Does a ripped cd onto a digital format sound better than the cd played on the cdp


the title says it all. if i rip my collection onto a sever will it increase SQ? dumb question i am sure but here i am. if the digital system is above average will it make the sound better?
128x128veroman

Showing 2 responses by mitch2

Not a dumb question but one which cannot be answered definitively since the changes you will hear may be less about changing digital bits but rather more about how those bits are processed and the equipment they are played through.
As mapman indicated, it is likely you will like the result but that could be because the playback parameters can be changed depending on the file format and player used, as well as consideration that many of today’s servers have no moving parts to create noise.  I went from a pretty high end CD player to a Mac mini server, ripped my CDs and never looked back.  While I will not say the mini set-up sounded better than my CD player, it certainly didn’t sound worse and the ball keeps moving forward.  Switching to a dedicated, purpose-built server was a step forward as was switching to Roon and separating the server core from the endpoint, or renderer.  Roon and hi-res Tidal sound great in my system.
Steve, Ethernet directly into the DAC?  Not sure how that works. I run Ethernet from my Roon server to a Roon endpoint/renderer but then I2S directly into the DAC.