Choosing the ‘correct’ workflow to import vinyl/minimising signal loss, Moved from Audio Hardware Options

[shmick23]

hi,

i'm predominantly versed in the field of photographic film capture and digitised images. But when it comes to a workflow for vinyl audio importation, i would really appreciate some advice.

i already have a workflow, but i would like to improve it (hence it will cost more money, always a compromise).

currently i have a TT with reasonable stylus (20-22kHz freq. response), reasonable phono stage (20-20kHz), good RCA interconnects but an average sound card with 'claimed' 24/96 IO which does not have RCA inputs.

i want to upgrade my vinyl source one day to something that supports 20-30kHz, and then match a phono stage and finally a sound card...

what are the best practices when selecting a sound card, or destination device to capture this analog source given my setup requirements?

which inputs produce less noise in an electrical sense - USB based, PCI sound cards, RCA inputs, TDM sync buses, particular product brands, amount of money spent, etc ?

IE. what is the most appropriate method of importing vinyl by losing the least amount of signal information at the destination ?

the only sense i could make of all these workflow questions is to match all components relatively, ie. price, specs. I don't know which audio companies/manufacturers are highly rated without spending a lifetime reviewing brochures and white papers...

i would appreciate some advice.

[shmick23]

thanks christopher, i very much appreciate the analogy of the engineer and single-use-playback - how i wish this could be possible in my lifetime ;-)

i hope for your sake this was a copy and paste - otherwise thank for the mass of information and time spent on writing

i will go through some of the brand recommendations & some very useful facts i neither knew of nor considered

thanks clive for the follow-up too - certainly noted regarding clean vinyl - although i must admit i don't have a vacuum machine, only spray and cloth. When i record, I do a spray and brush off the stylus in the opposing direction to playback each LP

i just don't have the knowledge to comment whether recording at higher/lower bit rates will make a discernible listening difference - it may be just one of those arguements for hearing the difference BTW a $10k or $50k setup

(i wish could afford either) ;-)

thank you again