Alesis ML-9600 to archive my LP's in HI-RES CD24

The single best way would be to purchase a Nagra DII. I know of a few on the used market but they are a pretty penny ($10-15k used). The quality of PC results, as with any digital storage, will be as much based upon the quality of the A/D convertor as anything. There are several professional digital workstations out there (the most common of which is ProTools... but its quality leaves a lot to be desired even though it is the industry standard) but it won't be nearly as user friendly as the Alesis. If you aren't looking to spend the kind of money on the Nagra, it would be hard to beat the Alesis.

I own a Masterlink. The problem with archiving via the CD24 format is that you can only burn approx. 21 minutes per 700 MB CDR, not enough even for one side of most LPs. Something like a Masterlink that burns to DVD-R would permit archiving a complete LP at high bit/clock rates.

The Alesis is a nice machine, but it's nothing special. If you used it for archiving at 24/96 you'll be stuck with using Alesis' proprietary format. In it's favor the Masterlink is relatively cheap (street price as low as $700), it's a one box solution and it's easy to use.

The archives contain a large number of threads regarding LP archiving.

In my experience Alesis is a so-so device. Most professional PC or MAC soundcards would be able to do a much better job of AD conversion.

I also own a Masterlink, & agree with most of the above comments about the sound quality. I don't know why Fremer was raving about the sound quality so much. I don't think it's bad, but I agree that high quality A/D convertors are supposed to improve the sound a great deal. (I'm thinking about buying one of the Apogee or Grace products, like the Apogee Mini-Me).

It is incredibly versatile, but getting thru & figuring out all the menu stuff on the front panel & deciphering the manual can be frustrating. It's great tho, if you want to do different mixes or orders of different recordings, etc. once you learn how to use it.

It's probably worth the $$. At the very least, it's a very cool toy. And since you know how important converters are, maybe just figure that into the budget.....of course, you could buy a used DAT machine instead of the ML for $200 or $300, but it wouldn't have the versatility of the Alesis (or HI-RES CD24).

Personally, I always enjoyed listening to LP's I'd taped on my Nak BX-300.....

Ceol : Anyone know of a way of archiving to DSD ?

Thank you all for you valuable insight...You have essentialy steered me away from this path.

In another forum I am currently engage in, I began to dwell on how PURE DSD recordings are the modern day equivalents to the Vinyl Direct to Disc.

The absolute best sound I heard at this years CES was Ray Kimbers Iso mike recordings where he played back two mike recordings direct from Tascam recorders into the Meitner as DSD.

D.Does any one know of archiving LPs to DSD...either cutting SACDs or archiving to a Hard drive of other media ?

I have used a Masterlink to record sessions straight to 2-track stereo at a high sample rate, mostly as a backup to 1/2" analog tape, 15 IPS with Dolby S. We used Apogee A/D's, like most high-end studios. The hard drive recording sounds pretty good, but it ain't tape. Judging by the quality of the D/A's I would not expect the built in A/D's to be anything special. I never tried it, and no one at the studio ever seemed to either, since they have much classier out board gear at their disposal.

I read some post that claimed the Masterlink made a good transport for an out board DAC, but I have my doubts. I used the Masterlink to make some copies of reference disk from a mastering session, and I then listened to the copies. The sound was so bad I rescheduled the mastering session, until I went back to the original and realized that the copies suffered from horrible jitter. Copies made from the my Anthem CD-1 to the Masterlink sounded fine, so the problem seems to be with the built player or its connection to the hard drive.

The thing is versital, but it definitely has limits. I'm sure it could be modded and hot-rodded to good effect. But you may find that you could do just as well if not better with a computer and soundcard.

SADiE makes a DSD recorder/editor and Genex a DSD recorder. Both products also support 192kHz/24 bit recording.