Many of us have thousands of CDs. Although streaming services can be pretty good. I have still found that music from my CD transport to the DAC sounds still better than the music from my Streamer/Ripper to the DAC. Just to be clear, my vinyl (analog) system still is better.
However, I have an Aurender ACS10 Ripper/Streamer/music server. Fairly expensive, but quite good sounding and makes use of the internal ripper to save my CD music onto the internal hard drive and also to an external NAS. Of all the Streamers music servers I've heard, the Aurender sounds the best.
There is also the Sony Ripper/Streamer for much less and Bluesound units available.
for people that no longer have extensive number of CD's then a straigh music server/streamer is the way to go. But for those that have many CD's, well, it just makes no sense to not have a decent ripper incorporated. Also, many of us don't want to be a computer expert. We just want plug and play capability. So, using a computer/ripper and the associated software can be daunting for many.
I'm an Engineer, so it's okay with me, I just like the Aurender unit.
It depends on you budget and also on your listening criteria. Digital is not digital. every Ripper will produce a different sound. it is true. Just like a very good transport will sound better into a DAC than a ho hum transport. you have to listen for yourself. I've been told that the Sony unit is pretty good. But, I don't believe that it provides a digital output and you can't bypass the internal DAC. I may be wrong here.
Also, the Aurender real time play back is not from a spinning hard disc drive, but from the SSD caching drive. So that really extends the life of the disc drive unit. Most other music servers with internal storage use a spinning disc drive for playback.
enjoy
However, I have an Aurender ACS10 Ripper/Streamer/music server. Fairly expensive, but quite good sounding and makes use of the internal ripper to save my CD music onto the internal hard drive and also to an external NAS. Of all the Streamers music servers I've heard, the Aurender sounds the best.
There is also the Sony Ripper/Streamer for much less and Bluesound units available.
for people that no longer have extensive number of CD's then a straigh music server/streamer is the way to go. But for those that have many CD's, well, it just makes no sense to not have a decent ripper incorporated. Also, many of us don't want to be a computer expert. We just want plug and play capability. So, using a computer/ripper and the associated software can be daunting for many.
I'm an Engineer, so it's okay with me, I just like the Aurender unit.
It depends on you budget and also on your listening criteria. Digital is not digital. every Ripper will produce a different sound. it is true. Just like a very good transport will sound better into a DAC than a ho hum transport. you have to listen for yourself. I've been told that the Sony unit is pretty good. But, I don't believe that it provides a digital output and you can't bypass the internal DAC. I may be wrong here.
Also, the Aurender real time play back is not from a spinning hard disc drive, but from the SSD caching drive. So that really extends the life of the disc drive unit. Most other music servers with internal storage use a spinning disc drive for playback.
enjoy