CD vs.same CD ripped to HD


Hi all,

So I hope this seemingly simple question doesn't star a war.  

The background is that I have a ton of CDs and am considering getting a Bluesound Vault 2i so that I can rip them to the Vault's HD, and play them from there. 

The simple question is: how does the SQ compare between the two?  The CD player is a Marantz SA-8004 digital out to a Denefrips Ares II DAC.  I would also use the digital out of the Vault 2i through that DAC.  

FWIW, I prefer vinyl (though it is getting closer and closer).  But more than anything I'm a music fan, with a whole lot of great music on silver discs.

Opinions??

Richard


rnm4

Interesting thread! The solution I have arrived at is to use Sony MegaStorage 400CD units (3 units for a total of 1200 CD's) and connect them to external DACs. Two units connect to Denafrips Ares II in one system using optical inputs and one unit in a different system to Denafrips Pontus II). Sony's remote, large display and versatile U/I make it easy to randomly select CD's and tracks on each CD, almost like a CD jukebox. You can even create playlists or play random tracks across 400 CD's! I realize this is not a highly scalable solution: I can not handle 5000 CD's for example which would require ~12 MegaStorage CD400 units, but I can choose my better recordings and favorites on the three units I have.

 

Beyond that I use a Vault 2i and rip CD's, a task to be completed. That also connect to the Pontus II via Coax digital.

The external DAC was the key to puzzle of unlocking the sound quality on my CD collection, increasing  my appreciation of the collection tremendously :)

If the DACs and the rest of chain are equal , optical disc will have less digital jitter than ripped file playback of the same album 

so playback of the CD /SACD will always sound better than streaming .

in a lot cases , people are comparing 

optical disk playback on old internal DAC vs ripped file on new external DAC

 

if one has oppo 105 , the disc will sound better than the ripped file playback to the same oppo DAC (usb input ) 

Obviously , one needs a resolving sound system to hear the difference 

All of my CDs have been ripped and reside on my server, I don’t notice any difference between the FLAC files or spinning CDs from my transport player, also streaming can be added as well.  All of these formats sound very good.

if one has oppo 105 , the disc will sound better than the ripped file playback to the same oppo DAC (usb input ) 

This is the exact opposite in my system. Ripped files sound amazingly good than the same played as discs through the Oppo UDP 205. I think a better transport would make a difference when discs are used.

optical disk playback on old internal DAC vs ripped file on new external DAC

BTW, my comparison is between the discs played on the Oppo Vs files streamed through my audio server using the same DAC (Oppo's internal DAC)