Are you recording your vinyl?


The vinyl vs. digital debates go on ad nauseum. These debates almost always concern the question of commercial recordings on digital media vs. vinyl.

Another aspect of the question narrows the topic to only what digital recording & playback (as opposed to mastering, etc.) is capable of: that is, the context of recording one's vinyl digitally and playing it back.

My question for those who are doing this is: Is the quality of the digital reproduction indistinguishable or close enough that you keep your vinyl setup only for archiving? And, either way, what analog and digital equipment are you using?

I know of one regular member here that uses a Korg to make DSD recordings who says that they are in fact indistinguishable from the vinyl playback. Another prolific poster here & elsewhere (with very expensive equipment) claims that not even 2x DSD recording can fully capture the vinyl experience.

My own experience is confined to using a Masterlink recorder to make recordings of my vinyl setup at 24/96 a couple years ago, and playing them back on my Audio Note DAC which was capable of only 18/48 playback. Those recordings were very good (free from all the common "digititus" and thus better than a great many professional RBCD recordings) but it was relatively easy to tell them from the "real thing" (at least once I knew what to listen for).

What are your experiences?
paulfolbrecht
Ghasley,
What are you using as output protocol from your Mac Mini to your MPD-3?
T Bone, if by protocol, you mean interface, I use a USB cable to connect directly to the Playback Designs MPD-3.
Thanks Ghasley,
I am somewhat surprised that USB can carry DSD. I assume there is a memory buffer of some sort in the MPD-3.
Recording vinyl defeats the whole purpose of it in the first place. If I can't listen to the vinyl version because I don't have the time or am in the car, I don't want to play it in a more portable, but less listenable format. What's the point?

Yes I use an iPod on airplanes, but I listen to content I have on CDs.