Hi, Great forum that's been invaluable to me over the last couple of years so a big thanks to all the contributers.

I've been converting some vinyl to digital and would like 2nd opinions on which vinyl sample sounds the best? One is a Grado Prestige Black and one is the standard Technics cart on a SL-QD33 table. The Technics sample is from a 256k MP3 master, while the Grado sample is from a 44.1khz/24bit master.

Any general comments and observations on any aspect of the audio would be much appreciated as I need to pick one to go forward with.

I've inlcuded a third sample from the CD as a comparison.

Many thanks in advance,
AudioApprentice

Errr.... sorry?? Are you implying that you have a Vinyl disc that was recorded *from* an MP3?
Or you mean you recorded first to mp3, and then transcoded it again?

Yeah the second one. It is my master copy of the vinyl recorded with the Technics cart. I recorded it to wav a while ago and encoded to mp3 to save disc space. I just decoded it to wav to post here.

Bit off topic, but I know that this vinyl: http://www.discogs.com/release/618396 (the A side at least) is sourced from an MP3. Tut tut.

Well, it sounds to me that the Technics one is closer to the CD master than the Grado one, but the stereo imaging isn't similar to CD on any of these. Bass synth is almost mono on vinyl, while on CD is clearly more on the left.
I would go with the CD version

comparing with the digital copy i'd say the technics clip comes closer to it, as it retains more of the high frequencies - grado sounds duller in comparison. subjectively i prefer the technics even over the cd, because the balance tilts a lot more towards the highs on the latter (technics has more bass & less highs which i happen to prefer at least in this case). the slight flanging on the starting snareroll in the technics clip is probably no fault of the technics cart.

Cheers for the replies. I too prefer the bog standard Technics cart that came with the table over the Grado Black. I bought the Grado on the basis of consistent stellar reviews for this budget cart but for whatever reason it just sounds dull on my table (I didn't have much choice as the table is a P-mount unit).

The degree of dullness varies according to record (the Icehouse clip being the dullest) but is always significantly duller. As I have done 200 records using the Grado, is the dullness fixable by EQ?

Maybe my ears are too used to the brightness of CD.

UPDATE:
I found that EQing the Grado transfers didn't work out very well. The curve that worked great on one track didn't do so well on others so automating was impossible. In the end I decided to redo the transfers with the Technics cart as it was closer to the (non-remastered) CD versions of the albums that I have on both CD and LP. I began to like the sound of the Grado (sounded more balanced after a while) so will keep the Grado transfers too.

Lesson learned? Get the sound you want before doing the transfer.