Ripping FLAC - Does the Hardware make difference?

You can add your question/comments on my threat so everybody can have a general idea as there are a lot of comments/advices already...

http://www.whathifi.com/forum/hi-fi/what-is-the-best-way-to-burn-all-my-...

CD player is an odd way to rip CDs. It is done on your PC using a CD-Rom with the relevant sofware, like what you mentioned. I can also suggest bdpoweramp, which I am using with no issues. The whole idea here is to use a good quality CD-rom and you will be able to do the job just fine. Just try not to load your PC with any other tasks while you ripping. If using CD player there is no way your PC will identify it as an external device.

The hardware used to rip CDs will not affect the quality of the music.

The most important thing is that the CDs to be ripped are clean and free of scratches and that your CD/DVD drive actually works.

A faulty drive or scratched/dirty CD will give errors, but not cause sound quality issues.

I think you meant 'dBPoweramp', a program that I would definitely recommend. 

CDs are encoded using an error correcting technique 'Reed Solomon' encoding.  It can correct some errors, but a faulty drive or badly scratched CD will overcome the error correction, and bit errors will result.  When ripping, the drive can have a number of goes at trying to read the errored area, but if the damage is too bad then there is nothing that can be done.  EAC and dBPoweramp will identify a checksum error, but the final rip will have data errors. Depending on how bad this is, it will definitely impact sound quality.

If by sound quality you means obvious pops and cliks then yes, if you mean some other change, such as a change in tonality, then no.

I think that the OP was inferring that hardware differences in design and manufacture might possibly cause sound quality differences such as you might find when listening to two different CD players. In this case, no differences in sound quality will result.

As an aside, I have ripped hundreds of CDs. Two had errors on one track according to EAC. One was corrected by rereading the errant track, the other was not. Playing the cd on my hifi, a slight click can be heard and this is reproduced on the FLAC copy (as one would expect). Although using EAC is certainly  a good idea, my own experience indicates that even the cheap cd player in a laptop has no problem accurately reading the vast majority of CDs . However, If you are one of those evil people who leave their CDs scattered around the room out of their cases, then all bets are off.

...also confirmed by my own recent test of 'cheap drive vs iMac drive', which I detailed on this forum. My tests and results were immune to subjectivity and they unquestionably proved the rips from the two drives were identical, even though initially my ears said they were not.

As for errors I bought a used cd recently and the were a couple of small spots on it, my MArantz cd player would not play on one track, kept jumping and got struck but my computer cd drive had no problem playing it. It seems the more expensive players have more problem playing cds than cheaper players.

one big difference is a computer doesn't read it in real time, basicaly it can keep at it until it gets something playable, even if there are tiny glitches. Most players play on the fly.

Oh, I made a mistake... hehe.. that's exactly what I meant! Using a CD-Rom, not a CD-Player! sorry.

So you mean that I can buy any CD-Rom I want? Even those ones that are external?

Thanks a lot!

Yes