Recommendation needed for record player

[paulmer]

Looking for a good quality (in the range of 100-250 dollars) record player. Would be nice if it had a USB adapter so I could hook it up to my box and rip my vinyls to the pc but also a RCA out so I can listen to it threw my stereo. Any ideas?

 

[jimfitz]

You're looking for a what?

 

[MDS]

Best Buy sells inexpensive turntables for about $100 (AudioTechnica I think). It has a built-in phono preamp and dual RCA connectors. You don't need USB to record an album on the computer - you just plug that turntable straight into the sound card and record it.

 

[paulmer]

A friend told me that when he used Turntable -> USB -> box he archived higher quality than when he used Turntable -> RCA -> 1/8 -> line in (He used a Stanton T.90).

Can anyone comment on the accuracy to this claim?

 

[Haoleb]

You wont have good luck on turntable advice on this forum...

In that price range I would be looking at a used turntable. Rega, Music hall, etc. And a half decent used phono preamp.

Those USB turntables and the ones in best buy etc are pretty much peices of crap. There's no other way to put it.

Try Audiocircle.com, Audiokarma.com or Audioasylum.com with your question. You'll get replies with a little more info that "you want a what?!"

 

[Adam]

A friend told me that when he used Turntable -> USB -> box he archived higher quality than when he used Turntable -> RCA -> 1/8 -> line in (He used a Stanton T.90).

Can anyone comment on the accuracy to this claim?

That certainly might be the case, but it's likely a function of your friend's sound card and the turntable. Your results may vary from your friend's. I have an Audigy 2ZS and have had good results using the 1/8" input.

Those USB turntables and the ones in best buy etc are pretty much peices of crap. There's no other way to put it.

Here's my two cents. The beauty of Best Buy and other such places is...yep...their return policy. I would suggest trying one before you head off and try to find something used. The ones available at Best Buy might suit you just fine. If they don't, then you can return them and then try to find something better. I'm all about the easy, and I think heading to Best Buy or some other established chain is easier than finding someone that you can trust to sell you their old stuff. Again, just my two cents.

 

[MDS]

A friend told me that when he used Turntable -> USB -> box he archived higher quality than when he used Turntable -> RCA -> 1/8 -> line in (He used a Stanton T.90).

Can anyone comment on the accuracy to this claim?

Think about that claim for a moment...

USB is a serial communication protocol and therefore is digital. A record is analog. The analog signal from the stylus had to be converted to digital and sent to a digital input on the sound card. The only way it could be better is if the ADC built-in to the turntable were better than the ADC in the soundcard.

'Better' is of course entirely relative. If you are recording from a turntable or tape deck (both of which I have done), as long as you get a reasonably good signal to the sound card and you sample it at a high enough bitrate you will have a good result. Besides, you will still need to edit and clean up the recording before saving the result.

If the intention is to convert analog LPs to digital, just about any turntable will work and that is why I suggest the low cost stuff from Best Buy. Also, if that is really the intention then you MUST spend a few bucks for a decent audio editor, like Sound Forge. If you do not and attempt to use something like Windows Sound Recorder the result will be terrible regardless of whether you use the most expensive turntable on the planet.

 

[paulmer]

Also, obviously most turn tables have RCA..but, is it "common" to have a S/PDIF out?

I also don't use windows...I'd be doing this with audacity in linux.

 

[MDS]

Also, obviously most turn tables have RCA..but, is it "common" to have a S/PDIF out?

No, it is not common but anything is possible? If it does have an s/pdif output then it also has analog to digital converters on board and may well do better than using the analog connection to a sound card and letting the sound card do the sampling. All I'm saying is that it doesn't matter all that much. You will have to edit the recording no matter what.

 

[OttoMatic]

Wouldn't going directly out of the turntable into the PC (via analog) have some troubles because of the level of the signal and the lack of RIAA equalization? The few turntables that I've dealt with, and the many that I've read about, all require either a phono stage preamp, or a phono input on the receiver/integreted/preamp. Therefore, I would expect that going directly into a sound card in an effort to transfer vinyl to digital wouldn't yield a very good result. I think that's what might have happened to your friend.

It would be possible to apply the RIAA curve in software (after the music has been digitally sampled). Of course, you can also adjust levels in software, so perhaps it's possible to take care of these two issues after the fact. However, I'd presonally prefer that they be done in the analog domain, and that that recording occur at an appropriate input level.

If you have a receiver/preamp/whatever that has a phono input, and you are happy with its performance, you can take the output of that and go into your sound card's analog inputs. Then RIAA EQ and levels are both correct.

I do believe that some turntables have the phono stage and RIAA EQ built in, but I think they're not the type of thing you'd want in a normal system. If you're interested, though, you might be able to find them via Google.

The above posts are generally right about the USB stuff. I'd probably pass on that. The more bells and whistles on a turntable, the better (IMHO).

The above recommendations for TTs in this price range are good ones -- Rega, Music Hall, perhaps Thorens. You may also consider used and then replace the cartridge.

Good luck!

 

[fmw]

There are turntables available with phono preamps built in. Their purpose is actually to allow connection to a computer for dubbing records.

I dub records personally with a dedicated CD recorder on CD-RW. Then I rip the CD-RW to the computer hard drive and erase it for the next dub. My dubs sound exactly like the records did in the first place. The pro CD recorder has excellent ADC's.

I see no reason that you can't dub straight to hard drive as long as your ADC and software are up to the task. It is a time consuming task. I can tell you that.