What are you using to rip your cds to a hard drive?

Exact Audio Copy (EAC) is the best, and free. Foobar 2000 is also good. One unmentioned factor is to a) make sure the cd surface is clean-fingerprints and detritus will effect your laser’s ability to accurately read the disc and b) clean the laser itself. There are discs that will do it, and denatured alcohol with a cotton swab on a stick will do it as well. Houses with smokers tend to result in a film on the laser that reduces its ability to "see" the disc as well as it should. Making sure your cabling from an external hard drive/player to the pc is tightly fastened is also crucial.

One more thing, I recently got a keylit wireless computer keyboard and found that when the lighting comes on (it turns itself off automatically when I’m not typing and on whenever I touch a key) it makes audible interference whilst burning a disc. I suspect it might effect any cd ripping as well. If you have one, or any wireless equipment nearby, you might check to see if it causes anything like this.

Almarg
While I don’t dispute that some of Geoff’s tweaks might be beneficial under some circumstances when a CD is being listened to, they have no relevance whatsoever to the process of copying the data that is on a CD to a hard drive. Assuming, again, that the software is designed to re-read data as necessary to assure bit perfect accuracy, and to indicate an error in the unusual event that it is unable to do so.

I say this as someone having extensive background in digital design, and particular expertise regarding computer technology. I also say this despite Geoff’s disagreement that will inevitably follow. And for some perspective on the kinds of tweaks he recommends, you may find the following excerpt from his post dated 9-7-2012 in this thread to be of interest:

Geoffkait: Taking all telephone books out of the house will usually be audible when you go back and listen to the system. Even if the telephone books are in other rooms of the house, they should be removed. The telephone book is perceived as an intruder by virtue of the fact that it is linked to a strong Field created by the tens or hundreds of thousands of identical telephone books. So, the link to that field can be eliminated by removing the telephone books from the house, making the house Safe from the telephone book "information field".

>>Whoa! What's up with all the angst? Al, all this turmoil begs the question: do you ever actually listen to any of the tweaks you disparage? Do you consult your textbooks to see if there’s a chapter on Telephone Tweaks? By the way, using your "extensive background in digital design" as some sort of evidence, proof or hammer is nothing more than an Appeal to Authority, you know, an illogical argument.

geoff kait
machina dramatica
no goats no glory

almarg
As I and many others have acknowledged many times in past threads here, science and engineering can neither explain nor predict a lot about what we hear or don’t hear from our systems.

>>>Then why are you obsessing over these controversial tweaks? You and many others? Ah, the old strength in numbers strategy. Good move! 😀

almarg
However the science and engineering that is involved in the copying of digital data from one storage medium to another is well understood, well developed, and under reasonable circumstances is robust, reliable, and accurate. Especially, in this case, if the software being used assures bit perfect accuracy.

>>>>Huh? That’s exactly what naysayers and the industry have been saying since the dawn of digital. Perfect Sound Forever! Yada yada yada. You might as well claim the Reed Solomon error correction codes correct all errors, then you wouldn’t even have to use the "read until perfect" argument. Or that the laser servo mechanism ensures 100% foolproof Tracking. Besides if CDs are so perfect how come they sound so bad? 

almarg
While I don’t dispute that some of Geoff’s tweaks might be beneficial under some circumstances when a CD is being listened to, they have no relevance whatsoever to the process of copying the data that is on a CD to a hard drive. Assuming, again, that the software is designed to re-read data as necessary to assure bit perfect accuracy, and to indicate an error in the unusual event that it is unable to do so.

>>>>>Some of my tweaks might be beneficial? Uh, which ones, I’m curious? The ones that make "good engineering sense"? The ones like vibration isolation. Which ones do you believe wouldn’t be beneficial? The ones that are too preposterous sounding, right? The ones like the Telephone book tweak or the Super Intelligent Chip or the Morphic Message Labels. And have you actually heard ANY of them anywhere? I get the picture, Al.


Cheerios

Ignore Ignorant Trolls (IIT).

$1,000 is PLENTY to rip all your CDs.  Use a good program, be systematic, and use a Lossless compression scheme.  Set the software to do adequate bit checks.

I use the drive on my mac mini and have not messed with Windows for years (for audio) so can't help you much on Windows, tho IIRC dbPoweramp is a good program.  There is a blog on computeraudiophile.com that explains exactly how to do it systematically so you don't have to do it over.

If you get a bit perfect copy it cannot degrade SQ.

You WILL find that many CDs are not as well recorded or mastered as others.  The Steve Hoffmann forum has (incessant) discussion about which releases are best.

Once you get everything you own on your computer, you can go about replacing the lower quality issues with better ones (if they exist).

Then there is high bit rate and bit depth recordings (Hi Res, DSD, yada yada).  Double blind listening tests have shown a small difference and a slight preference for them over Redbook CD.  However, these were at very high bit rates beyond what is normally found.  OTOH, many recent SACDs are better recorded and better mastered than older CDs....

The important thing is to get your CDs on a hard drive.

To improve SQ buy better speakers and a good amp to drive them.  If you already bought the $50,000 speakers of your dreams, build a new room for them.  (Then buy a new trophy wife and the current one leaves you b/c of the stereo...)

The dreaded phone book is causing problems ? Who know ? Is having a Bible in the house bad too?