[pdupiano]

I came across the PP3 the other day as a means of converting LP's into cds, I was thinking about getting it to upgrade from the Nad pp2 but I figure I don't have enough LP's to convert. And for the most part the only LP's I have are of CDs I own that I wanted to hear through my cheap turntable set up.

 

[jpelg]

Quote:

Originally Posted by pdupiano /img/forum/go_quote.gif I came across the PP3 the other day as a means of converting LP's into cds

I've been looking at the PP-3 as well. With both MM & MC inputs, and analog & USB-digital outputs, it seems like a decent (read: reasonably inexpensive, ok match for my TT & planned cartridge) way to go. Until I read hearjam's post, that is...

Can USB handle 96/24 output? Is this also dependent on the recording software?

Can hi-rez recordings be burned to DVD?

TIA.

 

[flashnolan]

The Hearing Test results are in. If you would like to see them visit this thread: here

Everyone did very well and I want to again thank everyone for their participation.

 

[hearjam]

Quote:

Originally Posted by jpelg /img/forum/go_quote.gif I've been looking at the PP-3 as well. With both MM & MC inputs, and analog & USB-digital outputs, it seems like a decent (read: reasonably inexpensive, ok match for my TT & planned cartridge) way to go. Until I read hearjam's post, that is... Can USB handle 96/24 output? Is this also dependent on the recording software? Can hi-rez recordings be burned to DVD? TIA.

NAD electronics have always had a very good reputation for analog music reproduction and I'm sure that this unit is no exception - although I have not heard or used it.

The digital section however appears to be somewhat limited in that the sampling rate is quoted as:

"The A/D converter has a sampling frequency of 48kHz for USB compatibility"

The specs section does not give any further details as to whether the A/D converter supports 24-bit sampling so I assume it is limited to 16-bits -> it appears that it does NOT support 96/24-bit digitizing.

There are other USB devices (< $100) that will do 96/24 sampling like the Edirol UA-1EX [which requires a separate phono amplifier like the NAD PP2] or the ART USB Phono Plus V2 [which has the phono amp built-in] - check the Sweetwater site or Google for details.

How you proceed depends on your budget and the type of turntable and cartridge you plan to use.

Hi-res 96/24 WAV files can obviously be burned to DVD as data files [for storage] or burned to DVD-A discs [for playback on a DVD-A capable player]

If you are planning to burn your hi-res files (96/24 or 192/24) to DVD-A discs you will need software to do this - I have used Cirlinca DVD-Audio Solo [PC only] and it works well but the interface is a bit 'techie'. You can get a free trial version of this from their website to give it a test spin. The DVD-A discs play nicely on a standard universal player like the OPPPO's.

BTW: You should download the free Audacity audio editor for use with your audio interface - there is a version for Mac/PC/Linux and it works nicely for cleaning up your digitized files.

Let me know if you need any further advice.

Regards, Hearjam

 

[jpelg]

Wow, that's perfect - exactly the advice/direction I needed.

Thanks, hearjam!

 

[cat6man]

first of all, thank you all for setting this up.......i really enjoyed myself
and realized that i should have budgeted more time than 2 hours....next year
i'll plan on at least a half day...........i'm getting ready to go on vacation so finally have some time to organize my thoughts (at least a bit)

the willingness of everyone to share equipment, advice, feedback is a real joy to see, as is the obvious love of good music and sound..........glad i've others some found you folks!

lots of very good sound all around though i didn't get a chance to hear everything that some others thought very highly of, so this is a more selective
summary than in retrospect i would have wished for..........onwards

best sound that i heard was the balanced hd800 with b52 amp.........awesome and perhaps the best dynamic phone setup i've ever listened to (caveat: i'm not
a dynamic phone fan as i'm totally biased to electrostatics, living with stax lambda pros, stax tube driver balanced input from wadia 27ix DAC).......however, the hd800/b52 setup had a clarity that satisfied this stax fan and had wonderful bass as well.........imaging was wide and deep and complex, sometime murky mixes (e.g. freddy king's 'palace of the king') were amazingly open sounding..............wow, this brought a smile to my face and completely dispelled my initial thoughts that while i would hear lots of great sounds, nothing would blow me away...........this rig did!

the same hd800 used on other rigs was nowhere near as satisfying so clearly there was some cool synergy with the b52 amp.........great mojo together.......meridian source could have contributed to the great sound also in the b52 rig

electrostatics on a woo amp (forget the specifics, took no notes) was my 2nd favorite (no surprise for an 'electrostatic bigot').........makes me wonder how much better my stax could sound with a better tube front end........hmmm

enjoyed the audio testing and finding out that my hearing threshold was around 5-10c for pitch and 0.5-1.0db for amplitude...................while the open headphones and noisy room made it a bit difficult to focus at times, i don't think i could have done much better under perfectly soundproof conditions

thanks again everyone

 

[vcoheda]

forgot who recommended this CD to me, but it is totally awesome and the sound quality is great. thanks.