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?
echolane
tkr
100 posts
 
If you want to digitise your vinyl, you will need an ADC, and you will need a DAW. 
I would look into the pro marked for a good external soundcard. I use a Metric Halo ULN-8, but there are many to choose from. RME and Lynx are high quality, as is Metric Halo and a lot of others. For a DAW, I would look no further than Audacity, which is open-source and free.
dgarretson
2,614 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
2,614 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.

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