Is this the END of DAYS for the high end CD player

Wayneker - consider a Mach2music.com Mac Mini. It has all the bells and whistles and you dont need to do anything. I used one of these on Sunday at 2010 RMAF. Big improvement over my stock Mini. This is the easy way if you are not a DIYer.

Steve N.
Empirical Audio

The end is near. That is why I stopped modding CD transports in 2009. That is why I removed my CD/DVD transport from my rack. Computer audio is finally approaching the best vinyl SQ, and not just hi-res either.

Steve N.
Empirical Audio

"The rest is BS. It is just pure data storage and number crunching."

Dont believe this. There are a LOT of affects in both ripping S/W, Playback S/W and the hardware playback device that affect sound quality. Do some more reading on the forums and you will realize this. There would be no market for devices like:

http://www.mach2music.com

Which makes a big sonic impact on audio streams

Or music playback software like Amarra, Pure Music or AyreWave, which all make itunes sound better. These deal with CODEC floating-point rounding and dithering correctly. iTunes does not.

Or ripping S/W like dbpoweramp and XLD, which are used with Accurate-Rip on the web to insure not only bit-perfect data but correct control and offset information in the frames.

Those in the know, have done all of these tweaks. If you are new to this, then there is a lot to learn.

Steve N.
Empirical Audio

"It seems like getting computer source perfect and beat hi end cd player is problematic and cumbersome"

No more problematic than choosing the right stylus, turntable, cables and phono preamp, and then adjusting the turntable. This is simpler I think. Manufacturers of computer audio equipment usually provide recommendations, instructions and even some software. Find a simple way to get this from a turntable manufacturer.

"Still.... I believe the power supply in a computer is not clean enough for hi end use"

These are myths. Has little or no effect on it if you use the right technology, either async USB, Firewire or networked audio.

Steve N.
Empirical Audio

"how can one guarantee ripping from it results in perfect bit for bit information?"

Simple, just use dbpoweramp on PC with Accurate-Rip enabled or XLD on Mac with Accurate-Rip.

Like I said already, this pretty much guarantees that the dataset and control information in the frames is correct, unless maybe the track you are ripping has never been ripped before.

Once you have this, it will last forever on the right storage media. It will not have read-errors when your CD player gets old, and the disk will not degrade over time (they do). The variability in the pits, which results in jitter in most CD players is no longer an issue.

Steve N.
Empirical Audio

"The issue here is whether it is possible to get exactly the same sound from ripped files as from direct CD playback, comparing them in the the same playback setup "

Absolutely, in fact I would argue that with the right equipment and playback software, its better. That's the key though. If you have an AirPort Express and a Mac, dont expect to beat your CD player. If you use Toslink directly from a Mac, dont expect to beat your CD player.

If you get The Absolute Sound, you would know that a computer audio room got best sound of the show at 2010 RMAF.

Steve N.
Empirical Audio

"I have linked the computer to DAC by using toslink and coaxial. I have even used my computer as the cd transport to play CDs rather than files linking to a DAC. none of these method sounds as good as burmester 069."

No surprise. You are probably playing back using iTunes on a PC or WMP. Complete junk.

You must jump through a few hoops in order to get the SQ that you need to beat your CD player. That's right not just match, but BEAT.

1) Rip with C2 correcting CDROM drive
2) Rip using dbpoweramp or XLD (Mac) with Accurate-Rip enabled.
3) playback using Foobar with Kernel Streaming on PC or Amarra/Pure Music/Ayrewave on a Mac. Playback from memory and SSD is even better
4) Avoid Toslink - get a good quality USB to S/PDIF coax converter or a USB DAC - should preferably use async protocol and have good clocks

For digital the clock is everything

Steve N.
Empirical Audio