tompry_58

I am slowly re-ripping my cd's to AIFF using XLD and am very happy with the product. But when I look at a XLD rip vs a Max rip the bit rate is different XLD is 1411 kbps, Max 2116 kbps - both are being ripped at 44.1 kHz.<br /> <br /> I am aiming to achieve the exact cd replica so was expecting all rips to be 1411 but do not know whether I should be concerned.<br /> <br /> Any insights are greatly appreciated.<br /> <br /> Tom<br />

Thanks Dynobot - Excellent feedback. I switched from optical to usb and all is good. However I liked the optical sound, anything I can do to solve the buffer caused dropouts so I ca return to optical?

Using GForce external drive into a Mac Mini via Firewire, and then mac mini into Bryston via optical. Wonderful for 2 years, until yesterday. Now have significant dropouts (every 2-3 minutes) that last for a second or fraction of. 1. Any experience with this? 2. Is this early sign of hard drive failure? 3 Is there a diagnostic I can run on the external drive? Appreciate any feedback. Tom