Solutions for converting vinyl to 256 DSD?

my opinion is that to surpass widely accessible streaming file sources for most vinyl you will need superior level vinyl playback as well as a high quality adc. looking at your system such an adc device such as the Merging Technologies Horus will exceed the cost of your entire system. if you go for a more modest level adc your result will be compromised and likely you will find on line sources with equal or more likely better results for performance for your Mercury’s and RCA’s. even the direct to discs have some files although they are vinyl based.

and most old Mercury and RCA recordings have very fine digital tape transfers; the RCA's have great dsd files from tape that can be downloaded or SACD's that can be purchased.

https://www.merging.com/products/interfaces/horus

so my view is the solution is streaming, not ripping to dsd256. as the result will not be the best use of your assets.

i have over 1000 vinyl ripped dsd128 files done on a Merging Technology adc while they are very nice sounding, mostly i prefer streaming files. which are tape based, not vinyl based.

YMMV.

one thing i will add is that vinyl ripped files will display some smoothing and blunting to dynamics which can be pleasing and desired in some systems. so the more neutral tape transfer streaming files might not be preferred in particular systems. which some can interpret as ’vinyl-like’. not how i see it, which is why i prefer tape transfers.

or maybe you have a dac that you like that is better with dsd than PCM. especially some older dacs did not do a good job with PCM. newer dacs with newer chip sets have moved past nasty PCM mostly.

so for sure matters of taste and synergy are part of the picture.

@davide256 

agree that streaming files are never going to be close to the vinyl. but ripped files are going to not be that great either. and every little thing in the ripping chain will be added to the vinyl source information. garbage in, garbage out.

so the issue is not how great the vinyl is, it’s how the ripped result compares to the tape based streaming file. just temper your expectations.

and i had very high level vinyl, a great preamp, and used a high level adc, and still i prefer the streaming files. the ripped files have a strong vinyl signature some of which is good, some of which is not good..

good luck with the project.