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Digitizing Vinyl - A special case

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Hello all

I thought I would make this post as I am currently researching gear to purchase for a rather special project.

My dad spent a lifetime as a professional musician & teacher - and sadly has advanced dementia.

After 6 years of constant searching I have FINALLY found & purchased a very special vinyl record that he was a performing musician on. Given the rarity of the vinyl and it simply not being anywhere digital - I am wanting to transfer it to a high quality digital version

I am looking for recommendations on a setup that would give me a decent turntable (that would warrant future upgrades), pre-amp, and audio interface - budget is 1-2k AUD

The goal is to rip the vinyl soon (along with the rest of the collection I have), and fingers crossed my dad remembers this album :)

cheers for any suggestions
 
I can't really help you with Turntable suggestions as i'm using one that i inherited and it's working just fine.

But for electronics there are vastly different options, you can either just get an audio interface (I recommend the Audient EVO 4 for like 120$) and you can use software to do RIAA equalization digitally. Since an audio interface works with low voltage inputs all the time (microphones) you can skip a phono stage or a phono pre-amp completely and just boost the voltage/volume internally via the audio interface. You can also use something like Vinyl Studio to 'Clean up' pops clicks and scratches.

However if you want something more streamlined because you want to digitize more than just one record, or because you want to listen to the records in-real time then I recommend the Puffin phono pre-amp with the Toslink output. it has a built in crackle and pops cleaner that functions in real time as something is playing. you can then get a small device (Toslink in, USB out) to record the record into something like an MP3 file with a simple recording program like Audacity.
 
A good 'bang for the buck' option for a stylus is the Ortofon 2M blue.
as is the AT95 VM ML

I've recently purchased a rega planar 3 which I am very happy with. There is a PSU upgrade unit for that to give more precise motor control - though I doubt I will get it as I'm happy with the turntable as is. There are numerous third party tweaks available for rega turntables. No idea of the relative merits of these.

Pre-amp I have is relatively budget Project Box MM. It works.

On the ADC front, also consider the Cosmos E1DA which is measuring very well here (though ADC input only - no outputs)


Sorry to hear about your Dad's illness. Dementia sucks.
 
On the ADC front, also consider the Cosmos E1DA which is measuring very well here (though ADC input only - no outputs)
While the measurements are out worldly good i don't think it's a good option if there is no software support or even basic functionalities like changing the gain. very niche product i'm afraid.

The EVO 4 has 115 dB(A) SNR and roughly 100dB SINAD, should be way more than enough for any practical purposes.
 
The gain seems to be adjustable with dip switches on the underside (1.7V up to 10V)

However, agree that the EVO will have better support and software and there is not much point in mega SINAD for vinyl recording.
 
Thank you so much guys really appreciated
 
I went on this journey a couple of years ago and I spent like 3,5k € to get the vinyl rips to a quality standard that was good enough for me. So just know 1-2k AUD will not get you the best possible quality.

That said. My recommendations would be. You should get the best stylus you can afford, it makes a huge difference in quality. And you need a phono pre where you can match the loading characteristics to your cartridge. And the turntable should have VTA adjustment. That is 80% of quality easily. Oh and cartrdige alignment.

Jico SAS stylii are a good way to upgrade existing cartrigdes. I had very good results with a Shure M92E + SAS stylus for the money. Besides that the Audio Technica MicroLine stylii are excellent.

I think for your budget going for some all-in-one product is the smart thing to do, and maybe you can upgrade the cartridge then. You could for example look at Pro-Ject Debut RecordMaster II, or the RecordMaster HiRes. Or Sony PS-HX500. TEAC TN-4D looks very interesting. LPGear has an upgrade stylus for the cart but they only sell it in america. https://www.lpgear.com/product/SUMIKOOYSTERSAS.html

Also. If you have old vinyl, cleaning it properly goes a long way. After you recorded it you can improve the quality by doing clickrepair and noise removal.
 
The goal is to rip the vinyl soon
My 2 cents;
Because Debut RecordMaster II comes with pre-mounted cartridge and built-in switchable phono preamplifier with USB output, connection to both line-level input of your hifi system and recording of vinyl to PC/Mac easily can be done simultaneously! Debut RecordMaster is offered in high-gloss black, red and walnut matt.
The included Phono RCA cable, Connect it E, is a high-quality semi-balanced interconnect cable with gold-plated RCA connectors that guarantees the perfect connection. The internal high class A/D converter supports native conversion from analogue to DSD 11.2 MHz digital. Using a PC application (Vinyl Studio Lite, supplied on CD) you are able to rip, edit and store tracks from your vinyl records.

Breathe new life into analogue masterpieces with DSD. Simply connect your Debut Carbon RecordMaster HiRes turntable to your PC via USB and rip your precious vinyl collection into High-Resolution Audio.


JSmith
 
I think the all in one is a good way for me at this moment in time - it will enable me to rip this vinyl fast to some level of quality. At which point I will continue no doubt, down the rabbit hole. But that is where the fun is right ? :)
 
I had a side hustle transferring analog discs to digital formats. One turntable I used was fancy but had issues, one was not so fancy and worked better. The one that was nice but flaky was the Strathclyde 305m. It came out of the same corner of the world that gave us the Linn Sondek LP-12 and is based on the same principles: an overbuilt Acoustic Research AR-XA. This one had a SME III arm. I mostly used the Shure 97xe as it was cheap and easily replaceable. Although I regularly cleaned LPs I transferred, there still would be pretty high wear/damage to styli because of the tendency for these discs to have some form of damage. Cueing LPs on this turntable was not steady.

The not so fancy turntable that turned out to be far more useful was an early direct drive Technics player. I landed on the Shure M-44 cartridge for this turntable, which meant that the stylus tracked at around 2 & 1/2 grams, much more secure in the groove and more likely to play through a damaged track. Also, as this is not a suspended subchassis turntable, cueing tracks was much easier.

You might find, after investing a lot of money into a turntable and LPs, that the distortions baked into every LP distract from enjoying music. I ultimately did. However, I'm offering two solutions. First, look at the lower end of the new Technics direct drive turntables. The SL 1500c has a built-in phono preamp, an Ortofon Red cartridge and is pretty much plug and play. You can make the most meaningful upgrades with changing the stylus of the cartridge, though there's nothing stopping you from replacing the cartridge or phono preamp.

I've used outboard handheld recorders for the analog to digital recording. They start at around $100, go up from there. Then I would take that recording and load it into Audacity---essentially Pro Tools but as freeware. Once in Audacity, I use Click Repair. I don't know what they charge now, when I got it over ten years ago it was $40. This set of tools can take you just about as far as one can reasonably go with LP replay and recording. This would end up costing around $1500, American.

Because I became aware of just how flawed LP replay is from my experiences transferring LP to digital, I offer a much cheaper solution. The Audio Technica AT LP-120XUSB is a direct-drive turntable with cartridge [the purdy good and easily upgraded Audio Technica AT VM 95], has a usb digital out, so you can hook up the turntable's digital out to your computer, record to Audacity and so on. $350 American. Won't be quite as good as the Technics---their top end turntables now represent state of the art as regards wow and flutter, their prices much more reasonable than other "high-end" turntables---but the LPs themselves will be the limiting factor sonically anyway. The AT LP-120XUSB might be all the turntable you'll need.
 
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Hello all

I thought I would make this post as I am currently researching gear to purchase for a rather special project.

My dad spent a lifetime as a professional musician & teacher - and sadly has advanced dementia.

After 6 years of constant searching I have FINALLY found & purchased a very special vinyl record that he was a performing musician on. Given the rarity of the vinyl and it simply not being anywhere digital - I am wanting to transfer it to a high quality digital version

I am looking for recommendations on a setup that would give me a decent turntable (that would warrant future upgrades), pre-amp, and audio interface - budget is 1-2k AUD

The goal is to rip the vinyl soon (along with the rest of the collection I have), and fingers crossed my dad remembers this album :)

cheers for any suggestions

What country/city are you in?
Someone near you will have one of those LP to digital cheap turn tables.
 
as is the AT95 VM ML

I've recently purchased a rega planar 3 which I am very happy with. There is a PSU upgrade unit for that to give more precise motor control - though I doubt I will get it as I'm happy with the turntable as is. There are numerous third party tweaks available for rega turntables. No idea of the relative merits of these.

Pre-amp I have is relatively budget Project Box MM. It works.

On the ADC front, also consider the Cosmos E1DA which is measuring very well here (though ADC input only - no outputs)


Sorry to hear about your Dad's illness. Dementia sucks.
Dementia really does suck - its just terrible. Interestingly though music really does help. I managed to get him to pick up and instrument and that muscle memory is still all there from 60years of playing
 
As a follow-up to my original post I thought I would update about what I ended up doing.

I was able to obtain a new AT-LP60xUSB for $0 - I used that, cleaned the record a few times, and did a few copies and spent time cleaning up the digital version. So far I'm happy with the results. My dad will be listening to it next week!
 
I forgot to add the following - not sure if anyone has thoughts on this or can offer advice on it

For listening - I am looking at putting together a system just for vinyl - its all jazz :)

Considering a carbon evo TT, NAD PP2e phono, schiit loki+ eq (maybe) - but the headphone amp is the bit I am still not sure about. I have magnetic planar's that I use in a balanced setup with current DAC - Khadas tone2p using the build in HP amp out to 4.4 bal, & was thinking potentially a hybrid tube for something different. The other option I like is the Gustard H16. Any thoughts on what to pair with planars (he4xx at the moment - looking at a few additional soon)
 
For listening - I am looking at putting together a system just for vinyl - its all jazz :)

Considering a carbon evo TT, NAD PP2e phono...

A different cartridge will probably sound different but a "better" setup may not sound better. The weak link is the records themselves, especially if your records are older.

I don't "play records" anymore but back in the vinyl days I was always upgrading or wanting to upgrade my cartridge and in hindsight it was fruitless because the records varied more than the various cartridges (particularly the frequency response) and most records were mediocre. (I assume modern vinyl is better and more consistent but IMO it's not worth spending a lot of money on something that will never sound as good as a cheap CD player.)

I wouldn't worry too much about the DAC & headphone amp either unless the amp doesn't go loud enough with your particular headphones.

Again, different headphones will sound different but as you can see from the reviews here at ASR there's almost no correlation between price and sound quality.
 
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