Dedicated ADC Upgrade over MacBook for Vinyl?

[spectrexcwk]

I’ve read several of the audio interface reviews here (and spent several hours googling) to try and determine if the ADC in vinyl rippling setup needs upgrading.

stanton str8-80 turntable
Schiit mani pre-amp
2008 MacBook Pro line in
audacity on one of my current Macs

I’m sure this sounds horrifying to everyone, but allow me to explain:

1. I don’t really care for vinyl for listening and much prefer the convenience of cd’s. Thus I didn’t want to spend much - I only had to buy the schiit mani.

2. The computer was free

The only reason I have/buy vinyl at this point is for the occasional release I can’t get on cd/digital. Thus I only own ~30 records. I’ve digitized a handful, but I’d like to get the whole collection done. If I’m gonna take the time to do that, I’d rather just do it once.

My question is whether an entry level/budget interface (Like the recently reviewed Scarlett), solely for vinyl ripping, provide a noticeable upgrade over the mbp’s line in? I know this sort of question gets asked a lot, but I don’t have (or want) the collection that warrants the $500+ ADC/interface recommendations I see online. I’m really at a loss, so any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Tks]

Wouldn't the issue be the Mani seeing as how it's the weakest link in the chain?

As for the Macbook, we don't have any metrics to really know how well it does.

Seeing as how the age of it goes back over a decade I'm not really sure what to think >_>

 

[spectrexcwk]

Oh I didn’t know the Mani was considered that bad. Is there something else I should’ve bought in that price range? It seemed to get positive feedback in the ~$100 category from various places.

Are there measurements I can perform somehow to get an idea of how the mbp’s line in performs? Like running test sounds from another pc/dac into the line in?

I have two of these old mbp’s, so I’d be happy to ship it out for analysis. Though that would just be a waste of someone’s time to look into.

 

[Soniclife]

I have two of these old mbp’s, so I’d be happy to ship it out for analysis. Though that would just be a waste of someone’s time to look into.

You should be able to measure the Mac ADC yourself if you have a good DAC to send it some test files.

 

[dfuller]

Those built in inputs in macbook pros are straight up terrible in terms of both noise performance and headroom, at least in my experience. Apple's built-in AD/DA has always been weak at best if I'm honest.

On the other hand, a very decent performing 2-input A/D with line inputs can be had for under $200 (e.g. a Motu M2), and the Mani is okay (not state of the art or anything, but certainly not terrible and with more dynamic range than a vinyl record has).

 

[spectrexcwk]

Those built in inputs in macbook pros are straight up terrible in terms of both noise performance and headroom, at least in my experience. Apple's built-in AD/DA has always been weak at best if I'm honest.

On the other hand, a very decent performing 2-input A/D with line inputs can be had for under $200 (e.g. a Motu M2), and the Mani is okay (not state of the art or anything, but certainly not terrible and with more dynamic range than a vinyl record has).

Thanks! I’ll just get an external ADC

You should be able to measure the Mac ADC yourself if you have a good DAC to send it some test files.

I have an smsl idea and a fiio e17. While at this point I’m convinced an external ADC is the way to go, for curiosity I’d still like to try and get some measurements. Do you know of a guide I can use for this? Google turns up some really low level engineering pages.

 

[somebodyelse]

REW should do the trick for measurement. The site has some reasonably detailed help as well as the download. I'm not sure if there are any quirks when running it on a Mac.

 

[LBec]

I am in the same situation with a few vinyl records that I want to convert to digital. Not enough to spend a lot on a ADC but something that might be better than a windows built in sound chip (think intel standard chipsets). The Motu M2 is a little higher than I would like to spend and looks complicated.

Again, this is for the few vinyl albums I have that are hard to get on CD. I would just buy the CD (or MP3) if it were available.

 

[Dreyfus]

An audio interface is basically an external sound card with a few more connectors and some dedicated gain knobs. Just install the drivers, plug the USB cable in and you are pretty much ready to go. All you need for recording vinyl is a pair of cinch to 1/4" TS cables. Once you got it wired up, start the playback and watch the meters in your recording software. If the level given by the phono preamp is too low you can turn up the gain knob on your interface until you are hitting something between -8 and -3 dB peak. Check the levels with the loudest piece of music you are going to record to ensure the whole album is not going to clip. Do also make sure the inputs you are using are set to "line level". On most devices there is a button on the front to switch between instrument (also called "High-Z") and line level input.

Something like a Scarlett Solo or Scarlett 2i2 is already good enough for recording vinyl.
If you want to keep the process as simple as possible you could also go for an Audient Evo 4. This interface has a "smart gain" feature which automatically adjusts the gain level of the input depending on the loudness of your voice or in this case the volume of the music you are sending into the device. Should be pretty handy in case you have no experience in gain staging

Regards
P48

 

[jerryfreak]

have you looked for the same sources on torrent trackers? most vinyl releases are ripped immediately on first play with decent equipment

for those who may lambast me for the rec, its really not 'stealing' if you already bought the media.....

 

[spectrexcwk]

Those built in inputs in macbook pros are straight up terrible in terms of both noise performance and headroom, at least in my experience. Apple's built-in AD/DA has always been weak at best if I'm honest.


On the other hand, a very decent performing 2-input A/D with line inputs can be had for under $200 (e.g. a Motu M2), and the Mani is okay (not state of the art or anything, but certainly not terrible and with more dynamic range than a vinyl record has).

REW should do the trick for measurement. The site has some reasonably detailed help as well as the download. I'm not sure if there are any quirks when running it on a Mac.

I’m certain REW can do this, but after some browsing (of their site)/googling I can’t figure out how to use it for this purpose. I’m only finding guides for room measurement. Given that, I’ll just take dfuller’s word on this one.

Something like a Scarlett Solo or Scarlett 2i2 is already good enough for recording vinyl.


Regards
P48

My choices at the moment are

Scarlet 2i2 - well reviewed on this and other sites. Seems like a great solution for this at $130

Motu moto 2 - tested here https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/motu-m2-loopback-measurements.13033/, though I have no idea how to interpret those graphs.


Am I likely to notice an audible difference for recording vinyl between these? DAC measurements/opinions seem much much easier to find online compared to ADC measurements/opinions.

* I won't need the dac's from any of these interfaces. I think my smsl idea does that job well enough for my cheap headphones.

 

[somebodyelse]

I’m certain REW can do this, but after some browsing (of their site)/googling I can’t figure out how to use it for this purpose. I’m only finding guides for room measurement. Given that, I’ll just take dfuller’s word on this one.

My mistake - I thought the instructions I'd read were in there, but my memory is faulty. Essentially you'd be hooking things up as if you were doing the Calibrate the Soundcard step, then doing some more detailed measurements, probably using the RTA Window and the Signal Generator window. The thread below starts with someone trying it on a Mac - note the advice in post #12 about selecting the "Lock frequency to FFT" on the generator!
https://www.audiosciencereview.com/...k-test-im-confused-am-i-doing-it-right.12943/
I hope that's enough to get you started.

 

[Dreyfus]

Am I likely to notice an audible difference for recording vinyl between these?

I assume that the SINAD of most vinyl setups as a whole is much worse than that of the 2i2's XLR inputs (which is pretty clean with at least -100 dB).
Hence, there should not be any significant difference when choosing a better interface.

Edit: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/...ical-fidelity-mx-vynl.7753/page-4#post-224655