Best quality digital recorder??

Ptss: good advice from Zd.

primarily I'd like to record Classical including Opera,Chamber music and solo instumentals-guitar,piano,harp,flute,violin and Jazz- and from the best sources, CD, DVD or Blu-Ray. I'm hoping to preserve the sound quality.

I'd say about half the members here are are doing just that and building libraries on their hard drives.

Hi Bucanero117, primarily I'd like to record Classical including Opera,Chamber music and solo instumentals-guitar,piano,harp,flute,violin and Jazz- and from the best sources, CD, DVD or Blu-Ray. I'm hoping to preserve the sound quality.

"02-25-15: Ptss
Thanks guys. Pardon my lack of knowledge but I've been under the impression ripping CD's was for quick,easy casual listening."

If you rip a CD properly, it should be just as good as the original. Actually, if you use a recorder of some type, I would expect the results to sound different, in some way. I could only guess as to what the differences may be, but I'm pretty sure there will be some difference.

If you have access to a Windows PC, there are 2 programs that are considered to be the best. One is called EAC (Exact Audio Copy), and its free to download and use. Its also the more technical, and most difficult to set up, but there are a couple of excellent setup guide on the internet that walk you through the process, step by step. Once its set up, its easy to use. Then there's dbPoweramp, another excellent program. Its not too expensive, but its much easier to use (setup). And they do have a very good setup guide right on their web site.

As long as you have them set up properly, you can't go wrong with either of the above 2 options. And more important, you won't loose any quality during the process.

Maybe i'm not understanding, but you want to rent a CD and make a copy at home, yes? The process is to play the rental CD in your computer drive, use a ripping software, then insert a new audio CD and load the file from your computer onto that disk.

The quality is every bit as good as the original, in some cases better. If this is what you are after you would need some instruction and advice on the best ripping program.

Thanks guys. Pardon my lack of knowledge but I've been under the impression ripping CD's was for quick,easy casual listening. For example I use ref MIT i/c's from CD to pre then amp and find a 'huge' diff in sound quality. I'm hoping to retain that.

What are you planning to record?

Ptss, are you looking to record TV thru your cable setup plus record DVDs? If so, most people use a hard drive such as this
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00JQOQCD0/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pC_nS_img?_encoding=UTF8&colid=29XG41GAZ363K&coliid=I2KW1M201467YR

This Panasonic is more versatile
[url]http://www.amazon.com/Panasonic-DMR-EH69-Region-Recorder-110-240/dp/B0031WLDWS/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1424879252&sr=8-2&keywords=Panasonic+DMR-EH75V[/url]

These are used for home entertainment and the media is stored on a 1 Terabyte hard drive. As others have said, to rip a CD, simply use your computer drive.

If you do want a high quality digital recorder, while these highly regarded Sound Devices models have been around for a number of years, they are still the "go to" recorders for many pro audio people (see for example the user comments in their listings).

Note, though, that to transfer files from those recorders to a computer it would be desirable for the computer to have a firewire interface, or to install an aftermarket card providing a firewire interface. Otherwise you would have to remove the Compact Flash memory card from the recorder and insert it into an external card reader each time you were to transfer files.

Also note that their analog inputs and outputs are balanced, although an unbalanced "tape out" is also provided, on a 1/8 inch connector.

At lower price points, some users here have reported excellent results with certain Tascam models. And at higher price points some Nagra models might be worth looking into. All are sold by B&H (linked to above).

Regards,
-- Al

Just rip the CD. There's no reason to record anything.