In my case it’s more like exploitation as Cande, Euge and Juan (our 3 kids) are the ripping man (or should I say child) power 
The way that I understood things was that, initially Paul was going to include the ripper.
Then as he pondered things, and probably considered the matters of cost and simplicity, said he would bring out a ‘non ripper’ version first followed by a ‘ripper’ version later.
This suited me nicely because I thought that by the time (maybe 6 months later) the ripper version was released that any bugs would have been identified and sorted…
That was all good.
I have maybe 800 CDs to rip and I am not paying someone to do it.
I want to do it myself and do it the way I want.
A ‘non ripper’ unit is no good to me, and, I am sure that many other people are in a similar boat to me.
However, I find it hard to believe that someone as switched on as Paul could not see that there is a strong market for both models.
And yes, I am comfortable to pay for for a ripper - because I am getting more!!!
Maybe Paul could clarify things for us all.
Thanks.
Bruce
Maybe I should clarify my attitude to purchasing music.
And I think that I am quite representative of my demographic.
I want a hard copy!
I want my music to belong to me!
I want to be able to pass on my CD music collection when I die!
I want something physical to hold in my hand!
I have no interest in downloads - if I like the music I will buy the CD.
I never listen to the radio, airwave or internet.
A music server for me is simply a matter of convenience -
I don’t have to flip through my CD collection to find a disc -
I just find it on my iPad!
If I can’t rip my music to a server a server is of no value to me.
I am certain that there are people who approach their music listening from a different angle - good luck to them - we are all different.
Still planning to keep my CDs though - will put them away in a safe but out of the way location - never planning to get ride of them!
Again, I find the concept of a server to be a simple and convenient way of listening to my CD collection and would keep ripping as I continue to buy new CDs.
I probably buy on average maybe five CDs a month.
Looking forward to the Octave coming out - especially the ripper version!
Bruce
I’ve ripped around 2000 discs one by one, twice! I started with an Olive HD4. When I was ready to move to a system that had humans behind it, I had to re rip everything, because of Olive’s proprietary BS.
I’m using a Music Vault 2 ultra, for the last 3 years or so. (Sound Science). Always using the Bridge2. I’ve compared usb, DMP HDMI, coax, and none better than the bridge.
Exactly. 4,000 discs here and counting.
Wow when people have thousands of CDs I can totally imagine the sentiment, but look what is going on with CD sales in the USA. I think those numbers drive a lot of vendor’s product decisions. I personally ripped a few hundred CDs, then signed up with Qobuz, where I marked many of my original CDs as favorites and now I find myself like 99.9% on Qobuz. How times have changed.
I’m on tidal with Roon. All of my ripped media gets mixed in with Tidal. I want to own CDs as well.
Personally I don’t see the need for a ripper. I did about 1000 CD’s a while back and yes it was a bit laborious but it was good to re-connect with the CD’s and weed out any that were no longer required or needed to be replaced (couple of dodgey ebay sellers!).
Given that most people have access to a PC with a CD drive (or can add a $10 USB one) and you only really do the bulk of it once I can’t see the need or benefit of the added cost and complexity of a built in ripper.
Given my high level of confidence in PS Audio (being a customer I might be slightly biased!!).
I am certain that a PS Audio supplied ripper system (hardware & software) is going to give me the best possible rips with the best possible sourcing of album covers & booklets, the most flexibility, and in a super user convenient environment.
So, I would like to buy the Octave with a ripper and am very happy to pay a price premium because I know that I have Paul & PS Audio standing behind it!!
The reality is that there are heaps of audiophiles with large CD collections that sooner or later will want to but them on a server.
But they don’t want to ‘re-buy’ what they already have!!
Hey at the last HiFi show that I went to (three days in November last year) none of my four ‘demo’ CDs were available for internet streaming - well that’s what the people who did not have CD players on their stands and looked them up told me anyway!
I am sure that PS Audio know their customers, and, really, in the overall scheme of things it is not much extra software & hardware.
Now, whether it is a built in ripper or a separate unit that plugs in the back - who knows.
Well, maybe Paul can give us a hint into his current thoughts!!
Something to think about.
Bruce
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I think it would be better if PS included ripping functions in their new player. Play directly to your DAC or rip to your storage and play thru the server. If you want higher resolution files you have to download them anyway, no need for a ripper.
And if all people are doing is streaming, there’s no need for a server. The server is a Swiss Army knife audio appliance. It’s about unifying discs, downloads, and streaming content. To me, it should enable all three.
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The more simple the system, the less problems. I thought I would prefer a ripper included at first, but I am just as happy without one, as I can continue to do it the way I have and just transfer the files over. One more step, yes…but if
it means a more reliable product that is less expensive and has a marvelous world-beating sound, I am all in.
I have just bought a ripper/server/streamer, it is due here in a few days. I’ve only been looking at units that can operate Roon, as I like Roon and my audio system is Roon Ready and integrated with RAAT. The supplier, which is well known, started in the UK 10 years ago and now makes a range of units, but the basic unit is $1,250, the mid-price that I’ve ordered is $2,600, there is an SSD version at just over $4,000 and there is a reference unit for almost $14,000. It was not planned that way, but the mid-price unit prices are broadly similar to Roon Nucleus and Nucleus+, which have proven quite popular. You can pay a bit more for larger internal storage. This gets expensive with SSD, which is not really necessary as playing internally stored music is buffered in RAM, as is streaming music, but not music played from an external network drive. This seems to be the common approach among manufacturers.
It is also striking that with the servers I’ve looked at, there is a close relationship between component cost and price. This is because there is a big DIY market. If you want to home-build, or get a bespoke build, Roon and others will license you their software platform.
It seems that the hardware issues are basically solved. You pay more for better power supplies (my unit has two internal linear power supplies), bigger processors, bigger storage, better mechanical isolation, etc. For me a major factor is the quality of the operating system, typically bespoke on Linux, but many bespoke server/streamers use the Sonicorbiter software.
With regard rippers, I asked my supplier why they still include them. They said that their units have always had them and their customers still want them. They also found that there would be very little saving by excluding them. So they continue to include them. They add very little to the cost of the device.
They use TEAC drives. In the last 10 years I have only ever bought units with TEAC drives (two streamers, one sold and one with a software fault, and a CD player), because they are the market leader, they are robust, reliable, cheap and when the last disc spinner is made it will be TEAC closing the door. So I have no idea why people thing a CD drive should add thousands of dollars to the price.
Having had two ripping server/streamers before, I found the single main advantage is being able to put in a disc and in 5 or 10 minutes it is in your library and the disc spat out. Totally hassle-free.
If you get an audiophile server, the CD drive will be a third-party component, as will be the hard drives and the processor. For the mechanical elements you have to rely on the third-party supplier or PS Audio keeping enough support stock. Even SSD drives fail occasionally.
All the music libraries are third-party licenses as well. Some are better than others, some devices use several. What is left is the ability to edit and add images. I found Roon does this brilliantly, e.g. when adding ripped vinyl files.
CD Ripping and the new product is interesting in terms of format.
I’m guessing the music server would rip, by default, in AIFF but capable of FLAC? Unless the world has changed, WAV is still deeply flawed in terms of metadata.
Anyway, I have ripped endless discs to FLAC and some to ALAC. There is no way I would re-rip my discs to AIFF if I purchased this new server (ripper edition). I’m swell with the quality of FLAC (yes, some say I am delusional) and, as others have noted, we now have stellar lossless streaming options so my ripping days are over.
Okay, I tend to purchase 3-4 used CDs per year if they are not available for streaming.
Curious which brand/model did you purchase? I’ve considered a server, but I’m using Roon, and only have about 10,000 tracks in my library and fill in the rest with streaming from Tidal (and now Qobuz).
Innuos. A UK business, but now made in Portugal, not exactly far away. I would only buy a server that can be serviced and upgraded locally.
The first generation of Octave users will be beta testers for the software. That’s always the case and to be expected. I did that with Devialet’s Core Infinity wireless/ethernet streamer (with the fall-back that I could always use usb faultlessly), so I was looking for a unit that has a very mature and stable operating system.
Paul had made the point that Octave has a proprietary noise-reducing system. Don’t know if it will be doing reclocking, but that is not advisable because it can result in synchronisation issues if fed into a reclocking streamer like Auralic or Devialet. There may not be issues, but I had noise issues streaming from a reclocking Femto Aries into Devialet. Using a non-Femto Aries solved the problem.
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I currently use the Aries Mini, which is Roon Ready and works with Qobuz and Tidal and is loaded with a 1TB SSD that appears as a server thanks to the Lightning Server software. It’s very effective, very good and very cheap. My issue is that it is only iOS and I’m on Android, it only offers usb output and is probably not the last word in refinement. I also need a device for the Roon Core, my business QNAP cannot handle 24/192 streams. I think Roon really needs a dedicated unit with a processor fast enough for your needs and sufficient RAM, partitioned separating the OS and the music stream.
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My ‘demographic’ is almost identical but there is a simpler solution than putting a CD ripper in the server: buy a separate box to connect by USB to your computer and transfer the ripped files to the server (after making any edits that would not be possible with the server software). A $40 solution.
(Where my ‘demographic’ differs from yours is that I would substitute ‘NAS’ for ‘Server’ in your list. I initially thought this option entailed complexity and an extended learning curve but it has turned out to be easy to implement.)
My Roon Core is on a 2014 imac i5, and using HQPlayer software at my desktop, my computer struggles with conversion to DSD 512 (2x). So I limit the conversion to DSD 256, and it reconverts back to hi-res flac (Meridian Prime DAC). PCM stuff is not an issue. Music files are on a SSD. Using the DSJ, no issue with playing DSD 64 or flac files (direct ethernet connection from my office).