My weapons of choice are EAC, if Windows and XLD, if macOS.
Another vote for dbPoweramp
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dbPowerAmp is good if you have Windows. XLD is better if you have macOS.
I actually rip all my CDs with both and there have been countless instances where XLD performed an accurate rip where dbPowerAmp could not. I only run dbPowerAmp to contribute to the AccurateRip database.
Also pick up CUETools and CUERipper if you have Windows. CUETools is the only tool I know of that will actually REPAIR a rip with bad sectors. Super handy if you’re dealing with a lot of old/used CDs.
MusicBrainz for tagging.
You can use iTunes to rip to m4a files. It will not populate the meta data although it does name the tracks and the directory. It’s free and it works. Ideal? No. Effective? Yes. You can just keep feeding CDs and it will dutifully rip them
I use mp3tag to backfill the meta data. My collection is in discogs which mp3tag can talk to.
Good luck on your journey!
What are the recommended settings in dBPoweramp to use?
Best is to test them out and compare with one album. See if you hear any differences between the compression options. I use compression level 6 personally.
I set FLAC, and left everything else at default.
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dbpoweramp in combo with tagscanner to scrape discogs data
Same here. 
I use ultrasecure ripping setting. The only DSP I add during ripping is ReplayGain (track and album gain), with LUFS setting at -18 and I do not tick the “disable clip prevention” box. Choose the tag fields you want (I don’t use them all) and whether you want embedded artwork or just a file in folder. I go with only a file in folder, named “cover.jpg”. I rip to FLAC with compression level 5, but if starting over I’d likely just change to max compression (8).
very helpful forum for users at:
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But, this is just an analysis with it’s results stored as metadata in a tag, right? Not volume adjusting the rip, in other words…
As in, you are NOT applying DSP at the ripping stage, but allowing for DSP in playback stage?
correct. dbpoweramp calls these things “utility DSP” (which is a bit misleading as there is not any actual DSP going on), but as you note, the ReplayGain DSP is ONLY creating metadata tag fields for ReplayGain that can be used for a ReplayGain aware player (like Roon). My actual audio is not touched and is bitperfect rip from the CD.
p.s. dbpoweramp also has a DSP called “volume normalize” and “ReplayGain (Apply)”. These utility DSPs do modify the actual audio to permanently adjust the volume. I don’t use these.
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