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LP to CD transfer question...what's best?

I wanna make absolutely fantastic cd's of my lp's and i'm well on my way but need some pointers. My turntable, phono preamp & cabling are all good. I have an M-audio 2496 card in my computer and i even set my tower on a homemade maple platform with brass spikes to drain the 'puters bad vibes. When i listen to the tunes in my monitoring headphones the detail is all there but when i burn master cd's at 4x the detail just isn't there. Plus, i use Mapleshade records Mikro Smooth on all my blanks which makes a tremendous difference. I'm thinking about ditching the PC altogether and using a standalone burner. And i hear using an A/D converter is a plus...are these even made anymore? ebay didn't have one suitable. any help is greatly appreciated.
mattcecil
dminches
38 posts
 
You should definitely use an stand alone A/D. I use an ART DI/O which feeds the signal into my sound card. Generally, the A/D on the sound card is inferior to an external one.
stefanl
296 posts
 
Don't expect your CD burn to be as good as the L.P original.I also plug straight into the soundcard direct from the phono stage.Ultimately the bandwidth of CD can only be downsampling the more extended range of the L.P i.e a limit of 22.05Khz for CD as opposed to about 35Khz for the average commercial L.P.The best thing to do is to eliminate as many clicks and pops as possible by burning good quality L.P's.
buzzinghive
2 posts
 
I second DMinches views - an ART DI/O makes great copies when used as an a/d. Also you can dial in some tube warmth as required . Software is also a potential issue - I find Acon Digital's Acoustica to be good- cheap and supportive of 96khz recording.
Another potential route is to go USB in - there are some interesting posts at positive feedback in this regard. In short, going digital before the computer seems to be the way.
johnj
27 posts
 
Question for Stefanl....Why is the sample rate limited to 22.05 when red bood CD is 44.1? If you use a A-D converter wouldn't it transfer at the rate set by the converter? Or by the computer software setting? Just curious. Thanks
stefanl
296 posts
 
Sorry if I wasn't clear owing to my bad use of language but that is what you actually get on a CD- 22.05Khz at the upper limit,it is rolled-off above this point and there is no data.Actually it is postulated that it is closer to about 17.5Khz to 18.5Khz in reality,after all the processing involved.The basic theory is that you sample at twice the required rate(44.1Khz) to get an error free sample in the given audible(?)range.Taken in 1980 to be only 20Hz-20Khz for us humans.You always sample at twice the rate you want in the audible band for digital.The rate of sampling and your actual bandwidth are two diffent things.Another point is that for CD it is actually better to sample at 44.1Khz all the way through and not sample at a higher rate i.e 96Khz from the analog signal,as the subsequent downsampling from the higher rate yields inferior results.
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