Vinyl LPs To CD

First, if you want to do it well, you should look into a separate analog to digital converter (the opposite of a DAC).

MSB makes a couple. The MSB Pro (Model PAD-1) lists new for $799. The Audio Director (Model ADD-1) lists new for $599. I see used ones for sale from time to time. I think there is an Audiogon dealer who sells for 10% off list. Information is at www.msbtech.com

Sony makes a few models that are less costly. There are many models. The ones that come to mind are the PCM-701ES and SBM-1

Also check eBay under "Consumer Electronics:Home Audio & Video:Audio Components:Processors"

All you really need is a professional compact disc recorder.
Do not get a consumer model.

www.apogeedigital.com

I don't understand why you need an A/D converter. I've been making fantastic CDs (if I do say so myself) from LPs via a TASCAM CDRW700. This is a "pro" machine that uses cheap computer discs and is very easy to use. For best quality, go direct from a phono preamp to the CD recorder (i.e, bypassing your line stage or integrated amp). The TASCAM is rarely available used, but it sells new for $450 from Oade Bros. Good luck.

Sony's 33 and 66 has SBM built in and I think you can get the 33 for $450

I use the Sony W33 pro CDR (I think I paid $479 late last year) and it does a very good job. It has 24/96 A/D - D/A conversion and it also has Sony's SBM dithering(?) technology as an option. I'm sure a nice Apogee A/D converter would sound better than the internal Sony converters, but they're friggin expensive. I'm not sure how much of an upgrade a $799 MSB unit would be, but it's probably noticeable. You can spend thousands on seperate components if you want the very best, or you can spend $450-$600 for a Sony, Tascam, Marantz, or HHB pro model and get pretty good results out of the box. And yes...go directly from the phono preamp into the recorder, if possible. Keep the signal path as short and pure as possible.

For me, there is NOTHING that will solve the solution as you state it, Johnny, "a sonic transfer that preserves the beauty of my vinyl LPs". That being said, there are some credible options, depending on your budget, and how picky you will be with the outcome.

I had a rather "run-of-the-mill" Philips CDR880 that did a surprisingly VERY nice job of transferring some of my vinyl to CD's. I have since given the Philips to my son for use at college after having received a Pinoeer PD-RV500 as a Christams gift. I really like the sound obtained from vinyl to CD transfer, the resluts are much richer than soem of the other units I tried, including the TASCAm, which I didn't care much for.

As Sugarbie says, though, you can always take the plunge and buy more expensive and exacting separates which will give you incrementally better results. As always, it depends on how these improvements cross the graph of your incremetnal budget!!

I have also been dabbling with recording from vinyl to CD using my PC with encouraging results, but that is another story altogether.

I have a friend whom I've made some transfers with. He has all separates. His transfers are excellent. I am glad to hear they're are making some recorders with decent built-in converters.

If your purpose is getting best quality archives, do it with a PC. Get a high-end sound card and record .wav files onto your HD at 24/96, then record CD-R's. It will take 2 or 3 CD-R's per LP, but sonics will be FAR better than any CD recorder at 16/44.1. Playback from the digital outputs of the card through a good DAC. I use a Digital Audio Labs 'Card deLuxe' played back through Sonic Frontiers SFD-2 MK III, Krell, big Maggies etc and it works superbly well.

This approach will come closer to preserving the sonic beauty than you you can imagine. I can't hear any difference at all. Obviously such CD's are useless for other purposes, like car or diskman. If you want redbook CD's you can down-sample the HD recording in software to 16/44.1. Cool Edit and other packages work fine. Make sure your PC has many gigs of fast HD space!

-Dave

I've had great luck using a Pioneer PDR-05. Makes very decent sounding CDs from LPs. It also uses the Stable Platter Mechanism, which is kinda like a turntable anyway. :-) It also makes a really nice transport. I bought it in really nice shape on eBay for a very reasonable proce. If you have any particular questions, e-mail me.
Good Luck!
Ed

My NAD 660 CD recorder has an A/D converter. All I need to do is plug the phone IC's into the analog inputs on the back of the recorder and voila! I have not tried it yet but I bought this unit B-stock for $495. Based in the comments above, there are several ways to do it, complicated, easy, you just have to decide how much you want to spend and what quality you want.

I understand that I can transfer vinyl to CDR's using either a professional CD writer. I assume that this can be done either on 24/96 or 16/44. My questions are:

1) can one transfer a whole LP onto a CD at 24/96? I assume not, based on inference from what's written above.

2) is there any way to write from an LP to a DVD at such an improved sampling rate and resolution? The multiple CD solution won't work in my case, but I'd like high resolution digital recordings.

Thanks to those who know more than I.