Whats the best sampling for A do D to CD

I do know what the hell you're talking about. I too am interested in transfering some of my LPs to digital, mostly for listening to at work. Who has figured out the best method?

I've been using a Digidesign Mbox interface (protools software) with my iMac laptop. I assume you're talking about recording from an analog source (LPs?). I've had good results recording at 24bit/48khz - wav. files - , then converting ('bouncing to disk') to 14/44. The CDs sound great!

The answer is, it depends. The quality of the A/D converter is the most important factor in analog to digital conversion, but it is closely followed by the quality of the sample rate conversion/word bit reduction processor. Whether done via dedicated hardware or software there are qualitative differences between competing products. My advice is that unless you are going to use truly professional oriented equipment to perform the SRC/word bit reduction to stay at 16 bit/44.1kHz throughout your conversion process. As a point of reference high quality hardware converter starts at around $1,000 and software goes for about $500.

I've converted approximately 500 albums to digital and the sound quality can be quite good. You won't be able to match the volume level of current commercial releases, but you won't have their squashed dynamics either. It's my experience that the word length is far more critical than the sample rate frequency. This is based upon using iTunes as my software interface. iTunes will only playback 16/44 files. If you're using software that allows for higher sampling rates then your results may vary from mine.

BTW, in the long run it would have been substantially cheaper for me to have purchased CDs of the albums. It's very time consuming to properly convert from analog to digital.

My experience is that the AD converter makes the most difference here. I have done a lot of studio work, and when I bought a Wadia 17 AD converter it really took things up a notch. When you buy an digital interface that does everything and is relatively cheap you don't get much in the way of AD converters. A nice outboard converter like the Wadia can make a world of difference. I just got into LPs and I plan to run from my record out of my pre to the Wadia 17 to a Marantz outboard CD recorder and make some CD copies of the LPs I have. I will have to sit and monitor the LP and insert the tracks to the CD via the Marantz remote, but that is the only work that it will take.

You can get an SACD burner made by Tascam. If you had higher bit rate converter and the right software you could in fact make hi resolution recordings yourself.

Check out an Alesis hard disk recorder new at about 800; has good AD and DA converters. Try to avoid sampling conversions if at all possible. The Alesis allows you to record to the hard drive, apply sound EQ (such as maximizing the levels without crunching), and to change the track order/delete tracks if you like. It is an excellent unit for moving LP, cassette, and DAT to redbook CD.