It is updated when ever a disc it hasn’t seen before gets ripped by a thoughtful user. So it is updated continuously. It is very reliable.
And it all happens in the background wo no work on your part is required. dbPoweramp shares the results of your tips from time to time. No effort required.
I wonder if there’s a way to see what percentage of the 44.1k 1s or 0s (per second) were captured during the disc process? And what is an acceptable hit rate?
I will check out some Asus drives… And might get a cheap streamer to compare to my CD player.
When a track is ripped a checksum is created. When someone new rips the track their checksum is compared to the database. If it is the same then 100% of the data was accurately read and you can be assured you got it 100% correct.
Exact Audio Copy uses Accuraterip as well. And I believe the PS Audio PWT transport did too. Accuraterip is one of the things in life that you can trust and enjoy with no effort on your part other than choosing to rip in secure mode.
As for your other questions about the new PS Audio streamer it will have a 1tb drive inside. One is the number and it shall not be changed to two or three. Four is also a number it will not be. Eight, my device has an 8tb SSD in it. The PS Audio streamer shall not. It will have just one. It will not be field upgradeable to a larger or smaller drive but I bet somebody opens it up and puts a larger drive in it and it works.
But this would be wrong!!!
No raid then 
I think what you write is related to the server, not the streamer (which has no disc at all) and also otherwise wrong regarding the planned non upgradability of the server. But what Paul said is buried somewhere in the server thread.
The streamer as well as the Octave SW, in relation to their upcoming release, seem the most non-feature-communicated products (after huge hype in the very early phase) in PSA history I guess 
Oooh didn’t know about secure mode. I’ve just checked and I wasn’t using it!
+1 for dBpoweramp Music Converter software (set on “Secure Mode”).
I use it with my iMac and an Apple USB-connected external disc drive. The ripped files reside on the iMac and hardwired (Ethernet-connected) Synology NAS.
Paul has said there will be no USB external drive connection to the streamer, I am not sure if you can mount a network drive. Years ago and just recently I requested they include the ability to mount a Dropbox cloud drive, I have use this in the past and it work great to access tracks in your personal library that are not available on Qobuz
That might be a truly, “less than state-of-the-art” approach if that turns out to be the case when these magic boxes go into production.
Expandable storage and back up storage are absolute necessities, in some form or connection or another.
I suspect a feasible solution will be available, one way or another.
Time will tell, though.
It will be most interesting if they are different in features but both are Perfect Wave line quality (means same isolation technology, output stage etc.) or if the streamer will also have reduced quality surrounding (which in my perception would mean it’s rather a Stellar line product).
Yes @paul has said the SQ of the streamer is in the league of other perfect wave products, like the PST if I m not mistaken.
So apparently the SQ is as good as it gets from PS Audio currently, we shall see.
Seeing e.g. how good the Stellar phono performs , I think it’s difficult to fix the affiliation to a line with pure sound quality (especially if the product is not even ready).
I guess it’s rather the effort taken in parts and sophistication as well as the case work. That’s why imo it doesn’t really make sense to offer two quality wise bigger/smaller products within one line (here Perfect Wave), rather than offering two feature wise different products.
What I fear is, that this might be done anyway to differentiate them and as an incentive to later buy the server. Otherwise it might have been smarter to offer an upgradable unit (streamer/server), so everyone can choose what he currently needs.
The Stellar Phono is great. It goes well with my Thorens, SME, Ortofon set up.
Based on Paul’s info from back in May, the initial streamer will be the quote, “entry level” one with no onboard file storage. That is totally fine for me. I have a 4TB SSD for music in my NAS. The 2TB one got too small this year. My choice of optical disc drive is based on 4K UHD ripping needs… also to feed my NAS but on its magnetic disc drives. My optical drive is an LG WH16NS60 UHD Official drive that I flashed with the firmware of an Asus BW16D1HT UHD Friendly drive. So all software thinks it is an Asus. I use Foobar to rip CDs via this drive. There is an “AccurateRip” utility. But I do not get too worried about messages about a minor error at one specific fraction of a second over the course of a whole CD. For audio DVDs, I use the same drive and a purchased copy of DVD Audio Extractor. SACDs need completely different special ripping processes. For that I have relied on others to rip my SACDs. It has been pointed out in another thread that the SACD ripping services are probably keeping their own copies of the files that they generate for me. Think DSOTM. That is less in my control.
My current DS will move to my office when I get a DSII. Once I have the server, I will move the Streamer to my office as well.
It’s my version of trickle down economics 
We also have @jamesh flagging his understanding that the streamer will carry the Perfectwave name & quality…
That was encouraging, as was @tedsmith flagging the all inputs for the Mk2 Directstream will allow for galvanic isolation. This should give all the non toslink inputs a leg up, in terms of avoiding ground loops (?). So all up, the streamer / dac should be a great “family” package!
https://forum.psaudio.com/t/wishes-upcoming-psa-directstream-mkii/21746/1086?u=interested
Hi hiace,
Back in March 2020 I posted the following as a recommendation for an external optical drive. I’m one of those ‘old fossils’ to whom Al refers 
and still persevere with EAC. The ASUS drive matches up well with EAC and still produces acceptable quality rips to my ears. One day I’ll probably move into the 21st century…
Maybe there’s a couple of old fossils out there! I still use EAC!! I hadn’t used it for years, but the Directstream Bridge combo go me ripping the rest of the collection.
I have full respect for the capability of EAC. I should have added a wink after the word fossils. I ripped over 1600 cds with EAC. When I compare files ripped with EAC to files ripped with dbPoweramp from the same cd I find them identical. But the websites I had to go to to learn how to properly setup EAC were long on science and short on ice cream. I got where I wanted to be but man, what a hassle. dbPoweramp is much easier to buy, setup, and successfully use.
But EAC is a great tool and you fossils (I am one of you) actually have my respect. I’m pretty sure you know this.