Digitised vinyl sound

tino

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Sep 29, 2011
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Digitsed vinyl soundHave those of you with rather posh turntables tried digitally sampling your turntable's output through a decent phono stage + A/D converter and if so how did the end result sound? Better, worse or just plain different?I have recorded some music from LPs and singles recently and find the quality was very good albeit I used £80 worth of equipment to perform the conversion from my 15 year old Linn Axis. For those well records that didn't need much or any cleaning up by sofware, the result was very good IMHO, especially 45RPM 12 inch singles. I would say the result was almost comparable to the turntable played directly, retaining the same "analogue qualities" of the original source, including similar levels of background/surface noise that equivalent direct digital sources don't seem to have. Where some cleanup was required due to scratches or clicks the post processing flattens the dynamics a bit, and filters off higher frequencies, so it sounds a bit softer and lacking attack.On balance I am pleased with the result and it allows me to carry on enjoying my records (which I still keep) now that I no longer have a turntable.

Have those of you with rather posh turntables tried digitally sampling your turntable's output through a decent phono stage + decent A/D converter and if so how did the end result sound when played back through your system? Better, worse or just plain different?

I have recorded my collection of LPs and singles recently and find the quality was very good albeit I used £80 worth of equipment to perform the conversion off my 15 year old Linn Axis. For those well records that didn't need much or any cleaning up by sofware, the result was very good IMHO, especially 45RPM 12 inch singles. I would say the result was almost comparable to the turntable played directly, retaining the same "analogue qualities" of the original source, less bright and including similar levels of background/surface noise that equivalent direct digital sources don't seem to have. Where some cleanup was required due to scratches or clicks the post processing flattens the dynamics a bit, and filters off higher frequencies, so it sounds a bit softer and lacking attack.

On balance I am pleased with the result and it allows me to carry on enjoying my records (which I still keep) now that I no longer have a turntable.
 

MajorFubar

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I wouldn't say I have premium equipment so I'm probably not one of the people you were aiming the question at, but yes, I have in the past made vinyl->CD transfers which are in my opinion better than than the commercially-available CD of the same album.
 

tino

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MajorFubar said:
I wouldn't say I have premium equipment so I'm probably not one of the people you were aiming the question at, but yes, I have in the past made vinyl->CD transfers which are in my opinion better than than the commercially-available CD of the same album.

Thanks .. that what I was trying to get at ... with relatively modest equipment it's possible to get the "better than CD quality" (I mean that in the sense that people prefer the sound of their turntable). So the results from digitising a good "premium" analogue source through some decent sampling equipment should be quite impressive. Best of both worlds .. buy and play vinyl for when the mood takes you, then play the format shifted digital equivalent for when you prefer the convenience of a digital setup but the same or similar characertistic of the original turntable.
 

Electro

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I don't know if this counts but I have recorded some of my vinyl to Cdr using my Linn LP12 and an old Philips CDR 760 which is actually a very good machine and the Cdr copies sound exactly the same as playing the original LP .

I have tried it blindfolded with someone else switching between the Cdr copy and LP and I cannot hear any difference at all and nor can anyone else who has listened .

You can look in my signature for details of my analogue equipment :)
 

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