Digitizing Vinyl; Suggestions Please


I’m moving out of country and will be selling my vinyl, about 300 discs
So I want to digitize them, then sell them prior to leaving the US .....

TT-Arm-Cart: VPI Scoutmaster II, VPI JMW 10.5i tonearm, Classic 3 Headshell, Ortofon Quintet MC Black
Phono cable: Furutech Ag 12, 1.2m ----> into a
Phono PreAmp: Manley Chinook Phono (4 Tubes) --> into
----> Shunyata Zitron Cobra ICs. ----> Aesthetix Calypso - (4 tubes).

I don’t own/run any recording software on my Mac at home since I live off-grid with no wifi or cell.
Ive always wanted to use the Pure Vinyl Vinyl App to record, but I don’t want to invest in it now.
I guess I do have JRiver, but really haven't used it since my computer was stolen 6 mo ago. 

I’m just looking for a simple and easy way to digitize . That said, I have a Sony PCM D100 portable audio recorder that also has an ADC. The ADC recording is a bit flat to my ears, so I want to make sure it records some of the tube qualities that I like- rich tones, ripe bass, airy top end.

Right now Im experimenting with using the Sony to record. Ive tried two methods so far to check for SQ.
1. Recording right out of the Chinook Phono Pre with an IC having 2 RCA terminations on one end and 1/8’ term on other end.
2. Allowing the signal to run into the Calypso PreAmp, then recording out of the "Tape Out"

--> The 1/8" end plugs into the Sony. Records in 2.8 DSD and 24/192 and its derivatives
The 2 RCA- 1/8" IC was made by Belkin. It is good, but not up to par with the VPI and Chinook.

So I decided to buy the Nordost Heimdall 2 likable IC in the same configuration.
It was a ridiculous price, but it appears head and shoulders above the competition.

Any suggestions so far?

Last, Im looking for an audio editing App mainly to cut up the songs, add track marks and song names, maybe take some distortion out if I can, If it is relatively easy to correct.

E.g. the SQ from my 2 different recording methods above are slightly different.
There is actually more "vinyl hiss distortion" when recording out of the Chinook than the Calypso.
But recording out of the Calypso covers up the hiss with a sound that is tube-like,
but not always better than recording right out of the Chinook. Following me??? LOL>

Ok, thanks for your input!


128x1281graber2

Showing 3 responses by tkr

A word of caution:

Dgitizing vinyl takes waaay longer than you think. 300 LPs- lets say 45 minutes of music each- that´s 225 hours of music.

A good estimate is that one hour of digitised vinyl takes two hours to get right. Even if you don´t do any declicking, you might want to normalise levels, and at the least you have to divide every LP-side into individual songs and give them a title.

Your project is probably going to take you around 450 hours. Maybe you would be better off selling your LPs and buy the same music on CD.


@1graber2

1) I digitize my LPs through a Metric Halo ULN 8 pro soundcard at 24/96, and use Audacity as DAW.
2) Workflow: I always clean my LPs before digitizing. IMO this is not optional, but an absolute necessity. After digitizing I usually normalise the recordings to -1 dB, each track independently. I don`t declick, as I never liked the results. After adding metadata, I save them as 24/96 rips to harddisk. (BTW, a 24/96 file takes a LOT of space!)


@1graber2
Re: Metric Halo ULN 8
This might be a little OT here in the analog forum, but why don`t you simply buy the MH ULN 8 and sell your other stuff instead? The conversion is great, and I use mine as DAC/ADC/Pre, among other things. It has headphone outs as well, so all you would need is a set of active speakers and a Mac.