2. digital
  3. 143519-91205

Does a cheap cd transport create poor digital copies?

I want to load some CDs onto the hard drive of a music server via a USB port. I have a quality USB cable, but I’m wondering if using a standard issue external CD drive ($50 type thing) as a transport will imbed the common cheap player problems onto the stored music (jitter, etc.)...or does it simply create a digital copy of the original onto the player?

I’m not going to run out and buy a transport as my CD collection is limited, but I am curious about this and maybe it will help others. Anyone know the technical facts or have an opinion?



glow_worm
ketchup
695 posts
 
The program Exact Audio Copy will make a bit perfect copy of a CD as long as the disc has no serious physical defects.  It does not matter what CD ROM drive or USB cable is used.  There may be other programs that do the same things these days, but EAC was the standard in live music recording/trading circles for many years.
Post removed 
agrippa
160 posts
 
EAC and DBPoweramp both seconded.

As long as the disc can actually be read, the copy will be perfect. The copy can in fact end up being better than the original, if the latter originates from the end of the run of a stamper.

A pressing plant will often use their stampers for longer runs than are advisable in order to save on cost, with the result that the last CDs in every run end up being difficult or even (very rarely) impossible to read. A successfull copy, on the other hand, will always be perfectly readable.
More to discover