Well, there are a couple of things you could consider.
If you have another Mac in the house with a CD drive, you could simply connect your external HDD to that one for ripping. In my case, I run a headless Mac Mini (without a CD drive) for the stereo, but move the HDD to my iMac for ripping with XLD.
I first "cleaned up" the USB output with an Empirical Audio Off Ramp 5, running I2S out to a PS Audio Perfectwave MKII DAC. The OR5 helped immensely, and any time I took it out of the chain, it was ungood. A bit pricey, but worth it, IMO.
Later, I improved the Mac Mini with the Mojo upgrade. Huge difference, and Benjamin is a pleasure to work with. Totally happy with the choice.
Only yesterday, I got my upgrade for the DAC, moving to a DirectStream from PS Audio. I've heard that it is "input insensitive", so at some point I'm going to try running USB straight from the Mojo Mini to the DS. In an A/B test, I'll determine if the Off Ramp stays, or goes.
The Mini is controlled by any number of Macs in the house... iMac 27, MacBook Pro, or iPads (I don't have an iPhone.) As Doggiehowser said, you can just run screen sharing to access the Mini. Very convenient.
That said, I had a significant lag when screen sharing to the Mini. If you're running headless on the Mini, get a Gefen HDMI Detective and hook it to the HDMI port on the Mini. It makes the Mini think you have a monitor running, and that cleans up the annoying lag.
If you have another Mac in the house with a CD drive, you could simply connect your external HDD to that one for ripping. In my case, I run a headless Mac Mini (without a CD drive) for the stereo, but move the HDD to my iMac for ripping with XLD.
I first "cleaned up" the USB output with an Empirical Audio Off Ramp 5, running I2S out to a PS Audio Perfectwave MKII DAC. The OR5 helped immensely, and any time I took it out of the chain, it was ungood. A bit pricey, but worth it, IMO.
Later, I improved the Mac Mini with the Mojo upgrade. Huge difference, and Benjamin is a pleasure to work with. Totally happy with the choice.
Only yesterday, I got my upgrade for the DAC, moving to a DirectStream from PS Audio. I've heard that it is "input insensitive", so at some point I'm going to try running USB straight from the Mojo Mini to the DS. In an A/B test, I'll determine if the Off Ramp stays, or goes.
The Mini is controlled by any number of Macs in the house... iMac 27, MacBook Pro, or iPads (I don't have an iPhone.) As Doggiehowser said, you can just run screen sharing to access the Mini. Very convenient.
That said, I had a significant lag when screen sharing to the Mini. If you're running headless on the Mini, get a Gefen HDMI Detective and hook it to the HDMI port on the Mini. It makes the Mini think you have a monitor running, and that cleans up the annoying lag.