[doctorjazz]

Interesting reading... I'll start with the hhb, which should be the easiest way to go, but I couldn't figure it out. I'll admit I didn't work too hard at it, tried it on or twice, couldn't get it going. Logistically, getting the recording started, the arm down on the record was daunting... Probably should spend more time with it
I use it as a cd player, as my Meitner bit the dust. I do have a VPI 16.5 cleaning machine, which is mostly a stand for cd's, the way exercise bikes become clothes stands. I thought I might get better results direct to pc, but I could be mistaken, may be worth another look. Fascinated by the different approaches, though, and getting new toys (if they don't break the bank) is always appealing. Great input, folks. (may try saving for a big birthday trip to the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage festival, but still willing to invest some green)

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[reeltime]

Quote:

This has been a huge plan of mine for some time, going back even 5-6 years.
After going through tons and tons of different variations on hardware software etc. Having many headaches along the line.

I finally have a setup I find to be as close to ideal as I have heard, without getting into stupid amounts of money.

I have tried so many adc's from 100 dollars to the 2500 dollar m2tech joplin. Which I returned, what a god-awful piece of crap that was. I am not going to even get started.

Anyways for me one of the hugest gripes I had when ripping vinyl was background noise and record surface noises.
Alot of phono pre's can make your setup sing through an amp, but do they produce a clean background and have clean power...usually no.

Clean records are one key point. Get a record cleaner, if you have over 150 records it is worth it. You can get used ones cheaper than you think.
The other huge point for me was battery power, taking everything off the grid.
I do not have particularly bad power where I am but let me tell you, as I started to update all my items with battery power. The change in sound was staggering.

Literally my entire vinyl rig is battery powered now.

Turntable has an rwa power supply, I use the Clearaudio Basic+ Phono Pre with battery power supply. Which is honestly one of the best phono pre's I have heard for clean sound.
Even without the battery power it was amazing, but adding the battery power supply was next level good. I have used an rsa xr-10b (4500 usd) praised for its quiet clean background, also had a simaudio moon 310lp and 320s (3300 usd) power supply which was amazingly quiet but still. I prefer the basic+ on battery to them all especially for ripping.
My adc of choice is the apogee duet 2, which I have running on battery power and my laptop Macbook pro is unplugged.

Once I did that, My rips where sounding very close to perfect. There was a lot of tweaking and messing around with stuff along the way.
I swear, if you want clean rips where the background almost sounds non-existant go battery powered.

I got almost everything I have used too, so it was about half as much as it would be really. Ebay, audiogon and here and just be patient.

This might be my favorite and most useful post of the year.  Smart.

 

[kcee]

Just to elaborate a little bit but not too much.

I love vinyl, I love the sound of vinyl over my speakers, queuing up a track and the sound is amazing in that setting. I will never not have vinyl in my life.

But when I am out and about, listening to my dap of choice at that time, which I do alot. It is almost always used with a high quality pair of sensitive iem's. When you listen to a digital recording in that setting, and then listen to a vinyl recording in that setting. It is so apparent which is which. No imperfections can hide when you are using a quality dap and good iem's. It annoyed the hell out of me because I have some things that I cannot and probably will never be able to get a cd or proper digital download of.

So my intention was to get the best possible rips in highest quality I can so I can have an excellent digital backup as well as a copy to listen to on my dap when I am out and about. I really wish I could have taken a snippet of every rip I have done along the way to kind of show the progress. Once I would make a change for the better I would usually delete every rip I had done in the past. So it has been a long and painful road but worth it in the end.

Last point, I can honestly say any all in one type of box or situation is not worth it. I tried a couple different turntable setups that had a built in adc so you could hook it right up to your usb on your computer. I was never happy with the results. You are much better off saving up a bit for separate component of a higher quality that do a specific job, and do it well.

 

[kcee]

This might be my favorite and most useful post of the year.  Smart.

Cheers, a bit of rambling but I am glad someone might have gotten something from it.

 

[doctorjazz]

Quote:

This has been a huge plan of mine for some time, going back even 5-6 years.
After going through tons and tons of different variations on hardware software etc. Having many headaches along the line.

I finally have a setup I find to be as close to ideal as I have heard, without getting into stupid amounts of money.

I have tried so many adc's from 100 dollars to the 2500 dollar m2tech joplin. Which I returned, what a god-awful piece of crap that was. I am not going to even get started.

Anyways for me one of the hugest gripes I had when ripping vinyl was background noise and record surface noises.
Alot of phono pre's can make your setup sing through an amp, but do they produce a clean background and have clean power...usually no.

Clean records are one key point. Get a record cleaner, if you have over 150 records it is worth it. You can get used ones cheaper than you think.
The other huge point for me was battery power, taking everything off the grid.
I do not have particularly bad power where I am but let me tell you, as I started to update all my items with battery power. The change in sound was staggering.

Literally my entire vinyl rig is battery powered now.

Turntable has an rwa power supply, I use the Clearaudio Basic+ Phono Pre with battery power supply. Which is honestly one of the best phono pre's I have heard for clean sound.
Even without the battery power it was amazing, but adding the battery power supply was next level good. I have used an rsa xr-10b (4500 usd) praised for its quiet clean background, also had a simaudio moon 310lp and 320s (3300 usd) power supply which was amazingly quiet but still. I prefer the basic+ on battery to them all especially for ripping.
My adc of choice is the apogee duet 2, which I have running on battery power and my laptop Macbook pro is unplugged.

Once I did that, My rips where sounding very close to perfect. There was a lot of tweaking and messing around with stuff along the way.
I swear, if you want clean rips where the background almost sounds non-existant go battery powered.

I got almost everything I have used too, so it was about half as much as it would be really. Ebay, audiogon and here and just be patient.

I get most of this-I have a Linn LP12, run it into a Krell KSL with phono (don't believe there are battery options for any of this). Where is the digitizing of the vinyl-the apogee duet 2? Is this hooked into your preamp, via tape loop? Where do the digital files go-do you have it going out to the Macbook Pro? Do you burn to CD?

 

[doctorjazz]

A quick google search, the Apogee is a converter for a Mac, no? So you must have it connected to the Macbook to save the files.

 

[kcee]

I get most of this-I have a Linn LP12, run it into a Krell KSL with phono (don't believe there are battery options for any of this). Where is the digitizing of the vinyl-the apogee duet 2? Is this hooked into your preamp, via tape loop? Where do the digital files go-do you have it going out to the Macbook Pro? Do you burn to CD?

The apogee duet2 is the adc, Analog to Digital converter.
It has analog inputs and basically is the messenger for the data to your computer. It hooks up via usb.
It is not the most expensive option but it is a mac only product and works quite well, with my battery power for it and eliminating the need for it to be powered by usb now, it is truly an overachiever.
It also has a pretty capable headphone amp, and that is how I do my monitoring to avoid any pollution of sound or noise from the speakers.
Then you have your program of choice doing the recording, on my mac I use amadeus. But honestly the program you use is one of the least important parts.

There are alot of ways to get battery power to your different components besides options specifically made by that particular manufacturer.
It just so happened that clearaudio made a battery power supply for the phono pre I chose, but the apogee I bought one from another manufacturer and I had one made for my turntable.
If you want to go down that route there are options. To be frank the changes that battery power supply make are amazing. It is not subtle at all to me or anyone else who has listened to my setup.

 

[doctorjazz]

As a Stereophile reader forever, I've read that before, I forget the specific component, but the battery option was said to make an incredible difference

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[SP00N]

Just to reiterate the common talking points.

1. Clean your records
2. Make sure your cartridge and turntable setup perfectly
3. Use the best Analog to Digital Converter you can. Forget the sound card and get a studio rack ADC
4. Expect it to be a hassle

I abandoned the whole pursuit at fewer than a hundred records and sold my ADC.

 

[sterling1]

For me, obstacles to success with digitizing vinyl have been  noise (solved with battery power to computer),  a noisy  Roxio ADC (replaced with a Creative Sound Blaster X-FI HD), separating tracks, and getting meta data for albums. In the time and outlay of money it took me to learn how to digitize effectively and efficently I realized I should have purchased a TASCAM 901sl CD Recorder. This would have allowed me to convert directly to CD, and create meta data, bypassing the computer.  Of course, then the finalized CD could just be inserted into the computer and sent to what ever library/file type desired. Doing it with a CD Recorder does not allow for clean-up of ticks and pops but it does get all the detail that your stylus has picked up. At any rate, many ways to skin the cat, none of which are as quick and easy as desired.

 

[doctorjazz]

It (Duet) actually is fairly inexpensive... Seen some on ebay for about $300, even have my iMac in the same room, though on the other side of a long room. Lots of cable would be necessary. Speaking with my computer geek friend, a good sound card for my PC could be about the same. Hmmmm.... I do have the hhb in the system, wish I could get it going.

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[doctorjazz]

The hhb would limit me to "red book", but that should be fine for my needs

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[doctorjazz]

Have to play with it some more. The Duet seems like a good alternative if I can't use the hhb and I can manage a long wire connection to the iMac


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[kcee]

It (Duet) actually is fairly inexpensive... Seen some on ebay for about $300, even have my iMac in the same room, though on the other side of a long room. Lots of cable would be necessary. Speaking with my computer geek friend, a good sound card for my PC could be about the same. Hmmmm.... I do have the hhb in the system, wish I could get it going.

Not sure if you mean the original duet or the duet2, the duet2 replaced the duet a few years ago. It is a much better product in most regards.
I am sure you could find the duet2 used, I did and saved some bucks on it.

I am a pc person by nature, do almost everything on a pc desktop except audio/video work. I just find it to be easier for me to work on a mac, whether it be the programs or hardware. I feel like my results are better and easier to come by. That's just me though.

If you want to work off a pc that's great, but don't get a pci card or any sound card which would reside inside the chassis of the pc. You are asking for noise issues.
I would recommend the rme babyface for a pc alternative to the duet2. It may even be a bit better in some regards.

Not sure what an hbb is, or it is slipping my mind right now.

 

[doctorjazz]

Of course, this all falls into what my teen daughter would call "First World Problems"

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