Recommendations for digitizing vinyl

[MRC01]

... Which is a long way to say that I've not been eager to adopt streaming, along with only "renting" the material instead of owning it. Yeah, quality is a lot better now and I should give it another chance.

Some streaming services (like Qobuz) stream in loss-less formats like FLAC. In this case streaming doesn't limit the sound quality, it all just depends on which version/release of a recording they have, and how long they have it.

 

[mike70]

Some streaming services (like Qobuz) stream in loss-less formats like FLAC. In this case streaming doesn't limit the sound quality, it all just depends on which version/release of a recording they have, and how long they have it.

and do you think the sound quality are the bit depth and frequency?

mmm ... generally streaming have high compression and high gain masters and that's not sound quality at all.
and talking about FLAC or any lossless format, i dare to try an ABX test with mp3 320kbps (created from the same cd / hires quality track) and the original for a difference.

you can use foobar 2000 ABX plugin ... maybe you will be surprised.

 

[MRC01]

and do you think the sound quality are the bit depth and frequency?

Nope, that's not what I said.

... mmm ... generally streaming have high compression and high gain masters and that's not sound quality at all.

Agreed. I said that earlier in post #32.

... and talking about FLAC or any lossless format, i dare to try an ABX test with mp3 320kbps (created from the same cd / hires quality track) and the original for a difference.
you can use foobar 2000 ABX plugin ... maybe you will be surprised.

Been there, done that, for decades. 320 kbps is very good sound quality, but it can be differentiated by trained listeners on appropriate material.

 

[Chrispy]

Thanks for all the replies, much good food for thought. And after thinking about it a lot, I've come to the conclusion that I've been overthinking it. The Audio Technica clone of the Technics 1200 with USB out should be sufficient, and I found a place that was selling them for $349 instead of the usual $449, and with a 10% discount that brought it down to $314, or not much more than I'd pay for just a phono preamp. Free shipping too.

The online store only had two left, and now there's only one left at that price. Link . 10% Discount code is "Mobile 10" or available by email.

DISCLAIMER: not affiliated with lptunes.com and I've never bought from them before. But they seem legit.

I think that's a reasonable way to go. I had similar aims a few years back and got an ART Phono Plus (using with my SL1200mk2 with decent cartridge) but just the time/effort to rip after a couple I just figured wasn't worth the effort, and rarely would really want to play them on other than my main system either.....so just skipped ripping them and play the vinyl when I want. Most of the vinyl is in the basement, the albums I really want to play are near the tt....and I just find it easier to play these relatively few recordings when I want rather than deal with the rip process. I didn't really need to move the tt or needed the space either. What will you do with the AT unit after you're done?

 

[Mr. Swordfish]

@mike70 and MRCO1 - Don't think there's too much disagreement here. There's much more to quality sound than simple bit counting, and you can make truly awful sounding 96k 24bit audio with the "right" processing. And despite what I might have implied above, I can't hear lossy artifacts at 256k and above, and was quite happy at one point using 128k MPEG Layer 2 for remote broadcast feeds - but that was 30 years ago.

@Crispy I'm finding that I'm actually enjoying transferring and doing some rudimentary editing of my DAT tapes, so I'll likely also enjoy the same process for the vinyl. My take is that if I'm going to go through the time and effort to play an LP, I might as well rip it so that next time I want to hear it all I'll have to do is call it up on the computer.

After I'm done I'll either sell the AT or use it to replace the budget U-Turn turntable at the vacation condo. But that's probably more than a year from now.

 

[Mnyb]

You might find ”vinyl rips” at the usual torrent sites , some people have made it an hobby to upload these things ?
This is most likely not legal at all* . But could in a pinch be a source if some off your source LP turns out to be damaged.
Of course non existent quality control. As you are a broadcasting engineer you probably do things the right way by muscle memory the bumbling amateurs uploading stuff might have done trivial mistakes.

* how is the status for public domain stuff ? Can you share a 78 record ?

 

[mike70]

. 320 kbps is very good sound quality, but it can be differentiated by trained listeners on appropriate material.

Well, I failed with total success
Using the abx comparator, external dac / amp and decent headphones I cannot differentiate a 320kbps file from the original CD wav.

In the internet are many tests (made by Archimago, as an example) that shows the same.

If you pass (that kind of unsighted tests), OK, you're my hero.

 

[somebodyelse]

* how is the status for public domain stuff ? Can you share a 78 record ?

If it's really public domain then yes. Whether it is or not depends how old it is, what country you're in and whether the copyright owner released it as public domain before copyright would ordinarily have expired (assuming that's possible in the jurisdiction.) It can be complicated, so of you really need to know you'll have to ask a local copyright lawyer.

See for example: https://great78.archive.org/

 

[Mr. Swordfish]

In the EU, the copyright for audio recordings expires after 50 years, hence all those box set CD jazz reissues from Real Gone recordings.

I've got a bunch of these, and while they seem to be ripped from vinyl instead of the R-to-R masters they sound fine.

 

[krabapple]

Interesting. I was wondering why anything I ran through Audadity sounded different, even if I didn't make any changes. I suppose whatever they do is supposed to be inaudible, but apparently not.

It really should be. Are these differences something you can measure , and hear in blind A/B? Is your audio going through Windows mixer at any point?

 

[Ben Jenssen]

I've been, and still am, digitizing my old vinyl collection lately. MC cartridge, dedicated MC preamp/RIAA stage, Topping 2x2 ADC, broadband de-click and level adjustment applied. I think it sounds pretty great.

24bit/48kHz wavs. Each file is one side of the LP:

Platearkiv - Google Drive

drive.google.com

I'll give more details when I can.

 

[Mr. Swordfish]

It really should be. Are these differences something you can measure , and hear in blind A/B? Is your audio going through Windows mixer at any point?

Not going through Windows mixer. I haven't measured anything, or done an A/B test blind or otherwise. It might be my imagination.

I can say for sure that the first time I tried doing something in Wavepad is sounded really, really noticeably bad. After posting some questions in their forum and trying it again it sounded fine. Probably operator error fat fingering something.

When transferring from DAT, I really want to preserve the same 44.1 16 bit data stream as original, hence Waveshop as recording software. For later editing, well, I still have the original so I'm not so worried. Waveshop is limited in what it can do, and is basically deadware or zombieware at this point since it hasn't been updated in a dozen years. But for just taking a data stream and saving it as .wav it would seem to be a good choice.

 

[Mr. Swordfish]

I've been, and still am, digitizing my old vinyl collection lately. MC cartridge, dedicated MC preamp/RIAA stage, Topping 2x2 ADC, broadband de-click and level adjustment applied. I think it sounds pretty great.

24/48kHz wavs:

Platearkiv - Google Drive

drive.google.com

I'll give more details when I can.

Interesting collection. About 75% are LPs I own (or owned) that I've simply replaced with CDs, so no reason to digitize them. Looking forward to checking out the others.

 

[krabapple]

Not going through Windows mixer. I haven't measured anything, or done an A/B test blind or otherwise. It might be my imagination.

I can say for sure that the first time I tried doing something in Wavepad is sounded really, really noticeably bad. After posting some questions in their forum and trying it again it sounded fine. Probably operator error fat fingering something.

When transferring from DAT, I really want to preserve the same 44.1 16 bit data stream as original, hence Waveshop as recording software. For later editing, well, I still have the original so I'm not so worried. Waveshop is limited in what it can do, and is basically deadware or zombieware at this point since it hasn't been updated in a dozen years. But for just taking a data stream and saving it as .wav it would seem to be a good choice.

OK, but I'm talking about Audacity. I've never used Wavepad.

As a measurement test one could try importing a digital file into Audacity (which will upconvert to 32 bit), then export it in the original input format. The compare them in Deltawave.

 

[rwtooley]

I've been, and still am, digitizing my old vinyl collection lately. MC cartridge, dedicated MC preamp/RIAA stage, Topping 2x2 ADC, broadband de-click and level adjustment applied. I think it sounds pretty great.

24bit/48kHz wavs:

Platearkiv - Google Drive

drive.google.com

I'll give more details when I can.

these sound phenomenal and THANK YOU FOR SHARING! I am missing Venus and Mars from my vinyl collection and your rip sounds amazing to me

 

[Ben Jenssen]

I challenge anyone to compare my moving coil digitizations to commercially available versions of the same songs. I think they won't reach my SQ to the knees.

 

[Ben Jenssen]

these sound phenomenal and THANK YOU FOR SHARING! I am missing Venus and Mars from my vinyl collection and your rip sounds amazing to me

Thanks. Unfortunately, Wings Venus and Mars is one of the most worn and damaged of them all, but iZotope RX11 Declicker software does a fantastic job.

 

[rwtooley]

I challenge anyone to compare my moving coil digitizations to commercially available versions of the same songs. I think they won't reach my SQ to the knees.

they are sooo quiet between tracks! now you've got me thinking about going MC.. I'm cutting your files into song tracks in flac and it's funny bc I went to streaming to determine exactly where to cut between the first 2 tracks and your version sounds so much more natural compared to the 2014 digital re-master. THANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOU, especially for This Note's For You (not singin' for pepsi...)

 

[Blew]

If you have LP albums that are not available on Tidal/Qobuz then I see the point.

Album masters.

The album masters available on streaming services are usually the most recent remastered CD versions, which is all too often an overly compressed mess when compared to earlier CD masters or vinyl. It does depend what kind of music you listen to though.

 

[danadam]

I challenge anyone to compare my moving coil digitizations to commercially available versions of the same songs. I think they won't reach my SQ to the knees.

"Boston - More than a feeling (1976) Side 1.wav" around 5:35, between "people live" and "in a competition"
(CD version resampled to 48k and volume matched)