Hard Drive versis Flash Drive

Thank you Almarg, 2chnlben and everybody else who tried to help me. So, its NAS hard disc + backup disc and Buffalo Linkstation NAS, indeed, seem to be very suited for my purposes.

One more question. best external CD/DVD ripper (hardware)?

I never rip CD's - I have old and inexpensive Dell and while I tried to see if EAC software I am not sure about quality and prefer to spent a few hundred dollars extra to be sure that quality of ripped audio files is the best.

Thank you again
Rafael

Since EAC is free, try downloading it to your Dell to see if it is compatible. EAC is very good ripping software, although it is slow. It will provide you with bit-perfect rips (I highly recommend ripping in flac - especially if you go with the Duet, as the SB devices will natively support flac). I have no experience with dBpoweramp, but it is said to be a very good software choice (it is faster than EAC)-but it will cost you to download. Check outTHIS little device. It is a ripper and a NAS - pretty cool. The more affordable approach would be to use your Dell or a cheap/used Celeron processer/tower and load EAC onto it.

Hello 2chnlbean,

I am familiar with RipNAS but I like more your idea of having Buffolo NAS (say Pro Duo Link 2T for about $300) and separately CD ripper. RipNas is nuch more expensive (about $1.4k) and can rip only CD's not DVD's So, I am not sure where its advantage.

I downloaed EAC and it works - I simply do not trust my old CD/DVD - read/write internal drive. I would prefer to spent $100-$200 to have newest high quality external CD/DVD drive..

Thank you
Rafael

Rafael,

I agree that the RipNAS is too pricey. It's pretty cool though. I like your idea of using the Buffalo NAS in conjunction with an external ripper. You can get an external DVD/CD drive for cheap - check out Best Buy.

If you are going to use the PS Audio PWD with integrated bridge (which is what I will be doing as well), you don't really need to worry about the quality of the storage since it doesn't have any affect on the quality of the audio. In that configuration it literally is just a file server - the bridge converts the file to digital stream for the DAC and keeps it in the optimal I2S format.

Forget about all the fancy NAS boxes with partial operating systems and integrated CD drives & ripping software - cool as they may be you can spend half the money and get twice the value with off the shelf stuff. Instead, get a simple 1TB NAS and stick it in the closet with your router. While you are at it, get a 1TB USB drive to back up all your files too - $350 will probably get you both.

Software wise, nothing beats Exact Audio Copy (EAC). If you don't like the complexity of it, then Poikosoft Easy CDDA has a much friendlier interface and has integrated many of the same secure ripping features - it will cost you about $25 I think. If you have a ton of CDs and don't mind paying for it, there are services that will rip everything for you and send you DVDs of your ripped files.

Have fun!