I am relatively new to Roon – thanks in advance for your help. There are some albums where I dislike the remastered version, e.g. Siamese Dream, but can’t find the original non-remastered versions on Tidal or Qobuz.
Do y’all have any recommendations for the highest-quality way to get the original albums onto a Roon server? I’m thinking that ripping an old CD might be the best way to go, but saw another thread saying that you can often get from online services “in higher than CD quality”.
About the only way to guarantee you have and keep an original non remastered album is exactly as you say, rip the CD.
Streaming services change versions very frequently and I too dislike the majority of the so called remasters.
Probably why I still have over 4000 albums on physical media 
A hig res remaster will almost always be a different master than what was originally released on CD.
Definitely rip the old CD. One of my favorite things about Roon is the ability to quickly A/B compare ripped CD versions against each other and/or against what the streaming version(s) are. It really can help in knowing which versions sound the best to you with this compare.
Depending on your setup, you will have to arrange local storage for your rips. If you are running ROCK/Nucleus* as a Core/Server i recommend adding internal storage.
While ROCK and Nuclei can rip with an external optical drive, it is a pretty useless function as it only works in Roon context.
Best way is to utilize EZ CD Audio Converter, EAC, XLD or dB PowerAmp on a separate computer of choice. Some of these are free, some cost like a couple of new CD’s, but the paid one’s are truly worth their fee.
Your rips will be validated, and both have embedded metadata such as AlbumArtist, Track numer and titles as well as cover art etc. You also have the choice of what file format to store in, even if there are few reasons to chose anything other than FLAC.
Third step is simply to synchronize your rip-stations media with the internal storage in your Roon server, over the network. If you happen to run Roon on a PC/Mac you simply move your contents into the Roon Storage path, when satisfied with the grooming of the files.
Don’t forget to backup your efforts!
In Windows I used the excellent ripper contained within the Cuetools set of apps. It rips much like EAC and is free.
I archived my CDs as image files, so I know they’re the original unaltered rips and I have them backed up here at home and in cloud.
http://cue.tools/wiki/CUETools_Download
I agree though, I much prefer the original CD of a release, unless it’s for example brickwalled and they are taking the master to have another go.
Charity shops are a great source of original CDs.
Thanks all! Very helpful. I bought an external CD drive, will use dBPowerAmp to rip to my Mac as FLAC files, and then will put all the music into the Nucleus I just ordered.
Sounds like a plan! Let us hear about your experience when you get going? Some people find this a chore, others a pleasure of sorts, like collecting stamps. I’m on the middle ground! 
Once you have an established process that works, for ripping and archiving it’s not so bad when you add new music.
abcdef on Linux!
I suggest using an external USB drive formatted as exFAT. Then you can copy everything to that drive and just plug it into the Nucleus. That way you will also have a location to do database backups because you can’t backup to internal drives on a Nucleus.
The worst remaster award has to go to ZZ Top for the remastered versions of their classic 70’s albums.
Doesn’t happen often, but one I like better than the original is Ed Stasium’s remix of The Replacements ‘Tim’ album. They named it the ‘Let It Bleed Edition’
I would put the new remix of Queen 1 in that category.
I totally agree. But for some reason ripping Blu-ray audio discs is like pulling teeth for me. I have about a dozen I am procrastinating on, but CDs and SACDs I find easy and relaxing. 
A bit off topic, but the Tim Let It Bleed edition sounds amazing while also sounding like a completely different album. It’s a shining example of a great post-brickwall era remaster/remix. I wish someone could do the same thing with Hüsker Dü’s albums.
IMO the SST ones by Spot are just fine (love him or hate him, he had his approach and it’s part of what SST was; and a double album recorded in a 40 hour session on speed and mixed in another 40 shouldn’t sound fancy) but Candy Apple Grey and Warehouse are major label crimes.
I remember being excited when the CD release of Zen Arcade was announced, hoping for a not quite so thin production. But I suspect it is what it will forever be at this point.
I agree the SST are fine, if for no other reason than I’ve been enjoying them the way they are for decades now. They certainly sound appropriate for the time and place they were recorded. The Tim remaster/remix was a real eye opener for what could be done with recordings from that era though, and I wouldn’t mind hearing that kind of treatment on Zen Arcade and New Day Rising.
I, too, think that an alternative version would be interesting. And while I do love SST just the way it was, and Spot‘s ethos, I also understand the point Henry Rollins once made: Imagine what could have been if the recordings had had some punch and conveyed better how it was live.
I’m imagining a version of Damaged that doesn’t sound like it was recorded by microphones in the room next to the studio and i am genuinely sad that does not exist.