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Difference in sound using different carts when digitizing vinyl record?

Hello A'goners .......

I hope I am posting it in the right forum!

Here is my question - this is a hypothetical situation - if I digitize my vinyl record  while the record is played using any cart (cart #1) and then again play and digitize the same record using a different cart (cart #2), am I going to hear any sound difference typically attributed to two different carts? Everything else remain same in both cases i.e. the turntable, phono stage, DAC, preamp, amp, speakers, and all cables. The software to digitize is the same with identical setting. 

Did anyone of you do this or similar experiment? I am curious to know.

I bought a Sweetvinyl Sugarcube SC-1. I am wondering because of the conversion to A to D and then again D to A, it there a possibility that the sound differences from different carts are not so significant anymore?  Right now I do not have two carts, so can not do the experiment myself and report the results here. That is why I am asking the question and hoping to get some reasonable answers.  Please pardon my lack of technical knowledge.  

I would appreciate if we stay focused on the topic while discussing this. I do not want a debate of why I or anyone wants to convert analog to digital or one format is better sounding than the other.

Thanks and have a good day :)
 


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sleepwalker65's avatar
sleepwalker65
832 posts
 
With 44kHz sampling I doubt sound quality will be good enough to appreciate the capability of a true hifi cartridge. Your best return on investment will be from using a good, clean stylus on any reasonably capable cartridge (AT95E will do quite well for this pursuit), and clean records. 

If you took your digitizing platform up to DSD, the 192kHz sampling rate would be good enough to faithfully reproduce the sound quality of a true hifi cartridge. However, the investment in DSD is very steep, and the choices of equipment for consumer applications is limited. 
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cleeds
5,957 posts
 
sleepwalker65
With 44kHz sampling I doubt sound quality will be good enough to appreciate the capability of a true hifi cartridge.
In my system, 44.1 sampling is more than sufficient for a digital recording to reveal differences in phono cartridges.
lewm
13,107 posts
 
Michael Fremer is betting that the answer to your question is "yes".  He's been doing this for the past few years and posting the tracks on his website.  Most who have auditioned the tracks seem to hear differences among and between cartridges.  At least they are not afraid to vote for one cartridge over another.  Like sleepwalker says, if I were doing this for myself, I would want to use the highest resolution digital equipment possible.  Else it's possible that one would hear differences but the differences would be misleading, because of the inferiority of the digital phase of the process.
confuse_upgraditis's avatar
confuse_upgraditis OP
29 posts
 
Thanks everyone for responding.

Just to clarify - I am not digitizing records as such. I have no desire to do so at this moment.

I am using a Sweetvinyl Sugarcube SC-1, a device that goes between the phonostage and preamp. It removes clicks and pops in real time while the record is being played. The Sugarcube does an excellent job in removing the clicks and pops. It does that by 1) converting the analog signal coming from the phonostage to digital signal, 2) using software to remove clicks and pops and 3) finally convert back the digital signal to analog which then goes out to the preamp. There is no recording capability with the SC-1. I purchased the device after reading several favorable reviews by users and reviewers including Michael Fremer.

I was curious to know because of these conversions happening in real time, whether the sound difference that we typically hear when we change cartridges would be still there. Now @cleeds mentioned in his response that would be the case. I hope that at some point in near future I will be able to verify it myself.  
tkr
100 posts
 
The answer to the OP´s question is yes, of course you will hear a difference if the two cartridges sound different.
IMO you will hear a difference even when recorded at 16/44.1, and from my own experience you certainly hear it when recorded at 24/96.
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