Solutions for converting vinyl to 256 DSD?

+1 audio_guy_uofw

@OP - you will also, of course, need software to go with your ADC, and outside of Pyramix and VinylStudio, the choices are seriously limited.

Prism Sound produce great interfaces, but they are PCM.

As I said in my earlier posts, high res PCM has a lot going for it in the choice of interfaces and recording software.

I have been ripping some of my records to digital this year and have to say the rips sound excellent and are very close to how the records sound; they are indistinguishable in some cases. 
 

The way I have it set up is from turntable -> external phono stage -> audio interface -> laptop. I record to software called Vinyl Studio which I highly recommend. I believe you can record to DSD in Vinyl Studio if you have the premium version, which I think only costs around $50. I personally record to 192/24 PCM with excellent results. My audio interface is the Universal Audio Volt 2, which works great. You could go higher up and get something like the Universal Audio Apollo, but not sure how much difference it would actually make. 
 

If you happen to have an external phono stage that has both single ended and balanced outputs you could listen to the record through your speaker system while simultaneously recording. This is how I do it with my Pro-Ject tube box ds3 b.

EDIT: I’m not sure you can record to DSD with the universal audio…you might have to look for an interface that can record to DSD natively. 

Vinyl studio seem to be just about the only software outside of the Pyramix system (and Tascam's system) that will record DSD.

I use Apollo's in my recording studio. The converters are very good quality, but the broad consensus is that there is better to be had.

Convert to PCM, edit/tag and then convert to DSD.  For it to be worth your time and effort you will need a high quality phono setup including phono preamp.  A high quality A/D converter starts at MSRP of $1k.  Make multiple backups of your digital files.

I've converted over 500 albums using Prism, Apogee and Drawmer converters and Spark XL or Bias Peak Pro software.  The results can be excellent, but not always.  The condition of the record is critical.

Given the long lifespan of a well-cared for LP and my collection of thousands of them, I long ago rejected the idea of digitizing them for backup purposes. But I do have some favorite albums where the best version by far is the LP, or where there's no CD or streamed file available. So for me there's been a value in selectively digitizing LPs.

I can get very, very close to an LP's original sound. Having done this for decades, the files can now reveal the improvements my system has made over time. For example, it's not difficult to hear the differences when the file (we used to call it a dub) was made using my old preamp (ARC SP-11) or my current Ref 5SE/Ref Phono 2SE. Or the improvements made after I got a Klaudio record cleaner. Or a different phono cartridge.

I'm sure my method will draw snickers from some, but I use what is now an ancient Alesis Masterlink ML-9600. It can make 24/96 files (dubs) that are spookily transparent.

The process is tedious. I don't do it often. But the results are exquisite. The sound of vinyl can be preserved digitally.