28-Feb-2015, 14:58
Hi Phil
As I said, I've a degree of cynicism about this whole issue though not enough to stop me being curious ...
Anyway, here is what Antipodes say about their dedicated ripper component in their dac-less streamers, one of which is commented on by a Devialetchat member (not that he has expressed a specific view about the ripper as far as I can see):
"Most ripping software is designed to get you a decent rip in just a few minutes. The problem is it means a lot of error correction is used. The difference between a typical rip and an excellent rip is very significant. Getting an excellent rip requires two things: the right software (not all ripping software has a 'paranoid mode' which keeps ripping till it gets the best possible result) and the right optical drive (many optical drives include additional processing which means a perfect rip is impossible). We have assembled both of these ingredients for you in Antipodes music servers, enabling you to get the best possible rips and therefore the best possible sound. Some other combination of software and optical drive may be capable of just as good a result but we have taken the uncertainty out of it for you. But you do need to appreciate that a perfect rip does take more time, and can fail with non-compliant disks (with the Redbook standard). A common non-compliance problem is when a 'hidden' track is inserted at some point in the disk, but there are other examples. You may need to rip non-compliant disks on a more forgiving, if less accurate, device."
It's fair to say that Devialet's original proposition was that Mac/iTunes for ripping (and for all the rest of the front end too) was all that one needed.
And it's also fair to say that Antipodes aren't saying that theirs is uniquely the best, simply that the typical rip is worse in some (unspecified) respect.
As I said, I've a degree of cynicism about this whole issue though not enough to stop me being curious ...
Anyway, here is what Antipodes say about their dedicated ripper component in their dac-less streamers, one of which is commented on by a Devialetchat member (not that he has expressed a specific view about the ripper as far as I can see):
"Most ripping software is designed to get you a decent rip in just a few minutes. The problem is it means a lot of error correction is used. The difference between a typical rip and an excellent rip is very significant. Getting an excellent rip requires two things: the right software (not all ripping software has a 'paranoid mode' which keeps ripping till it gets the best possible result) and the right optical drive (many optical drives include additional processing which means a perfect rip is impossible). We have assembled both of these ingredients for you in Antipodes music servers, enabling you to get the best possible rips and therefore the best possible sound. Some other combination of software and optical drive may be capable of just as good a result but we have taken the uncertainty out of it for you. But you do need to appreciate that a perfect rip does take more time, and can fail with non-compliant disks (with the Redbook standard). A common non-compliance problem is when a 'hidden' track is inserted at some point in the disk, but there are other examples. You may need to rip non-compliant disks on a more forgiving, if less accurate, device."
It's fair to say that Devialet's original proposition was that Mac/iTunes for ripping (and for all the rest of the front end too) was all that one needed.
And it's also fair to say that Antipodes aren't saying that theirs is uniquely the best, simply that the typical rip is worse in some (unspecified) respect.
Innuos Statement 2TB SSD with Next-Gen PSU (with Roon lifetime)
MacBook Pro (with Air)
Draytek Vigor 2860v-Plus/Devialet Original d'Atelier CI Nos. 54A&B/Magico M3 pair
Shunyata cables (digital/interconnect/loudspeaker/power)/Shunyata power units (Triton/Typhon)
Dialog/Phantom Gold/Tree pair
Missing Link cables (power)
England
