Vinyl collection, now what?

@hleeid I am betting Bryston could take very good care of you in that area.

Hey cleeds, I know it's nit-picking but you posted;

I'm not familiar with that software and process, but I do agree that a carefully made digitized file is audibly indistinguishable from the original LP.

I'm sure you meant to type, a carefully made digitized file CAN BE indistinguishable from the original LP.  As any diehard turntable devotee knows there is always just a little more music/detail/resolution to be found in record grooves so absolutes are always dangerous.  Anyway, don't take this seriously, just having a bit of pedantic fun.

Hleeid, first let me apologize for the rest of them here. Vinyl lovers are by definition nice people but open minds are not a membership requirement. I am the world’s biggest vinyl lover, have been for decades. I am also in the process of (slowly) digitizing a massive record collection. Here I will try to answer your questions while trying to avoid criticizing or waging an analog versus digital war. First, USB is not a requirement for digitizing records but a turntable definitely is. They (USBs) can make the process simpler, more turnkey, but the ’job’ is getting signal from the record surface to the hard drive. Signal leaves the cart as an analog waveform, some equalization (RIAA) and gain (lots) are applied and off it goes to the rest of the sound system. Some of that analog signal can be sent to your computer and converted to bits and stored. The conversion from analog to digital usually happens as a function of the computers sound card. USB tables will do the A/D conversion before shipping the signal to the computer but the process is roughly the same. What I am getting at is that this can be as simple as you like or as complicated as a professional recording session. All up to you. I use pro software like Sound Forge but there are lots of apps available at any price from free to $$$$ that will handle the job for you. Some are quite automated. Try to get as good a table as you can justify, if you get something other than USB you are making a commitment to analog sound reproduction that you are probably unwilling to make. My guess is you plan is to play the LP once to digitize it and then never look at it again? This is where the quality of the playback comes in. A totally faithful recording of someone farting will still stink, meaning you can’t improve poor sound by recording it well. One other point to consider long and hard, all of this occurs in real time. The is no 52X for analog. You can’t automate the process with robots. You can’t go for groceries while it finishes. In short it’s a labor of love and if you don’t love vinyl and the magic that analog brings to audio don’t bother. Decide which LPs are of greatest interest to you and go find digital copies (CD or hi-def download). Less effort and probably superior sound to the majority of DIY conversions. Also don’t let the naysayers discourage you. My digital conversions are probably done at a higher sample rate than used for many of their vinyl reissues. If it sounds like I am encouraging you to digitize the records while also saying don’t, in a way I am. Decide for yourself if you want to make the effort. It’s fun and educational and the results can be surprisingly good but it is also a long slow process so be forewarned. Definitely do not be dissuaded just because somebody shouts ’digital sucks’ in all caps.

For the record :)

VPI Classic w/VTA tower (no! not a Classic II, a special order Classic from before the II actually existed) + Falcon PSU/RoadRunner

Soundsmith Zephyr Star

Moon 310LP/320S

Bel Canto Pre1

Lynx Audio E22 sound card

Sound Forge Pro

No dedicated CD player for music, ever!

Small beer compared to many of the rigs discussed on Audiogon but as a blue-collar system that started out with nothing it has done quite well for itself.

@ lalitk

Thanks, yes I really enjoy it and don't worry at all about what might be better.  Sounds like you are putting something special together.  The Shindo sounds intriguing, I often consider a tubed front end and would definitely look at that unit.  I have friends who love their Hana's and for now the price/value ratio is incredible.  I have used AT products for years and have always trusted them.  Kiseki is the one product you mentioned that I have no personal experience with but if reviews and comments are reliable their reputation is well deserved.  I would recommend checking the Soundsmith line but you can't trust me, I am very biased :)  If, however the Kiseki is a serious contender check the Zephyr Star.  The list price is less than the Blue, output is comparable to the 9 or Blue with bandwidth and separation at least equal to any of the others.  I have owned carts from Shure, Stanton, Empire, Grace, Fidelity Research, Grado (cheapos and Siggys), Otofon, Audio Technica, Dynavector (loved them all), Denon, Sumiko and Soundsmith plus whatever else I have forgotten. I have also listened to a host of other brands on friends and dealers systems.  I would love to have a brand new Grace F9e to try in my current rig for curiosity sake but as for the rest I would only bother if someone else set up the entire comparison against the Zephyr.

@mijostyn No doubt the Clearaudio would be lovely.  I used one of their phono pre-amps for years and was quite happy.  I mentioned Bryston since @cleeid is using Bryston now.  I have been archiving my collection for years, mostly 24/192 and some 24/96 and I agree, to me they are basically indistinguishable but if someone told me they heard differences I wouldn't automatically assume they couldn't.  I recently got new speakers so think I might have to go PC and say 'virtually indistinguishable' for a while.  One comment, well made transfers seem very revealing of any setup errors but this is probably a psychoacoustical phenomena rather than an actual 'difference'.