Whats is the cheapest component to buy for ripping my cd’s to flac?
Hardware-wise, this is highly rated on the dBpoweramp tests, and cheap.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B01J48UVBQ/
I use abcde to rip CDs.
I’ve got a Sony USB drive that I hook in direct to my Roon core. It does a nice job of ripping and adding it to the library.
I bought an Asus external USB drive for burning. But almost any Sony, Asus, Dell, LG, Etc. would be fine.
Depends on what is available in your area. Do a google search for “best DVD burner” and lots will pop up. I would recommend picking a known brand (in case of warranty issues).
I love, love, love these:
https://www.pioneerelectronics.com/PUSA/Computer/Computer+Drives/BDR-XD05B
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I have one of these and can recommend it.
The optical drive hardware matters very little.
The ripping software matters a lot.
AJ
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I’d disagree some are not so good at loading discs, had this with a slot loading Teac drive a lot where it tends to abort mid rip and eject for no reason or just won’t accept the disc at all. Have no issues with manual tray style ones.
Clearly if it is faulty then it doesn’t render WW’s opinion wrong does it?
If you don’t care how long it takes to rip a disc.
I use an internal ASUS Blu-ray drive, an internal Pioneer DVD drive, and an external Plextor. The internal DVD drive (a Pioneer) is the one that rips fastest and most reliably. On the few occasions when the rip isn’t successful, I usually find one of the others will work fine.
…and for software, I’ve been using dBpoweramp for many years.
Michael
It works most of the time so not a fault per se, idiosyncratic perhaps. I won’t get another slot loading one that’s for sure. If one wants reliability I would say avoid slot loaders.
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In the olden days, the quality of the ripper drive mattered a lot. Which is why people lusted after certain Plextors, etc. But with modern ripping software that is better at SECURE ripping and uses ACCURATERIP, the actual drive doesn’t matter much. I have 3 or 4 cheap drives that came in old computers or I bought for < $20. I use dbpoweramp for ripping. I find that a CD that has problems ripping on one drive may rip perfectly on a different drive. And it is not that one of the drives is better, because on a different CD with ripping problems it may be the opposite drive that works best.
The cheapest option is the computer you already have - unless there are other criteria in play…
I will be using a NUC with EAC so I need an external Optical drive with a USB connection. Is there a cheap option available on Amazon?
Would something like this work?
I also run ROCK on a NUC. Can I use this with a connected USB optical drive?
Again, I recommend BDR-XD05B - 6x Slim Portable USB 3.0 BD/DVD/CD Burner. Supports BDXL™ format. Ultra lightweight. USB Bus Powered. CyberLink® software included. | Pioneer Electronics USA
Thanks, but I’m looking for a less expensive option.
I have used this one with no issues, YMMV and all that:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07V67STBD/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1
You can do this, and it’s something I did recently. However you’ll need some tagging software or the files themselves will have no metadata. Roon will get the info for you, but it doesn’t alter files.
I’ve switched over to XLD on MacOS (free), and I put the disk in my external drive, it finds the CD, and rips it with album art and metadata for the files, saving a hell of a lot of time.
The same can be done for Windows and use Poweramp as others have suggested.
That is your cheapest option.
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