Hello everybody,

I have been following the forum for a while (I hope this is the most appropriate area...). I will immediately describe my setup. I have a Dell Precision 420 with dual 1GHz proc. 1500MB RDRAM (PC800) RAM, 4 SCSI HD in RAID5 configuration (for Win XP system) and a 80GB ATA drive as accessory drive. The MB is reported to be Intel 840 chipset.

Since it does not have anything more than USB 1.1 I have installed an Adaptec Duo Connect which gives me USB2.0 and Firewire.

What do I want:

1. I want to digitize a quite large collection of LPs from my father-in-law. I will borrow a turntable with a preamp from a partner of mine, but I will need to buy a good soundcard (probably external as that looks to be the most recommended in this forum).

2. I want to record material from my satellite receiver (either non-stop music from music channels or audio from tv-channels). The receiver has optical output (not coax unfortunately) besides the usual stereo audio output.

3. Least important, record from my tape deck various older tapes.

Questions:

- Do we all still agree that an external solution is giving the better quality (because of less interference, CPU usage, IRQ conflicts, etc.)?

- If we do go with the external solution, is Firewire or USB 2.0 better for my setup? Strictly by price, Firewire seems to be more expensive (better?) than USB2.0. Since my computer is not exactly the fastest available... I want to have as little CPU overhead as possible. Also I do not need to input multiple channels simultaneously. As far as output I am not sure yet. I know that I will not be listening from my computer speakers. I am not into gaming. I do have an old Sony Dolby ProLogic receiver that I will be using for a while.

I have looked into the M-Audio Audiophile (both USB and Firewire), but I think they only have coax digital input, so I would need to purchase a TOSLINK/coax adaptor. If I move up to an EMU type system (that do have an optical digital input) I am afraid that it gets a little too expensive (especially for the external ones) for what I really am going to be using. I am willing to pay up to $300-$350 for a device if it is going to give me the extra quality (even if I cannot tell the difference now). I am only going to do this once in my lifetime. I don't want to have to repeat it later...

Thank you for your help,

Vangelis

No.

I don't think the interface matters very much. You can get 24/96 recording in stereo on USB. Only the ADC in the card makes a difference.

Why would you be using any digital input? Do you mean output?

You can get the EMU 1212m for under $200. Some people at Head-Fi know where to go.

Why not get a turntable instead?

http://www.soundblaster.com/products/audigy2NX/

usb...24/96...>100db... $249.99 ,too bad it runs on creative software

Quote:"Why would you be using any digital input? Do you mean output?"
answer: to hook your derned tv cable box to your pc.my explorer 3250 scientific atlanta cable box runs digi output.would i need to run that to a digital input?

$249.99? I"ve seen that in Best Buy for about $100.00. While I'm sure that is just fine for recordings LPs, optimally it would probably need to be done at 48 or 96kHz. The 44.1 kHa sampling seems to have some problems natively on the Audigy 2 devices. But I am basing this on the cards .Maybe this device has corrected that 44.1 issue? The drawback is that high quality resampling to 44.1 in software later is rather time consuming.

-Chris

Vangelis,

Please delay your soundcard decision till you have assembled your turntable/preamp etc and collected the lps from your in-laws. Have a listen to a cross-section of lps....then decide on the quality of soundcard(assuming you get the functions you need).

I suggest you look for a 'quality' phono preamp sold in the mid-80s or build one yourself....diyaudio is a good source for homebrews.

I have a PIII dual tualatin and the speed is fine...after all one needs to listen for the anomalies that the software failed to correct!

Vinyl ripping is a great(albeit anti-social) hobby.


rhad
(Now ripping The Oscar Peterson Big 6)

PS: My soundcard is an internal RME

Rhadinocentrus,

Unfortunately I do not own the LP collection. This particular project is merely an attempt to backup my father-in-law's LPs. I am sure he would share the copies with me, but not the originals. Because it does not seem likely that I will own vinyl in the future, I am not planning in purchasing a turntable right now.

In any event my partners' equipment is reportedly top notch... He is an enthousiast. He will let me use it for as long as I need.

So, long term use would be digital (if possible) or analog recording from satellite feed. Also output for home theater (if I ever get around to put one together...)

Thanks
Vangelis

By home theatre, do you mean more than stereo? I don't think there are any very good cards with that. Get an E-MU 1212m or 0404m for recording.

Without an External sound card you will experience a 60hz humm.

Are you kidding ? Even the worse internal soundcard have no hum at all (SB64, for example). Here are the background noises of my Marian Marc 2 (internal) soundcard, fed by a DAT deck analog output, compared to the noise of the DAT deck input (Sony DTC-55ES), fed by a CD Player, both at 16 bits.
The internal PC soundcard has LESS noise that the semi-professional DAT deck !

Vangelis, do your father in law also lend you the phono preamp ? If not you'll have either to get one, either to get a soundcard capable of recording phono signals (The Terratec DMX 6Fire is the only one that can, if my memory is good).

Another problem might arise : If the line output of the phono preamp clips the soundcard input, you'll be in trouble making the dealer accept the card back, and in even bigger trouble finding any card that can record this signal without clipping ( see "analog soundcard line in clipping here : http://www.hydrogenaudio.org/forums/index....7516#entry74074 ). I don't know if the Terratec 6fire is subject to this problem.

i currently run three soundcards.A soundblaster live24,a Realtek ALC658 built into my main board,and an old riptide sound/rockwell modem combo.The reason for the riptide is i needed an audio riser card.using the riptide signed me up for audio inputs and outputs on the front of my pc tower.The sound blaster is unused and useless to me.I bought the sound blaster cause i heard that the realtek codec was trash.Now i have played with each one and tried all of them and explored all the options and settings each have.The sound blaster software bugs me for some reason.Realteks software is much better for the things i do.And having audio access on the face of my tower is just cool.Ive never used the riptide sound card,just its modem.in fact its only use is answering the phone.i also use its riser card to allow me to plug into the sound blaster and realtek from the front of my pc tower.all i use is the realtek.I use the other soundcards as extra adapter/plugs,to plug even more stuff into the realtek.I have my pc plugged into a fisher studio standard home stereo.it claims to have 100 watts RMS ,at no more than 0.0008 distortion output.on its backside,it says it draws 570 watts!Its been known to dim the lights.i have four ten inch woofers,two in two boxes.They are bracketed to the wall,and are both facing into a corner.The stereo has no center channel just front back left and right.So i mounted a four inch and a one inch jensen speaker to each of my four walls.I think your audio amplifier has a lot to do with how your audio ends up sounding.A good home stereo can make any sound card sound good.

Hi Pio,
long time since I've been around the forum...

I have been using my DMX 6fire for LP recording, and I would advise against it. The phono input is in reality just a mic input with software-driver-implemented RIAA filtering.

The high level high-frequencies (due to RIAA emphasis) would clip the input so that the overall recording level had to be lowered. The level after RIAA equalisation would be typically lower than -30dB.

Since the internal connection between the input bracket and the card is analog, and uses a hardly shielded IDE-like flatcable, there's some noise introduced there too. (My measurements used to be up here, but that was two years back - I believe the noise difference between the line-in on the card and the line-in on the bracket was about 6dB.)

In short: the ADC/DAC section is excellent, but the bracket comes at a dubious extra price.

I now use the line-in on the card with the phono-stage of my sony integrated amp. It saves time, I can set the gain higher before ADC, and it saves CPU cycles....

Have fun.

If Phono Input is a must, perhaps EMU 1820 and 1820m may suit your bill.