Converting Vinyl to digital

hi Riley,

I don't know what difference it makes to use different software/hardware since I'm completely satisfied with what I have (I actually bought the Mbox for recording live music) and have no urge to 'upgrade' or do A-B comparisons. as far as all the various noise-removal software goes, nearly all my LPs have so little noise - and I'm not bothered by what noise there is or I'd find a better copy - that I don't do any editing except fades (in and out).

one last thing: I save all the 24/48 WAV files so when I go to a HD-based hi-rez USB DAC, my digitized LPs will sound even better!

Musicslug - thanks for the info. Great thread...... I am curious about the hi-rez Tascam CD recorder too. They make one (forget the model) that records DSD and 24 bit data. It seems like it could be a pretty cool piece too....

Chris

Thanks for all the great responders here. My situation is that I upgraded my TT from a Thorens with Lin Basik arm and artridge to a Project Perspective TT with Sumiko Blue Point cartridge that I bought from someone local. We packed it up and when I got home, the weight and end of the arm broke off. I was able to glue it back on but, I can't help but, believe that I am not getting wonderful performance on this rig. When I checked with the manufacturer, I found that it would cost > 800 to replace the arm. Rather than spend the $$$ fixing up, buying a decent record cleaning machine I figured it would be less costly and simpler to record my LPs to CD and stick with CD. My system:

Vandy 3aSigs
Eastern Electric CD
TAD 150 Signature pre
Tad 125 monos
Project Perspective TT

Eagleman

Have you thought about picking up another table , maybe something like a Technics that will get you by until you can get this one fixed ? Might want to check Craigslist and see if anything local is available.

I take it that you sold the other table ?

Sent some info to you and not sure if you ever got it ?

I have just started a project of converting LPs to Cds and can offer the following. I am using a process similar to EjLif and am happy with the results. As with any "audiophile" system the result is as good as the components and between the vinyl and finished burned CD there are a lot of pieces; TT, Stylus, cartridge, vinyl quality, phono preamp/DAC, computer interface & software, editing software, Cd burner, all cables, etc. There are different levels of audiophilia and you need to determine what satisfies you but in general I found the $99 all-in-one solutions I've seen are not great.

If your TT is adequate you should expect to be able to reproduce the quality you get from it, no more. If you are not happy with that audio quality level you need to upgrade there first. I'm finding that my finished CDs sound the same as when I connect my TT directly to my system. Fortunately my old TT and cartridge are very adequate. From there I go into a Project II USB unit and then into my computer via USB. For recording and ripping I use LP Recorder and LP Ripper by CFB Software. In order to have any audio quality at all you must use WAV files and/or Apple Lossless in iTunes. I edit the tracks with the LP Ripper software and pull them into iTunes. I have the Wave Corrector DeClick software which does a great job getting rid of pops but I have decided not to use it as it seems to reduce sound quality just a bit. If I have pops I try to correct them at the source if possible or live with them if not. In ITunes I edit the track names and burn. I also do a few things to pull in artwork and then use SureThing CD Labeler to make CD and case labels.

For me to get better results I need to upgrade my TT and then DAC. If I invest more in a TT upgrade I would probably jump into listening to vinyl directly too.