2. analog
  3. 135375-111696

Digitizing LPs

I know this is an analog section, but I thought perhaps folks with a analog LPs might know more about this so I’ll ask if anyone has expertise in copying/digitizing LPs, the software needed, the equipment needed. And maybe most importantly, how tough is this job to do and get good results?? I don’t want to create CDs, I just want to send a copy of each to hard drives so I can stream them. I am digitizing my CDs too.

I should say I have a good start on it, a Windows 7 Desktop with attached Musical Fidelity Preamp with phono stage, Adcom amp, Spendor speakers, and ASUS Xonar Essence STX soundcard, and a choice of turntables. Still, I know I’ll need another piece of gear. Is that a USB DAC? If so, how good does this have to be? Or put another way, do I need to spend a lot of money on this?
128x128echolane
dgarretson
2,599 posts
 

@tkr

I purchased Tascam as the best all-in-one DSD recorder I could find short of Playback Designs.  All that's needed in addition to the unit is CF or SD card media and a CF or SD reader to transfer files to the PC for processing by Tascam's free Hi-Res Editor software.  My reservation about the Lynx was its lack of DSD support, and a Mike Fremer review in which he failed to find meaningful differences between the Lynx and other 24/192 units across a wide range of price points.

tkr
100 posts
 
@dgarretson 

I digitize to 24/96 because to my old ears there is no big audible difference beyond that. Also, the files get ever bigger the higher resolution you use, and for me the optimum is 24/96, stored as AIFF-files
I have no experience with ripping to DSD- how big are the files, and where do you store them?
jbny
38 posts
 
@dgarretson try clickrepair lot's of people use it. It does a great job, try it on a low setting of10-20 and then manually fix the few clicks that it leaves behind. It's pretty transparent.
dgarretson
2,599 posts
 

@jbny Thanks, I’ll try it.

@tkr I "hear" your pain. An LP takes up around 3.5GB at DSD128. I store them on a QNAP TVS-882 RAID on up to eight disk drives and SSDs. The QNAP contains an i5 quad core CPU that hosts Roon and Roon DSP engine.

tkr
100 posts
 
@dgarretson

3.5 GB is a huge file! 
I considered ripping my record collection, but we are talking about 2500 hours of music on LP. Let´s stipulate that an hour of music on vinyl would take about 1.5 to 2 hours to rip, divide into tracks, label and declick/normalise, we are suddenly looking at 4000 to 5000 hours of work......
I simply decided that it wasn´t feasible, or at least not worth the time.
On top of that, I´m not really sure that wearing down the stylus of a cartridge with 2500 hours of vinyl playing, really is a sensible way of saving wear and tear on the cartridge.
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