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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
melm
1,057 posts
 
@cleeds

Then how is it that some "digital" cables sound better than others?  Or do you deny that?
kijanki's avatar
kijanki
4,394 posts
 
Then how is it that some "digital" cables sound better than others? Or do you deny that?
Let me answer that. There might be three reasons.
1. Digital cable injects electrical noise from the source (computer) or this noise is induced from ambient electrical noise (some cables induce more, some less).
2. Cable doesn’t transfer digital data, but music. The difference is timing. Computer data has no timing attached (will always be the same) but some of digital music timing might have effect on D/A converter clock. When this clock is uneven in time (jitter) it produces artifacts (frequencies) not present in original signal.
3. Transfer of any high frequency signal (digital or analog) require characteristic impedance of the cable matching (that in simplification is SQRT(L/C) ). When this impedance is not matched (between source, cable, DAC) reflection from the point of impedance change will appear changing timing of the signal or even completely flipping zeroes and ones.
veroman's avatar
veroman OP
298 posts
 
thats was some serious technical slapdown there. i am always impressed with how much knowledge some of the a goners have.

 as for all of the responses..thanks. i think it is not in my immediate future to convert. seems as if the gains are smaller than the cash outlay at this point.
audioengr
3,282 posts
 

Depends on your digital hardware and software and your CD transport hardware.  Whichever delivers the lower jitter and does not muck with the bits or the offset, that one will sound the best.

In general, off-the-shelf transports have higher jitter than that possible with digital hardware.  This is particularly true if the digital is a low-jitter Ethernet interface. In fact, very few digital interfaces deliver this low jitter, but it is available if you know what to buy.  USB is more problematic than Ethernet, but it can be excellent too.

Not that you cannot achieve low jitter with a Transport.  All it takes is adding a reclocker to your Transport, like the Synchro-Mesh and you will have parity with the very best digital computer playback.

Steve N.

Empirical Audio

audioengr
3,282 posts
 

+1 with Ivan.
My experience has been that moving CDs to hard drive results in a slight decrease in sq.  Perhaps Ivan has identified the reason.  Streaming at “CD quality “ takes sq down another two notches.

Let's not mislead people.  Ivan is talking about playback using digital, not moving files from one place to another, or ripping.  Moving files will never degrade the track SQ. A good ripper will check other rips and make sure it is a clean rip and that the offset is correct.  This is a non-problem.

On the other hand, playback of any digital source over cables can and will degrade the SQ a tiny bit, depending on the cables and interfaces.  Usually not data errors, but added jitter.  Jitter is a degradation in timing and this can be fixed in a number of different ways before and inside the DAC.

Steve N.

Empirical Audio

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