Silenzio vs Music Vault vs Hapzies vs ?

[jadedavid]

I currently have a Mac Mini with an external HD as my music server.
I am considering purchasing a new server wishing to gain in both sound quality and ease of use. I have quite a few CD's I would like to rip and further look into streaming Tidal/roon.
I mention the above units as they all have the built in ability to directly rip cd's.
Being rather digit challenged I find this as an attractive function.
The Silenzio with it's $4K+ starting price tag and The Music Vault are both out of my price range.
Don't know if the Sony would be an upgrade or just a lateral move.
Interested to hear if anyone has any info on an alternate unit available to meet my needs. Price range is stretching it to get to $2500.
I am familiar with the Lumin and Aurender units and both have good reviews but don't have built in rippers and I don't know how to do that.
Any help would be appreciated

[JMD]

Another alternative is Innuos.

http://www.innuos.com/en

[SAPHANA]

This is a topic I am interested in.

In the past, I tried multiple approaches, then settled down with dBpoweramp (Ripping CD) + Roon.

I have 10K+ CDs. It's, a lot, I mean...a lot.

Initially I used iTunes to rip the CDs to Apple Lossless files, but found many were ripped badly: too many cracks and pops. The worst part is: you don't know what the quality is until you listen to the files. I am also not satisfied with the metadata (tags) grabbed by iTunes.

After multiple other tries and failures, I ended up with dBpoweramp, which runs on PC, and costs ~$50.

The advantage of dBpoweramp over iTunes is quality and metadata; the advantage of dBpoweramp over free Exact Audio Copy is metadata: it allows you to access 4 online metadata libraries, 3 of which are not free otherwise.

Now I have Roon, which has eased some pains of metadata management of my music library.

My current workflow: 4 CD/DVD/BD-DVD drives ripping CDs simultaneously on a PC, then importing to Roon. Results: for the 13K CDs I have ripped so far, only 1.7K of them cannot be identified by Roon, which I don't blame Roon because I know most of them are brand new CD releases from historical recordings.

So, the costs for me are just ~$50 ripping software + 4 drives + an old useless PC + $500 lifetime Roon membership.

[akfaulkner]

What's wrong with your Mac mini? Is it slow to load or skipping?

I have a Mac mini with Nas SSD drives with roon server running on it. You can get a external CD drive (79$) and burn via iTunes directly to your Nas/external drive in a lossless format.

All in, I probably spent a 1000 dollars on my Mac mini with the Nas and CD drive...

The aurender may be much easier to use though (and u pay for that) but I couldn't hear a difference in my setup when I tried it and I am really comfortable rolling my own configurations so I didn't buy it. Ymmv

[akfaulkner]

Originally Posted by SAPHANA

This is a topic I am interested in, and in the past, I tried multiple approaches, then settled down with dBpoweramp (Rip CD) + Roon.

I have 10K+ CDs. It's, a lot, I mean...a lot.

Initially I used iTunes to rip the CDs to Apple Lossless, but found many were ripped badly: too many cracks and pops. The worst part is: you don't know what the quality is until you listen to the files.

After multiple other tries and failures, I ended up with dBpoweramp, which runs on PC, and cost ~$50.

The advantage of dBpoweramp over iTunes is quality and metadata.
The advantage of dBpoweramp over free Exact Audio Copy is tags: it allows you to access 4 online metadata libraries, 3 of them are not free.

Now I have Roon, which has eased some pains of metadata management of my music library.

My current workflow: 4 CD/DVD/BD-DVD drives ripping CDs simultaneously on a PC, then import to Roon.

Results: for 13K CDs I ripped so far, only 1.7k cannot be identified by Roon, which I don't blame Roon because I know most of them are brand new CD releases from historical recordings.

So, My cost is just ~$50 ripping software + 4 drives + an old useless PC + $500 lifetime Roon membership.

That's interesting, I have never had a problem with lossless format burning via iTunes. All sound superb.

[jadedavid]

Thanks to all for the responses.
The Innous looks cool, but again exceeds my budget.
My Mac Mini system works well. A close friend and audio dealer sold it to me. It was his original digital system. It came with a 4TB loaded external HD. It sounds really good. But like all things in this hobby we are always chasing "better".
Akfaulkner, it was interesting to hear that you kept your Mini system over an Aurender.
While at an audio meet recently the host was using a mini thru an EMM DAC to Avantgarde speakers and it sounded great.
Maybe I should just learn to rip (via db poweramp) and keep my mini while waiting for technology to clearly make a discernable leap in sound quality.

[nicoff]

Having a built in ripper may seem as an advantage but it is actually not that great. If you have lots of CDs the best approach is what Saphana did. You are definitely much better off ripping the CDs using a PC or MAC and dedicated software like DBPoweramp.

I used to own the Sony HAPZ1ES unit. It is a excellent music server and in your price range (cheaper if you buy a used one). The Sony integrates well with Spotify. The disadvantages of the Sony were lack of Tidal integration and it did not work with Roon.

I have now settled on a system that runs with Roon and have Roon endpoints in different areas throughout the house.

Oh, And by the way, the Sony would be an upgrade to your Mac mini. The Sony always works (no computer gremlins); a button turns unit on/off immediately and a nice app to control it via phone or tablet.

[Still-One]

A reasonably priced alternative is the sonicTransporter i5 from Small Green Computer. For about $1400 you get a Roon ready unit with a 2TB SSD drive. This is a great option if you have a Roon ready DAC.

[robfine]

You should be able to get a used Bryston BDP-2 for not much money and then rip to NAS or external hard drive using XLD which is (free) and does a great job of lossless ripping. That’s what I am doing and it sounds great.

[4N6]

https://www.smallgreencomputer.com/c...ap-roon-server

Price: $1997. Has internal storage and ripping capabilities.