Meridian Unplugged - Powered by MrTechGuy.co.uk Forums Discussion Meridian - Streaming Has anyone compared rip methods in Sooloos?

I know I am opening a can of worms here and I think I know what most peoples views on this are but if people can be polite that would be nice...

Has anyone compared the audio quality of different ripping devices within Sooloos? On another forum I inhabit some very respected voices have stated as much as a 15-20% difference in the audio quality of rips from bog standard ROM drives up to carefully handled NaimUnitiserve with better power supply and vibration isolation. All bit identicle...

At some point in the future I would like to jump on the Sooloos train and was wondering what is the best way to get really good rips into it. Is the C15 sufficient? Is it better to rip to PC and transfer? Or perhaps even invest in a RipNas or Unitiserve just for the ripping capabilites?

Any experience out there?

Maybe I'm missing something, but if the rips are bit identical on the hard drive how can there be any difference on playback?

I've seen an issue of hi-fi critic where they claim to have observed differences in playback from different harddrives which I could just about comprehend. Is it this that is being referred to here?

Chris

Bits is bits? They aren't when they come out the other end, but rips are generally bit perfect (dBpoweramp checks the rip against others to make sure).

Unfortunately there's a scientist in me somewhere so no- there can't be any difference. Aren't the Naim boys famous for smoking weed?

You could start with a squeezebox/computer server and DSPs and take it from there (can't see what kit you have).

Cheers Tintin

Surely the bits are affected by the quality of the environment within the enclosure of the ripping CD-ROM drive. I'd assume this effect permanently affects the bits thereafter - probably giving them more presence and bass - just like how the memory of once having some non-water molecules in water remains permanently in the memory of the water - isn't that how homeopathy works?

I know 99.9% of people on this forum think bits are bits but this thread:

http://www.hificritic.com/forum/default.aspx?g=posts&t=733&p=2

Is suggesting otherwise. I have great faith in Mr Colloms and his reviews are always very thorough.

Just wondered if anyone had experienced bits not being bits in Sooloos or had bothered to experiment?

I don't wish this to turn into a mud slinging contest though please.

Indeed it is. And what's more the more you dilute the stronger the efficacy of the remedy!

At the level of dilution recommended by the creator of homeopathy, Samuel Hahnemann, a person would have to swallow pills weighing a billion times the weight of the earth to consume a single molecule of the original substance.

Must make homeopathy the archquack of all quackery.

Actually, it's the missing information from Martin Collom's post that I'm interested in. Martin has reported what he found and it appears that he's not aware of ripping technologies such as EAC, dBpoweramp and, of course AccurateRip which validates what the ripper has done.

But think about this: Meridian has told us for years that you have to perform multiple re-reads to get the data accurately off a CD and it's not clear to me at all that the inferior rip was doing this (in any form) - there is no mention of the ripping technology used. If so, little wonder that it sounded inferior vs. the more "stable" transport.

Finally, it's worth repeating for those that don't know: audio CDs do not have 100% parity like data CDs, so accurate extraction simply isn't a "given".

Sure - but he was adamant that the two rips had identical checksums.

No - I had to read that twice too - he was referring to his local copies vs. the masters that he was supplied.

Well actually I think you can read it both ways. The fact that he then goes on to claim that his two rips, one with, and one without rubber feet were "100% error-free" inclines me to my interpretation. I agree that the explanation about the accuracy of the rip would explain things without causing quite such a dent in Mr Colloms reputation, but that's not how I read his posts. He does go on to claim that multiple copying dilutes the difference that he detected, which is all of a piece with the idea in his head that two bit-perfect rips played through the same kit can sound 20% different. He is gently dismantled in that thread.

@ EN1OMB
Sooloos uses Ripping Protocols from Exact Audio Copy, which performs multiple re-reads on the CD to ensure that all the Bits are properly extracted

dBpoweramp and X-Lossless Decoder (amongst others) use AccuratRip to check that the Data Ripped from the CD corresponds with the Data that Thousands of others have Ripped on their machines / drives..........AccuratRip gives many a "peace of mind" that their Rip corresponds to what others have found

I think it's reasonable to say that many here use either the Sooloos EAC Method.......or an Engine that includes AccuratRip.......when Ripping their CD's

I think it would be useful to look up the multitudes of Resources on these two methods

As others have said, the fact that the Review contains No Reference to either of these methods.........or the importance of them........reflects rather poorly on the background work done by the Reviewer IMHO