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Vinyl to CD, cheap A-D converter?

 
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draganm




Joined: 08 Mar 2006
Posts: 8990
Location: Colorado


PostLink    Posted: Wed Aug 20, 2014 12:05 am    Post subject: Vinyl to CD, cheap A-D converter? Reply with quote


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I have friends asking me to burn their old Vinyl records to CD, kinda rare off the beaten path stuff like Julie London. I would be willing to spend a little and maybe even burn some stuff to play in my car.
any suggestions? the "audiophile" stuff seems stupidly expensive.


Last edited by draganm on Wed Aug 20, 2014 4:35 pm; edited 1 time in total
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RayN999




Joined: 25 May 2010
Posts: 207
Location: Minneapolis, MN

TV/Projector: Sony VPL-VW60 and Toshiba 65H84 CRT RPTV


PostLink    Posted: Wed Aug 20, 2014 12:40 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I've heard good things about the Behringer UFO202 interface, has a built in phono amp that's switchable so it can be used as a line input as well. And a quick search on Amazon shows that it is pretty reasonable.

If you're looking for a step above that, Pro-Ject has a Phono Box phono preamp that has a usb interface as well. I ran one of those for a couple years on a receiver that didn't have a built-in phono section. That's a little more expensive, I got mine off MusicDirect for $199.

Ray

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draganm




Joined: 08 Mar 2006
Posts: 8990
Location: Colorado


PostLink    Posted: Wed Aug 20, 2014 4:45 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

sweet, for 29 bucks it sounds like exactly what I need and it's made in Germany, can't beat that. I think it's interesting you can go directly from your TT or switch it and come from a phono pre-amp or other source at line level. I don't see a manual switch on it though so I'm guessing it's a software toggle?
Love this part too

Quote:
Audacity vinyl restoration, noise-reduction, editing and recording software plus comprehensive podcasting software available for free at behringer.com.The UFO202 is easy to use and comes with a bevy of professional software that not only converts your favorite recordings into files on your computer, but also removes those annoying scratches and pops so common to vinyl media.
Um ok, or you can clean your f*ck*** records Surprised

does anyone know how many albums fit on a CD? Figure 40 minutes for one side of an LP
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macgyver655




Joined: 22 Aug 2007
Posts: 8508



PostLink    Posted: Wed Aug 20, 2014 5:24 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

..

Last edited by macgyver655 on Wed Aug 20, 2014 5:27 pm; edited 1 time in total
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ecrabb
Forum Moderator



Joined: 13 Mar 2006
Posts: 15909
Location: Utah

TV/Projector: JVC RS40, Epson 5010


PostLink    Posted: Wed Aug 20, 2014 5:25 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Wow, the UFO202 is really inexpensive! $30 on Sweetwater!

Behringer is entry-level quality-wise. Yeah, it says it's "designed in Germany", but it's plastic Made in China stuff through and through. Curt's talked about them before. Plastic everything (even their amp faceplates), and supposedly they've stolen designs and manufactured them. Might be fine for this application, though.

Thing is, I can't imagine a combo phono preamp w/USB A-D converter will get you the best of either (unless of course you spend a lot of money.) Drags, don't you have a good TT preamp now? If so, just get a good USB A-D converter. That way, the options are endless, and very reasonably-priced. A Lexicon Alpha or ART USB Mix is only about double. You'd just need some RCA-1/4" adapters.

A standard CD/CD-R is 74 minutes (or 650MB), enough for most LPs. With the right CD burner and the right CD-R authoring software and media, you can push that out to 80 or in some cases, even 90 minutes, but not without some "finagling".

Not particularly nice or helpful, Mac.

SC
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macgyver655




Joined: 22 Aug 2007
Posts: 8508



PostLink    Posted: Wed Aug 20, 2014 5:28 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

ecrabb wrote:

Not particularly nice or helpful, Mac.

SC


Yeah, I deleted it. I was a little cranked up after reading some of his other posts. All gone. Smile
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macgyver655




Joined: 22 Aug 2007
Posts: 8508



PostLink    Posted: Wed Aug 20, 2014 5:30 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

ecrabb wrote:


A standard CD/CD-R is 74 minutes (or 650MB), enough for most LPs. With the right CD burner and the right CD-R authoring software and media, you can push that out to 80 or in some cases, even 90 minutes, but not without some "finagling".



SC


Depends on what format he transfers them into. Hence my comment.
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ecrabb
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Joined: 13 Mar 2006
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TV/Projector: JVC RS40, Epson 5010


PostLink    Posted: Wed Aug 20, 2014 5:45 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

macgyver655 wrote:
ecrabb wrote:


A standard CD/CD-R is 74 minutes (or 650MB), enough for most LPs. With the right CD burner and the right CD-R authoring software and media, you can push that out to 80 or in some cases, even 90 minutes, but not without some "finagling".



SC


Depends on what format he transfers them into. Hence my comment.


True. I was assuming he wanted audio CDs to play in any CD player since he mentioned his car, and since it's impossible to say what his friends' and neighbors' players would support, that would be the safest high-quality option.

For others' benefits, my earlier comment referred to Red Book CD, 44.1khz/16-bit, aka typical Audio CD.

If you encoded to Apple Lossless or FLAC at 16/44 (CD quality), you can get a typical CDs 600MB or so of data down to around half that.

If you encode to AAC or MP3 (lossy, not technically CD quality), you can get a lot more than a typical album on a CD; probably 10 albums' worth, depending on chosen bit-rate.

On the other hand, if you capture at higher resolution like 24-bit/96khz, and encode lossless to FLAC or Apple Lossless, then you're probably talking around to a gigabyte per album (give or take). In that case, a single album won't fit on a CD at all, so you'll need to store them on flash drives or hard drives.

Cheers,
SC
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draganm




Joined: 08 Mar 2006
Posts: 8990
Location: Colorado


PostLink    Posted: Thu Aug 21, 2014 4:49 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

ecrabb wrote:
Wow, the UFO202 is really inexpensive! $30 on Sweetwater!

Behringer is entry-level quality-wise. Yeah, it says it's "designed in Germany", but it's plastic Made in China stuff through and through. Curt's talked about them before. Plastic everything (even their amp faceplates), and supposedly they've stolen designs and manufactured them. Might be fine for this application, though.

Thing is, I can't imagine a combo phono preamp w/USB A-D converter will get you the best of either (unless of course you spend a lot of money.) Drags, don't you have a good TT preamp now? If so, just get a good USB A-D converter. That way, the options are endless, and very reasonably-priced. A Lexicon Alpha or ART USB Mix is only about double. You'd just need some RCA-1/4" adapters.
SC
thanks, good to know, reading the reviews people seem ot be saying it's total garbage. Yes I have a pretty nice Bellari phono pre so I don't need something with phono RIAA equalization (I'm guessing that's what the UFO is doing?). I want simple though, I want RCA jacks, not microphone jacks, and want simple software (that will create an audio file) I can install on my HTPC (now gathering dust thanks to Apple TV -failed streaming experiment). This is to burn standard red book CD, no point in trying for fancy 96Khz files since I don't have a BD burner.
As usual, it seems like the options are totally cheap crap or expensive stuff with not much in between. here's one for 15 bucks
http://www.amazon.com/Technical-Pro-USB2RCA-Digital-Converter/dp/B00COS1410/ref=sr_1_5?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=undefined&sr=1-5&keywords=analog+RCA+input+to+digital+USB+converter+-toslink
Another idea, would it be cheaper to just get card for the HTPC, one that will work in an older PCI slot/windows XP . I mean I'm trying to get to the computer anyway, why not just skip the plastic dongle and plug the phon-pre RCA jacks directly into the PC.
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draganm




Joined: 08 Mar 2006
Posts: 8990
Location: Colorado


PostLink    Posted: Thu Aug 21, 2014 5:11 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

hmm?, kinda liking this. Direct from line in to PC audio card which I already have. $75. shipped

http://www.dak.com/reviews/2020pics.cfm
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Jeremy112




Joined: 28 Sep 2006
Posts: 2645
Location: Fond du Lac, WI


PostLink    Posted: Thu Aug 21, 2014 7:38 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Why not just use an RCA to 3.5mm jack and run the turntable into the "Line in" on the PC? Use a program of your choice to rip it into the format you want, burn it to CD and you're done...

Do it all the time, no issues whatsoever, and it cost me $3 for a cable Razz

Edit: Left out the part where you do: Turntable to preamp to line in on PC (need the preamp of course, and im sure you have one that you like to use with your TT) Wink

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draganm




Joined: 08 Mar 2006
Posts: 8990
Location: Colorado


PostLink    Posted: Thu Aug 21, 2014 8:27 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Jeremy112 wrote:
Why not just use an RCA to 3.5mm jack and run the turntable into the "Line in" on the PC? Use a program of your choice to rip it into the format you want, burn it to CD and you're done...

Do it all the time, no issues whatsoever, and it cost me $3 for a cable Razz

Edit: Left out the part where you do: Turntable to preamp to line in on PC (need the preamp of course, and I'm sure you have one that you like to use with your TT) Wink
LOL, just stumbled across a you tube video showing how to do just that.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oDPoA9KOfeg
Surprised I had no idea it was this simple, well for computer people simple, I'm sure I'll punch the keyboard at least once . I wonder what the quality is like though? The guys talks about MP3 which is not as good as even lowly CD.
He's also using the Microphone-in on a laptop. I'm going to guess there's a better way of doing this by using the line-in on a dedicated Audio card?
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Jeremy112




Joined: 28 Sep 2006
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Location: Fond du Lac, WI


PostLink    Posted: Thu Aug 21, 2014 9:37 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Use the dedicated line in from the preamp out of your preamplifier, he's probably using MP3 because its the most popular and easiest format to use. You can encode it to whatever you and your program want it to. It SHOULD sound as good as what you hear from your preamp to amp normally, you're just injecting the same analog signal into the PC Wink

A microphone is a poor way to rip the audio, just do the direct line in and it will be fine.

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draganm




Joined: 08 Mar 2006
Posts: 8990
Location: Colorado


PostLink    Posted: Mon Jan 19, 2015 7:21 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Jeremy112 wrote:
Use the dedicated line in from the preamp out of your preamplifier, he's probably using MP3 because its the most popular and easiest format to use. You can encode it to whatever you and your program want it to. It SHOULD sound as good as what you hear from your preamp to amp normally, you're just injecting the same analog signal into the PC Wink

A microphone is a poor way to rip the audio, just do the direct line in and it will be fine.

Can someone who isn't a total computer retard (like me) please help. Sad
I have this cable running from my Receiver "out" RCA jacks to either the pink "Mic IN" or blue "line in" on my PC audio card. When I plug the jack into the PC the software registers some kind of electronic "blip" but there is no music waveform (I am not getting a signal from from the Receiver). I'm using the Red and White RCA jacks and letting the yellow hang loose, wrong cable?

last but not least, does a 96KHz sample rate deliver a noticeable better quality than 44khz? Any difference between burning a CD file over MP3? I'm using the free Audacity software

Do I need to buy a cable with TS connectors instead of the TRRS below?

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ecrabb
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PostLink    Posted: Mon Jan 19, 2015 10:09 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

draganm wrote:
Can someone who isn't a total computer retard (like me) please help. Sad
I have this cable running from my Receiver "out" RCA jacks to either the pink "Mic IN" or blue "line in" on my PC audio card. When I plug the jack into the PC the software registers some kind of electronic "blip" but there is no music waveform (I am not getting a signal from from the Receiver). I'm using the Red and White RCA jacks and letting the yellow hang loose, wrong cable?

The cable you're using isn't ideal, but it should work fine assuming it's not defective.

You should use the blue "line in" jack on the PC.

Personally, I find Windows' audio support an unintuitive mess, so I'm not surprised you're having trouble - especially if there are any third-party audio drivers involved. There are several things that could be wrong, and it's usually a pain in the ass to sort it out. First, I'd poke around in Windows control panels and look for any gain settings... Both line and mic inputs could be muted or the gain turned all the way down in the Sound control panel. If you can't find anything or the settings look fine, then I'd try a different source with the same cable... If you have a CD player, hook that cable up the CD line out to eliminate a non-functional line output on the receiver (maybe it's broken, or maybe it doesn't work with the phono input; you could try another source like FM).

Basically, you have the receiver, the cable, the sound card, and the software that controls the sound card in Windows. Try to eliminate where the fault lies.

draganm wrote:
last but not least, does a 96KHz sample rate deliver a noticeable better quality than 44khz? Any difference between burning a CD file over MP3? I'm using the free Audacity software

Unless you need to apply EQ or do some boosting or something, no - there's no reason to capture at anything other than 16-bit, 44khz with vinyl and a consumer sound card. Capturing at 16/44 will require no processing or resampling to either burn to a CD or save to a file for playback.

As for CD vs. MP3, it depends on the application. If you're taking them to listen to in the car, MP3 is fine - especially if you have an MP3-capable car stereo. You can get lots of albums' worth of music on a single CD that way. Just don't use 128 or 160kbps. 320kbs MP3 is fine.

If fidelity is important, then I'd skip MP3 and use FLAC or Apple Lossless. Both are usually about half the size of WAV, but identical to CD in terms of sound quality. Both support metadata (artist, title, cover art, etc.).

SC
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draganm




Joined: 08 Mar 2006
Posts: 8990
Location: Colorado


PostLink    Posted: Sat Jul 15, 2017 10:37 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

so after 3 years, and replacing the computer I finally tackled this again. Same problem, no signal from Phono pre-amp/Denon AVR/ PC.

Really drove myself crazy until I bypassed the AVR, Denon 3805, and whoila, the PC was seeing the signal just fine.

No f*cking idea what is going on here, I was using the "tape-loop" on the denon, which should have been a straight forward in/out. I went thru the instructions over and over, could not get it to work, although the interface and instructions are pure sh*t.

Eventually by going straight phon-pre to PC I was able to record even if I couldn't listen at the same time.

at any rate, by 2AM I had the whole album playing back thru media player. What a nightmare though Sad

anyone else playing around with this? Thinking about making some mixes for my car
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