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Tascam DA-3000 vs Benchmark ADC1 USB

In a previous thread the subject about using a Tascam DA-3000 to archive vinyl was discussed. I had posted that my initial tests with the Tascam were far from satisfying. I speculated that I thought the issue was the analog circuitry in the front end of the Tascam.

Well I just received a Benchmark ADC1 USB and have run a few test recordings to compare with the Tascam.

I set the ADC1 up to feed digital AES/EBU 24bit/96KHz into the AES/EBU digital input on the Tascam. Clock on the Tascam was set to DI (digital input from the ADC1). Clock rate and bit depth were set to match the ADC1.

So I was effectively using the Benchmark for the basic analog to digital conversion, and the Tascam to convert the digital data stream into a WAV file saved to a 4 G SD card in the Tascam. This way I avoided any USB and computer related variables in building the WAV file of the recording.

The analog inputs to the Benchmark ADC1 were straight out (DC out) of the Spectral DMC-10 phono preamp. I used custom built single ended RCA to XLR cables. Surprisingly, I found hum levels were about 6 dB better that the same inputs into the Tascam directly.

I recorded some quick cuts from LPs I am pretty familiar with (Steely Dan Gaucho Babylon Sisters, John Klemmer's Touch, and Blind Faith's Had to Cry Today that I used initially). The recording levels were very easy to set as the Benchmark ADC1 has really nice analog front panel controls for gain. Setting up the Tascam to "Monitor" confirmed the digital levels and both units agreed with each other to within a dB or so.

What about the results?

I was very happy with the recordings made with the Benchmark. When A/B'd directly with the LP, the recorded 24/96K WAV was not identical, but pretty damn close. Much better than recordings made with the Tascam alone. The original LP was a tad bit smoother and very slightly more detailed, but if you were not A/B ing you might not notice the difference. What was important to me was that the recording maintained the space and 3d sound field of the LP, and not crush it into a plane like many CD recordings.

All in all not the cheapest solution, but still cheaper than the Ayre 9A product. Plus using the Tascam gives you a stand alone solution with no need to connect USB to a computer, but it's there if you want it.

I would say Benchmark was pretty true to what they said their product would do.
dhl93449
dhl93449 OP
455 posts
 
Peter S:

Regarding sound quality, I have always been partial to discrete component Class A circuitry. So I am partial to the Ayre.

But I could not find a used one for a reasonable price and $4K was a bit rich for my blood. Honestly, I originally thought I could mod the Tascam with better opamps and caps, but realized this would be difficult once I got the Tascam and opened it up. All the opamps are SOIC8 surface mount and difficult to access. Plus no schematic means a lot of guesswork.

The Benchmark was the next most reasonable choice (there may be others), and if you buy directly from Benchmark, they have a money back trial period if you are not satisfied. So you can try a few recordings and compare to your phono system to see if it is good enough. For me, I found it was, but I was fully prepared to return the unit back to Benchmark if the results were not satisfactory.

If that is the case for you, then something like the Ayre is necessary and you may have to spend the big bucks.
peter_s
1,348 posts
 
Does anyone have experience with the M2Tech Joplin-MK2 384/32 A/D converter? Seems like a contender to the Benchmark.
dtc's avatar
dtc
1,047 posts
 
Dhl93449 - Vinyl Studio lets you set the end of a track and the beginning of the next one, cutting out the part in between. You set the end then move the green arrow to the start of the next track. Very easy to do. When you write out the files you can also add silence to the beginning and/or end of a track. It also does album lookup for track names and breaks, which a real time saver. Its main source for that is discogs, which is nice since CDs and records are sometimes different. My guess is dBpoweramp does lookups based on CDs.

VS also does normalization. It am pretty sure it does it in floating point, not sure what precision. But you can ask on their forum and Paul will be able to tell you.

With VS you can do corrections (like click removal and hiss removal) on individual sections of the track, so if you are worried about the process you can do it only on short sections that are particularly bad. You can see what the click removal does to the waveform, and you will see that often it does little except take out the obviously bad part. You can also control the amount of the hiss removed and the sensitivity of the click removal. You really should try them. In most cases I cannot hear any adverse effect on the sound, but the hiss and click removal makes many passages much more listenable. You can listen to the section with and without the correction to see how it sounds. I use headphones for this and although the sound on the PC is not as good as on the stereo, you should be able to tell if you are damaging the underlying music.

I know I sound like a VS salesman, but it really is a good program for a very low cost. Charlie Hansen at Ayre also recommends it, so I am in good company.

As to writing to disk or a PC, I am with you on that. That was one reason I went with the Korg.
peter_s
1,348 posts
 
Looking forward to trying VS once I get my Benchmark, or M2Tech, or Ayre...
dhl93449 OP
455 posts
 
DTC:

If VS can remove tics or pops "individually" without processing the entire track, that would be amazing. I have some early first pressings that have the one depressing loud tick or pop that ruins the whole track. Being able to remove that without affecting everything else would be a plus.

But how do you locate these? Do you listen while watching a waveform playback to identify their location?
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