Tascam DA-3000

I think Busman Audio has experience modding the Tascam. Not sure exactly what they replace, but you might want to talk to Chris about his experience. I know he did the Korg MR-2000s.

If you are interested in Spectral quality (and price) you can look at Merging Technologies Horus or the Grimm AD1. At an intermediate price, there is the Ayre QA-9. I am not familiar with the design of their input stages.

If you don't mind the sound of Delta Sigma conversion get one of these used, Flying Cow Midiman 24bit A-D or D-A converter, mine cost $100

Here's a new one
http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/M-Audio-Flying-Cow-24-Bit-XLR-Analog-AES-EBU-S-PDIF-Digital-Analog-Converter-NEW-/331690997254?hash=item4d3a52f606:g:C4sAAOSw0HVWBxTT

Cheers George

Actually, I transferred one of the albums on the Mini Disc
(SONY MDS-JA555ES)but in the play mode the signal was stronger
for 2db. No clue why. The sound was really good except for the
good vinyl. The depth of the vinyl was gone. On the average
vinyl the sound was pretty good.

Perhaps I'm not understanding your question but,...
I own and use the Tascam 3000. I use a 32gb SD card with it and I can record many Hi-Rez files on it. Mostly from Blu Ray or DVD-A using the analog outs.

When the SD is full or convenient I transfer the music to an external 2TB Hardrive.

If your just copying CD's to a hard drive, the Tascam is not the way to go. As mentioned earlier you would want to cut the ripping time down to about 10 minutes or less per CD.

DTC

The Ayre QA-9 you mention does have discrete (assumed class A) circuitry. It's easily double the cost of the Tascam and I am not sure if it's still available. Could not find any listed on 'Bay. The other issue is that the QA-9 requires a stand alone computer to formulate the final .WAV or .FLAC audio file, which is not that convenient. The TASCAM is a stand alone solution, which produces .WAV files on memory cards or USB media directly.

Did discover that Brown Dog does make a SO8 to SO8 surface mount adapter to allow two OPA627 op amps to replace a 5532 dual. In my tape loop listening tests with the Spectral, I have found the OPA627 to be pretty close to the vinyl source, with a small amount of loss of SQ. For recording of vinyl for casual listening playback, this may suffice, assuming the BD adapters don't create stability problems with the 627s.