[zybar]

I've stayed away from streaming audio due to loss of sound quality though this thread has sparked my interest.

How would the sound from a SalkStream (or similar device) streaming FLAC music files to a USB Class 2 dac compare to a CD/BR player playing a CD?

I think it is better.

I ditched my cd player years ago and have never looked back.

George

[Nuance]

I think it is better.

I ditched my cd player years ago and have never looked back.

George

^ This. 

I am curious how the SalkStream will compare to the Bryston.

[Big Red Machine]

My CDP as transport sits idle 99.9% of the time.  Rip and play.  Sounds better and is way more convenient.  You can access anything in seconds and have it playing right then and there while queuing up the next 10 tracks from your chair.

[zybar]

^ This. 

I am curious how the SalkStream will compare to the Bryston.

That's up to Jim. 

George

[ctviggen]

I think it is better.

I ditched my cd player years ago and have never looked back.

George

What's a "CD" player?    I ditched mine a long ago, too.  The only trouble I have now is that my setup takes hours (and I mean hours) to rip a CD.  However, I just run one CD at night, one in the morning, etc., until I'm done.  But the convenience of having access to all my music is too much, and the sound I was getting was slightly better than the tube-based CD player I had and the other DACs I had. 

[zybar]

What's a "CD" player?    I ditched mine a long ago, too.  The only trouble I have now is that my setup takes hours (and I mean hours) to rip a CD.  However, I just run one CD at night, one in the morning, etc., until I'm done.  But the convenience of having access to all my music is too much, and the sound I was getting was slightly better than the tube-based CD player I had and the other DACs I had.

What are you using (hardware and software) for ripping?

It takes me minutes (3-7), not hours to rip a cd.

George

[srb]

The only trouble I have now is that my setup takes hours (and I mean hours) to rip a CD.

Why is that?  Has it always taken that long, or did some software or hardware change introduce that?
 
Steve

[Nuance]

What are you using (hardware and software) for ripping?

It takes me minutes (3-7), not hours to rip a cd.

George

Same here.  I use EAC, for what it's worth.  It shouldn't take hours unless there is some crazy error correction software at work, but even then it should only add a few minutes. 

[Mightyburner]

I know virtually nothing about computer audio but it sounds very similar to a Vortexbox.

[Big Red Machine]

Sometimes EAC can take 20 minutes for a disc if it is doing error correction.

[nyc_paramedic]

I know virtually nothing about computer audio but it sounds very similar to a Vortexbox.

Both are Linux based. Similarity end there, pretty much. Though, you can use Vortexbox (or any Linux) machine as a ripper and server to feed the Salkstream.

[gregcss]

Thanks for the responses. I'll probably experiment with a less expensive DAC such as the Emotiva xda-1 or Bifrost that I read in this thread and connect it to my PC (via USB ?)

[ctviggen]

What are you using (hardware and software) for ripping?

It takes me minutes (3-7), not hours to rip a cd.

George

dB power amp with error correction and multiple ultra secure passes and C2 error pointers.  It takes hours for one CD.   Don't know why and don't have time to determine why, at least right now.  Too many other things to do.  For the number of CDs I buy, I can rip them over several days. 

[jtwrace]

dB power amp with error correction and multiple ultra secure passes and C2 error pointers.  It takes hours for one CD.   Don't know why and don't have time to determine why, at least right now.  Too many other things to do.  For the number of CDs I buy, I can rip them over several days.

The next issue you will have is burnt out Cd drives though if you don't try to fix it.

[highfilter]

dB power amp with error correction and multiple ultra secure passes and C2 error pointers.  It takes hours for one CD.   Don't know why and don't have time to determine why, at least right now.  Too many other things to do.  For the number of CDs I buy, I can rip them over several days.

I would recommend turning off Ultra Secure Ripping as it is like ripping the disc multiple times and is not necessary for regular, non-damaged discs. I recommend the settings found here (You can start at the part "3. Download and install dBpoweramp"), as they produce great results and discs don't take long to rip at all: http://www.computeraudiophile.com/content/Computer-Audiophile-CD-Ripping-Strategy-and-Methodology

A quote from the guide on Ultra Secure Ripping:

I don't Enable Ultra Secure Ripping because there comes a point when enough is enough. If I actually thought three to six rips were needed for my collection to be better then I would consider enabling this option. It's possible I may gather my tough to rip damaged CDs and rip a batch of them in Ultra Secure mode. Doing this will take a serious investment of time as one CD rip can last twenty-four hours if the disc is in bad enough shape. Up to this point I have been very satisfied with standard secure ripping and having my results verified by the checksum with the online database.

[gregcss]

dB power amp with error correction and multiple ultra secure passes and C2 error pointers.  It takes hours for one CD.   Don't know why and don't have time to determine why, at least right now.  Too many other things to do.  For the number of CDs I buy, I can rip them over several days.

I too use dBpoweramp and it take about 1 minute to rip to FLAC or highest bitrate MP3 (using LAME). Other than increasing bitrate for MP3 I kept default settings.

[ctviggen]

The next issue you will have is burnt out Cd drives though if you don't try to fix it.

I'm not sure this is true.  The vast majority of time appears to be spent analyzing the data.  That is, the amount the program seems to read from the disc is very small compared to the entire time.  If you assume the program reads the disc three times instead of once, then at most, you're getting three times the wear.  For the amount of CDs I've been buying lately (maybe 10 in the last year), if that kills the CD player, then the CD player wasn't good to begin with. 

Compare that to the 160+ DVDs I've ripped this year from the same drive, and the amount of use from DB Power Amp is small. 

Anyway, I don't want to detract from the Salk Stream and since this isn't related to the Salk Stream, this will be my last post here.