squeezebox. Digital out to the DAC did not sound as good as digital out from the transport. My friend and I are sharing cds, that is, he's ripping some (in WMA) and I'm ripping some (in FLAC) on each of own computers. When we compared original to either ripped format (from either computer) we heard no difference.

Neither one of us is using a million dollar system here, but we do both have very good systems, capable of exposing differences at this level, but not at the level of ripping technique (software).

Anybody modding their Squeezebox?

[mcgsxr]

I cannot speak to personally modding my SB, but if you search, you will find my thoughts on the Bolder SB3 I have been using for the past 4+ years.  It has both the digital and analog mods, though I use it exclusively via the analog outputs.

Very happy with the sound of the unit.  I sold off a transport, DAC, tubed preamp, and assorted cabling after hearing this device modded well, and with good power conditioning.

It is here to stay.  I will also use it for my headphone listening station, once that gets more complete, though I won't be able to use the associated power supply and conditioner, due to space constraints in that room.

[lcrim]

It is probably unwise to admit to violations of the RIAA laws on a public website. 
BTW: It is largely impossible to make comparisons of sound quality w/o matching output levels. 

[Rusty Jefferson]

It is probably unwise to admit to violations of the RIAA laws on a public website. 
BTW: It is largely impossible to make comparisons of sound quality w/o matching output levels.

Thanks, just for testing purposes.

My DAC has an aux switch to A/B against the transport input. SPL matched.

I cannot speak to personally modding my SB, but if you search, you will find my thoughts on the Bolder SB3 I have been using for the past 4+ years.  It has both the digital and analog mods, though I use it exclusively via the analog outputs.

Very happy with the sound of the unit.  I sold off a transport, DAC, tubed preamp, and assorted cabling after hearing this device modded well, and with good power conditioning.

It is here to stay.  I will also use it for my headphone listening station, once that gets more complete, though I won't be able to use the associated power supply and conditioner, due to space constraints in that room.

I'll look at info on the Bolder. I'm not familiar with it.

[wilbert-vanbakel]

How accurate are your rips?? I know one of the reasons I want to do a VB is to re-rip a bunch of my CD's that did not import well on my laptop. Clean the CD, throw it in the Vortexbox, and an accurate rip??

Hello there,
When I assembled the hardware together and installed Vortexbox, I started with a couple automated rips right away, so that I would have some results and see what happens.
Soon after that I decided to rip on a different computer with dBpoweramp and somehow I didn't pay much attention to the original Vortexbox rips. One of the reasons for moving the ripping action to another system is that I like to control the folder structure (boxsets together with numbered subfolders, for example)

Recently I started listening to the original Vortex rips and I noticed flaws in the sound. Pops, skips, etc. I now re-ripped the same CD's with dBpoweramp and based on my experience I submit that Vortex rips may not be accurate and you don't get a notification of problems other than by listening.

[eclein]

Thanks wilbert!! That's what I'm trying to avoid, so you rip with the software of your choice and then migrate the files over to VB??
That's gonna be the deal breaker for me TY

[wilbert-vanbakel]

Thanks wilbert!! That's what I'm trying to avoid, so you rip with the software of your choice and then migrate the files over to VB??
That's gonna be the deal breaker for me TY

Ed, reading your posts I gather that you consider converting from laptop to Vortexbox.
I don't mind using a second system for ripping, the transfer to the Vortexbox of the tracks is as simple as copying files in Windows Explorer from one drive to another. Also, I have spent so much time with ripping and editing tags that I prefer to have a backup of all the music, I basically have the music on the VB mirrored to my desktop.

[eclein]

My laptop is filling up fast...LOL..wouldn't mind freeing it up, I back up/copy all my tunes to a USB 1TB HD...I'm using a Sony VAIO laptop and every once in awhile maybe <1% of the time I'm getting skips, pops, static of some sort-jitter?...and was thinking moving to a dedicated system...VB.
 I really don't want to rip and then copy files over etc..was hoping it was a one shot deal...Thanks for letting me know though, I'll give it some more thought...

[chip]

These two cases look interesting for a vbox -

http://www.vidabox.com/store/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=5_11&products_id=131




http://www.vidabox.com/store/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=5_11&products_id=118

[mcgsxr]

I like the 2nd one a lot, it looks similar to VTB's own prebuilt offerings.  I see they are up to 3TB units now too.

I have abandoned my own project around this for now.  I am just using XP Pro, and for now that is fine.

In the future, when I move to building up an Alix box, and using a USB DAC (which I am doing research now for my headphone setup), I may move to the VTB s/w, whatever version they are on by then.  I think they have done 2 revisions since Dec 2010.

[chip]

You know you can build it in a VMware session using Virtualbox, VMware etc just to play around with it.

Another case - Silverstone LC19

[HT cOz]

I really like some of these Habey cases.

http://www.habeyusa.com/products.php?id=165#Menu=ChildMenu130

[chip]

another case that looks interesting - http://usa.chenbro.com/corporatesite/products_detail.php?sku=167

[Alexdad54]

Link?

[chip]

Updated pic/link

[chip]

Another interesting option is a HP ProLiant - MicroServer - 1 GB RAM - 1.3 GHz -

[eclein]

chip-How much are those babies???

[chip]

Looks like one goes for $299 at newegg. Is what I like is the 4 drives plus a slot for the dvd rom or Blu ray rom.
I really like the Chenbro case as well but I am not a big fan of the slim drives for dvd, otherwise I would opt for that.
As of right now the HP is on my want list for my next vortex build unless I come across something better. I would prefer small but can house like 4 drives and 1 dvd rom drive.