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    Pure Vinyl Club

    By Pure Vinyl Club •

    Digital Vinyl: An Introduction

    Editor's Note: This is the first article in CA's new "Digital Vinyl" series. The upcoming topics include dynamic range, loudness wars, high resolution digital, disadvantages of vinyl and myths, clocks and sample rates, mechanical reflections in vinyl and reconstruction of the digital signal in real time, among others. This series will focus on both digital and analog audio, in addition each article will include terrific audio samples from Igor's project. What follows is an introduction of the series' author. I think you'll find both Igor and the series refreshing. - CC

     

    First of all I want to thank Chris, that he decided to open a new regular column on the subject, which can cause a lot of controversy and debate. Vinyl, LP - these are concepts that cause many of us, fans of digital audio, to usually smile, and often contemptuously. According to my observations, many members of CA have prejudices against these categories, and these prejudices have the right to exist. I initially want to assure all of you that we are talking here not about vinyl, but only about digital sound, and even more about computer digital sound.

     

    Now a little about myself. My name is Igor and I am from Ukraine. My official introduction to CA (I am referring to registration as a member of the forum, as I have many years of browsing it without registration) began very interesting. It began with a ban. Not just a ban, a lifetime ban. Again I want to thank Chris that he, despite all the seeming obviousness of this incident, hasn't shown prejudice, and patiently handled this conflict. This is one of the many good traits of Chris, which all of us on the forum have respect and love.

     

    My acquaintance with music began when I was 5 years old and my parents enrolled me into music school to learn the violin. Then there was piano and percussion. Thus all my childhood and adolescence was integrally associated with music. After graduating from the conservatory I began my professional career in a pop-rock band. As I practiced music composition and arrangement, I spent much time in multiple studios and "just knew the kitchen." I am writing all of this just to make it clear that I am familiar with the music not only as a listener, but as a creator, as we say - "on both sides of the barricades."

     

    This digital vinyl project is the result of my disappointment and dissatisfaction with digital sound. This disappointment stretches back to the late 80s, when I was careless enough to switch from analog to a digital setup – the so called “revolution of the future." While having very modest entry level audio system at the time (turntable with built-in phono-preamp for about $300, integral tube-amplifier and speakers – all together for about $1,500) I had incredible satisfaction listening to good LP Records, each time getting a huge release of endorphins in my brain.

     

    Later, due to certain circumstances, I did not listen to music for a few years (professionally engaged in the band's rehearsals, concerts, studio recordings) and even sold my TT with the whole collection of my LPs.

     

    I returned to listening to the music already as a victim of digital progress with a costly CD Player.

     

    You know, we all have favorite albums that sound best on our systems, so we often listen to these albums. The first thing I did – I bought these albums in the best (Collector edition – special edition) quality available published on CDs. And then I tried listening to them for the first time – in the same room, with the same amplifier and speakers that I used to with my vinyl collection. We have some memory of sound, some expectations for what should happen. I was simply shocked, the impression was that someone sucked all the juice, all the life out of these records. I then went to all of my friends to try their setup with these records. The result was the same everywhere. I was very disappointed. Practicality and progress won, but the beauty and all the magic of the sound disappeared as well as emotion and pleasure of listening to it.

     

    It was the first disappointment, and sadly, not the last. For the last almost 30 years, I have repeatedly made attempts at digitizing Vinyl, trying to at least draw near the magic of Vinyl in the digital domain. I used various TT system (including very expensive ones), a variety of professional equipment and software, but the result was always inadequate.

     

    There was a clear boundary, a barrier that separated the two worlds – analog (LP) and digital, always in favor of the first one.

     

    A few years ago a completely new concept of digitizing Vinyl appeared, proposed by Dr. Rob Robinson (Channel D) who implemented it in his revolutionary software – Pure Vinyl. This concept and the latest technology in professional digital audio equipment (now available to me) brought vinyl digitization to a radically different level. Almost two years of endless recording, testing, comparing and selection of components (devices and cables) gave a stunning result which exceeded all of my expectations.

     

     

    Dr. Rob Robinson noted that Pure Vinyl is:

     

    "Linking analog LP playback with the precision of high-resolution digital music reproduction"

     

    and

     

    "Single point of integration for analog and digitally sourced music."

     

     

     

    I totally agree with him, and just want to note: In tandem with quality equipment Pure Vinyl is not just a bridge that connects the two worlds of audio – it’s a real highway!

     

    I purposefully did not touch on many important technical aspects connected with the project in this introductory article, in order not to discourage forum members from listening to demo samples, but we're sure to discuss them in the following articles on this project.

     

    As the first topic for discussion I see "Time domain of the sound signal or what is more important for listening to music - static or dynamic (in a sense of time) characteristics of the sound signal?". Because undistorted, "virgin" time domain is the main reason why extreme audiophiles love vinyl. This is also one of the reasons why we like MQA so much.

     

    And now I, along with Chris invite all of you to listen to short demos, and share your experience and observations!

     

     

    Thank you,

    Igor

     

     

     

     

     

    Sound Samples

     

     

     

    Asphalt Canyon Blues (Kenny Burrell and Grover Washington, Jr. - Togethering (1985, USA) Blue Note (BT 851061.88))

    Official DR Value: DR12, Gain Output Levels (Pure Vinyl) – 7.88dB, Edit “Click Repair” – yes

     

    192 kHz / 24 bit (91MB) | 96 kHz / 24 bit (46MB) | 48 kHz / 24 bit (23MB) | 44.1 kHz / 16 bit (14MB)

     

     

     

     

    Peter Gunn Theme (The Blues Brothers (O.S.T. Recording) (1980, UK)) Atlantic (K 50715)

    Official DR Value: DR15, Gain Output Levels (Pure Vinyl) – 7.72dB, Edit “Click Repair” – yes

     

    192 kHz / 24 bit (90MB) | 96 kHz / 24 bit (45MB) | 48 kHz / 24 bit (22MB) | 44.1 kHz / 16 bit (13MB)

     

     

     

     

    Friday (J.J. Cale - 5 (1979, WG) Shelter Records ‎(200 389))

    Official DR Value: DR14, Gain Output Levels (Pure Vinyl) – 7.02dB, Edit “Click Repair” – yes

     

    192 kHz / 24 bit (111MB) | 96 kHz / 24 bit (56MB) | 48 kHz / 24 bit (28MB) | 44.1 kHz / 16 bit (17MB)

     

     

     

     

    Pure Delight (Larry Carlton - Alone - But Never Alone (1986, USA)) MCA Records (MCA-5689)

    Official DR Value: DR14, Gain Output Levels (Pure Vinyl) – 5.91dB, Edit “Click Repair” – yes

     

    192 kHz / 24 bit (97MB) | 96 kHz / 24 bit (48MB) | 48 kHz / 24 bit (24MB) | 44.1 kHz / 16 bit (15MB)

     

     

     

     

    The Nearness Of You (Arnett Cobb - The Wild Man From Texas (1976, FRA)) Black And Blue (33.099)

    Official DR Value: DR13, Gain Output Levels (Pure Vinyl) – 6.09dB, Edit “Click Repair” – yes

     

    192 kHz / 24 bit (76MB) | 96 kHz / 24 bit (38MB) | 48 kHz / 24 bit (19MB) | 44.1 kHz / 16 bit (12MB)

     

     

     

     

    Marcella's Dream (The Crusaders - Images (1978, USA) Blue Thumb Records (BA-6030)

    Official DR Value: DR15, Gain Output Levels (Pure Vinyl) – 4.16dB, Edit “Click Repair” – yes

     

    192 kHz / 24 bit (105MB) | 96 kHz / 24 bit (53MB) | 48 kHz / 24 bit (26MB) | 44.1 kHz / 16 bit (16MB)

     

     

     

     

     

    Nearly (Ron Carter - Patrao (1981, USA)) Milestone Records (M-9099)

    Official DR Value: DR11, Gain Output Levels (Pure Vinyl) – 4.00dB, Edit “Click Repair” – yes

     

    192 kHz / 24 bit (104MB) | 96 kHz / 24 bit (52MB) | 48 kHz / 24 bit (26MB) | 44.1 kHz / 16 bit (16MB)

     

     

     

     

    Blues For Pat (Pat Metheny (1984, USA)) ECM Records (1-25006)

    Official DR Value: DR12, Gain Output Levels (Pure Vinyl) – 3.37dB, Edit “Click Repair” – yes

     

    192 kHz / 24 bit (82MB) | 96 kHz / 24 bit (41MB) | 48 kHz / 24 bit (20MB) | 44.1 kHz / 16 bit (13MB)

     

     

     

     

    Owner Of A Lonely Heart (Yes - 90125 (1983, WG) ATCO Records (790125-1)

    Official DR Value: DR15, Gain Output Levels (Pure Vinyl) – 0.00dB, Edit “Click Repair” – yes

     

    192 kHz / 24 bit (86MB) | 96 kHz / 24 bit (43MB) | 48 kHz / 24 bit (21MB) | 44.1 kHz / 16 bit (13MB)

     

     

     

     

    No Drugs (Birth Control - Knock! Knock!! Who's There (1973, WG) Metronome 2001 (200.132)

    Official DR Value: DR12, Gain Output Levels (Pure Vinyl) – 5.33dB, Edit “Click Repair” – yes

     

    192 kHz / 24 bit (92MB) | 96 kHz / 24 bit (46MB) | 48 kHz / 24 bit (23MB) | 44.1 kHz / 16 bit (14MB)

     

     

     

     

    Alone Together (Chet Baker - Chet (1959, 1983 RE, USA) Riverside Records (RLP-1135)

    Official DR Value: DR13, Gain Output Levels (Pure Vinyl) – 0.00dB, Edit “Click Repair” – yes

     

    192 kHz / 24 bit (92MB) | 96 kHz / 24 bit (46MB) | 48 kHz / 24 bit (23MB) | 44.1 kHz / 16 bit (14MB)

     

     

     

     

    Dreams (Fleetwood Mac - Rumours (1977, USA)) Warner Bros. Records (BSK 3010)

    Official DR Value: DR15, Gain Output Levels (Pure Vinyl) – 0.00dB, Edit “Click Repair” – yes

     

    192 kHz / 24 bit (112MB) | 96 kHz / 24 bit (56MB) | 48 kHz / 24 bit (28MB) | 44.1 kHz / 16 bit (17MB)

     

     

     

     

    Natural Science (Rush - Permanent Waves (1980, WG)) Mercury (9111 065)

    Official DR Value: DR13, Gain Output Levels (Pure Vinyl) – 0.00dB, Edit “Click Repair” – yes

     

    192 kHz / 24 bit (58MB) | 96 kHz / 24 bit (29MB) | 48 kHz / 24 bit (14MB) | 44.1 kHz / 16 bit (8MB)

     

     

     

     

    I Was Only Joking (Rod Stewart - Greatest Hits (1979, WG)) Warner Bros. Records (WB 56 744)

    Official DR Value: DR14, Gain Output Levels (Pure Vinyl) – 0.00dB, Edit “Click Repair” – yes

     

    192 kHz / 24 bit (111MB) | 96 kHz / 24 bit (55MB) | 48 kHz / 24 bit (28MB) | 44.1 kHz / 16 bit (17MB)

     

     

     

     

    Never Before (Deep Purple - Machine Head (1972, RE 1980, WG)) Purple Records (1C 062-93 261)

    Official DR Value: DR12, Gain Output Levels (Pure Vinyl) – 0.00dB, Edit “Click Repair” – yes

     

    192 kHz / 24 bit (100MB) | 96 kHz / 24 bit (50MB) | 48 kHz / 24 bit (25MB) | 44.1 kHz / 16 bit (15MB)

     

     

     

     

    Autumn Leaves (Pat Boone - Stardust (1958, UK, mono)) London Records (HA-D.2127)

    Official DR Value: DR11, Gain Output Levels (Pure Vinyl) – 0.00dB, Edit “Click Repair” – yes

     

    192 kHz / 24 bit (116MB) | 96 kHz / 24 bit (58MB) | 48 kHz / 24 bit (29MB) | 44.1 kHz / 16 bit (18MB)

     

     

     

     

    Hush-A-Bye (Jewish Folk Tune) (Kenny Drew Trio - The Lullaby (1982, JAP) Baystate (RJL-8029)

    Official DR Value: DR14, Gain Output Levels (Pure Vinyl) – 0.00dB, Edit “Click Repair” – yes

     

    192 kHz / 24 bit (101MB) | 96 kHz / 24 bit (51MB) | 48 kHz / 24 bit (25MB) | 44.1 kHz / 16 bit (16MB)

     

     

     

     

    Midnight Sugar (Tsuyoshi Yamamoto Trio - Midnight Sugar (1974, JAP)) Three Blind Mice (TBM-23)

    Official DR Value: DR15, Gain Output Levels (Pure Vinyl) – 0.00dB, Edit “Click Repair” – yes

     

    192 kHz / 24 bit (103MB) | 96 kHz / 24 bit (52MB) | 48 kHz / 24 bit (26MB) | 44.1 kHz / 16 bit (16MB)

     

     

     

     

     

    Blue Marine (Masaru Imada - Blue Marine (1982, JAP)) Trio Records (PAP-25026)

    Official DR Value: DR15, Gain Output Levels (Pure Vinyl) – 0.00dB, Edit “Click Repair” – yes

     

    192 kHz / 24 bit (92MB) | 96 kHz / 24 bit (46MB) | 48 kHz / 24 bit (23MB) | 44.1 kHz / 16 bit (14MB)

     

     

     

     

     

    Make Trip (Isao Suzuki, Masahiko Togashi, Hideo Ichikawa, Akira Shiomoto - Approach (1986, JAP)) Art Union (KEN-1005)

    Official DR Value: DR16, Gain Output Levels (Pure Vinyl) – 0.00dB, Edit “Click Repair” – yes

     

    192 kHz / 24 bit (105MB) | 96 kHz / 24 bit (52MB) | 48 kHz / 24 bit (26MB) | 44.1 kHz / 16 bit (16MB)

     

     

     

     

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    Pure Vinyl Club
    This is a great project Igor, you have some fine equipment. What would you recommend a fellow vinyl lover to use as a digital front end to get the best sound from the files you posted? Does one need to spend over $10K or what's the minimum you'd recommend? TIA!

    Thank Rexp. Suggesting that somehow this is a very thankless job. Recently I only use professional equipment, and only total closure system, all in one (Grimm Audio LS1). Currently, there are a lot of interesting pro equipment, which is very good account of themselves in the audiophile segment. I am a fan of high fidelity, accuracy in sound, others like flattering, "thingies". This is a matter of personal preferences and tastes of each person, and it's great!

    Of course, I would like to recommend the best there is at the market - Berkeley Audio Alpha Reference 2, especially since the company has its roots in the best of pro equipment, which is a dream of mine, though it have not produced. But it is not cheap and it drags along other expensive equipment. Of the more affordable, I would recommend the stunning DAC Grace Design m905, in additive you get a very good, feature-rich analog preamplifier. And another great feature, characteristic of the pro interface (In Word Clock) for using an external master clock.

     

    Cheers

    Igor

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    james45974
    Give him a chance James. If people are turned off by others seeking the best, then so be it. Analog is expensive, there's no way around it. That said, I'm sure Igor has tried other items that he'll share in due time.

     

     

    If you look at the upcoming topics of this series, you'll see it's much more about knowledge than equipment. People can take this knowledge and purchase equipment that's within their budgets. If Igor's system is too expensive for people to read about and pickup some knowledge, that's on them.

     

    Chris, not a problem, I definitely want to give him a chance! Maybe I was still worked up because I had just read the CES SUX piece by Ken Kessler! High end is out of touch in a lot of ways and $50k to rip vinyl screams out of touch. I hope there is more than lip service given to those on a budget that doesn't include 4 and 5 figure bank accounts for equipment. I look forward to following this thread.

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    The Computer Audiophile
    Chris, not a problem, I definitely want to give him a chance! Maybe I was still worked up because I had just read the CES SUX piece by Ken Kessler! High end is out of touch in a lot of ways and $50k to rip vinyl screams out of touch. I hope there is more than lip service given to those on a budget that doesn't include 4 and 5 figure bank accounts for equipment. I look forward to following this thread.

     

    Great James. I definitely hear you about high end being out of touch. That's how many people feel right now. 99.95 of us are on a much tighter budget and fortunately 99.9% of equipment manufacturers produce components for our budgets.

     

    We'll get there.

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    Pure Vinyl Club
    Speaking of good A/D I wonder if you could tell me if it makes sense to upgrade from TC Twin Impact to something like Lynx HiLo or RME ADI 2 Pro. I shortlisted these two after reviewing the subject. But the question is would there be a difference soundwise after the upgrade or Twin Impact is good enough and difference if minimal if any? It is a good piece of equipment but I need to know if it makes a difference when it comes to digitising vinyl records. If so which one out of these two (HiLo or Add 2 Pro) would be the one to pick? I am talking about the sound quality here and not about the cost/economic sense of these things.

    Hi StrayCat. I also used the TC Twin Impact and this is a good interface. I also used Lynx Hilo and RME, but another model. I have not tried the RME ADI 2 Pro, but I really liked Hilo, very nice AD/DA. I also tried for a short time more serious interfaces (Lavry, Prism) and they are incredibly good, but I'm working on Antelope Audio Pure2. It is actually cheaper than Hilo (in the US a little more $ 2K). But the equipment is only half of a good result. It is very important what you use software.

     

    Igor

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    straycat

    Igor,

    Thank you for your comments. As I understand Antelope was your gear of choice given its sound quality vs. the others you mentioned? This is important to me so if you could confirm I would appreciate it and what specifically made you select Antelope. Yes I am awarie that software is very important and in

    my case I am currently using Amadeus Pro software. I really like it for its simplicity, ease of use and the features. Currently I do not apply RIAA via software and rather use phono stage for this. The reason for this is that I when I was testing demo version of Pure Vinyl I didn't fully like the sound I was getting from PureVinyl applied RIAA in comparison to my preamps. I mean the sound was really good yet it missed something when I compared it to the rips I was making with my preamp in the rig.

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    straycat

    Igor,Thank you for your comments. As I understand Antelope was your gear of choice given its sound quality vs. the others you mentioned? This is important to me so if you could confirm I would appreciate it and what specifically made you select Antelope. Yes I am awarie that software is very important and inmy case I am currently using Amadeus Pro software. I really like it for its simplicity, ease of use and the features. Currently I do not apply RIAA via software and rather use phono stage for this. The reason for this is that I when I was testing demo version of Pure Vinyl I didn't fully like the sound I was getting from PureVinyl applied RIAA in comparison to my preamps. I mean the sound was really good yet it missed something when I compared it to the rips I was making with my preamp in the rig.

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    Pure Vinyl Club
    What would you recommend a fellow vinyl lover to use as a digital front end to get the best sound from the files you posted?

     

    Hi Rexp. We all know how important for quality of the sound are filters in hardwares and Software in the players and recorders. Therefore it is always the best way to listen to it is to use this equipment and software, which was used to record the content. Therefore, listen to my LP rips, the best would be the Antelope Pure2 and a Mac Mini on Pure Vinyl (recorder/player). There's also a very good free player Pure Music.

    In fact, you will get for a little more than $ 2K quality Antelope Zodiac Platinum, but without DSD and 24/384 (DXD). Even if you do not use the ADC and the Master clock, you get a good PCM DAC with analog, stepped relay attenuator with 0.05dB precision and Headphone Amp with a dedicated DAC. Some of my friends are doing it. They have a very serious DAC and they listen to them DSD and other content. And to listen to our content (LP Rips) they use an additional system, because there are already several thousands of albums, many of which have never been published in digital formats. That's what I'm doing and it's great!

    You ask, "Does one need to spend over $10K".

    I'm in the studio have small active monitors near-field Emotiva Airmotiv 4 (first generation). They are directly connected to the Pure2 and when friends come to me in studio, who have an audio system are expensive, I always do for them the same provocation - we listen to new demos on these small monitors. We listen for 2-3 hours and then they go home and complain to me that they have no desire to listen to their expensive systems. It is incredible as it may sound budgetary cost of equipment (299$) when it is connected to a quality source. I can not get a quick attack, clarity and details from headphones costing more than $1K.

    In fact, many such wonderful examples!

     

    Cheers

    Igor

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    artur9

    I have a phono amp (link to PDF manual) with USB out and I have needle dropped a few albums but...

     

    I have heard that my preamp over USB isn't that faithful to the RIAA curve. What I'd like to do is find a reference LP with a sweep or something that I can use to measure the preamp's output so that I can correct non-linearities digitally (on the computer).

     

    What would you all recommend for such an LP? I've seen some old measurement LPs but I don't know which would be any good.

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    straycat
    Hi Rexp. We all know how important for quality of the sound are filters in hardwares and Software in the players and recorders. Therefore it is always the best way to listen to it is to use this equipment and software, which was used to record the content. Therefore, listen to my LP rips, the best would be the Antelope Pure2 and a Mac Mini on Pure Vinyl (recorder/player). There's also a very good free player Pure Music.

    In fact, you will get for a little more than $ 2K quality Antelope Zodiac Platinum, but without DSD and 24/384 (DXD). Even if you do not use the ADC and the Master clock, you get a good PCM DAC with analog, stepped relay attenuator with 0.05dB precision and Headphone Amp with a dedicated DAC. Some of my friends are doing it. They have a very serious DAC and they listen to them DSD and other content. And to listen to our content (LP Rips) they use an additional system, because there are already several thousands of albums, many of which have never been published in digital formats. That's what I'm doing and it's great!

    You ask, "Does one need to spend over $10K".

    I'm in the studio have small active monitors near-field Emotiva Airmotiv 4 (first generation). They are directly connected to the Pure2 and when friends come to me in studio, who have an audio system are expensive, I always do for them the same provocation - we listen to new demos on these small monitors. We listen for 2-3 hours and then they go home and complain to me that they have no desire to listen to their expensive systems. It is incredible as it may sound budgetary cost of equipment (299$) when it is connected to a quality source. I can not get a quick attack, clarity and details from headphones costing more than $1K.

    In fact, many such wonderful examples!

     

    Cheers

    Igor

    Igor,

    You seem to prefer Antelope Pure2 over the other ADCs and DAC. Could you say if this one in your view give the best quality digital transfer of vinyl records? Given the egole process of digitizing the vinulyl records I would divide it into specific areas:

     

    1 Source: the record itself + TT

    2 Amplification of the signal: preamp with no RIAA

    3 Converting signal to digital: ADC

    4 'Recording' the signal: computer with software

    5 Post production: computer + software

     

    Now each step is important as vinyl rip is as good as the weakest part of the whole chain. ChannelD has its offer which seems to be covering point 2 and 4. Ian sure this will be discussed further but now I need the answer to point 3. And in terms of point 3 there is a question which device is the best for the task. And here it is important to know what features are to be looked at. The sound, the clock (Antelope has done devices with atomic clock), chips, features (DSD, headphone preamp), parameters. Would it be fair to say the Pure2 is in your view currently the best choice for vinyl rippers seeking absolute truthfullness of converting vinyl analog signal to digital? You mentioned you have not tried RME ADI 2.0 Pro so can it be that RME may be actually a better pick given all the criteria? How can we know this? These are important issues as these things are not cheap and if you invest in something you need to be pretty much convinced. Maybe we need some comments from vinyl ripper using RME Adi 2.0 Pro.

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    Pure Vinyl Club
    I have a phono amp (link to PDF manual) with USB out and I have needle dropped a few albums but...

     

    I have heard that my preamp over USB isn't that faithful to the RIAA curve. What I'd like to do is find a reference LP with a sweep or something that I can use to measure the preamp's output so that I can correct non-linearities digitally (on the computer).

     

    What would you all recommend for such an LP? I've seen some old measurement LPs but I don't know which would be any good.

    Ok, Arthur. I have friends that are much better than I know all the intricacies of tuning and calibration of TT. They have a lot of experience in this and a lot of special equipment (including LPs).

    Now I have two test LPs in my studio, but I am not sure that this is what you need.

    1. Technical Series - Professional Test Record - Issue 3 (CBS Laboratories (STR 100)

    2. Vinyl Essentials - The Ultimate Pickup Test Record (Image Hifi, Germany, 2LP (LP 003)

     

    I shall consult with my friends and I will give you the answer.

     

    Igor

     

    Pure Vinyl Club

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    Pure Vinyl Club
    Igor,

    You seem to prefer Antelope Pure2 over the other ADCs and DAC. Could you say if this one in your view give the best quality digital transfer of vinyl records? Given the egole process of digitizing the vinulyl records I would divide it into specific areas:

     

    1 Source: the record itself + TT

    2 Amplification of the signal: preamp with no RIAA

    3 Converting signal to digital: ADC

    4 'Recording' the signal: computer with software

    5 Post production: computer + software

     

    Now each step is important as vinyl rip is as good as the weakest part of the whole chain. ChannelD has its offer which seems to be covering point 2 and 4. Ian sure this will be discussed further but now I need the answer to point 3. And in terms of point 3 there is a question which device is the best for the task. And here it is important to know what features are to be looked at. The sound, the clock (Antelope has done devices with atomic clock), chips, features (DSD, headphone preamp), parameters. Would it be fair to say the Pure2 is in your view currently the best choice for vinyl rippers seeking absolute truthfullness of converting vinyl analog signal to digital? You mentioned you have not tried RME ADI 2.0 Pro so can it be that RME may be actually a better pick given all the criteria? How can we know this? These are important issues as these things are not cheap and if you invest in something you need to be pretty much convinced. Maybe we need some comments from vinyl ripper using RME Adi 2.0 Pro.

    Hi StrayCat. I love the company Antelope Audio, because:

    Firstly, the founder and developer of all equipment Antelope is name Igor Levin. My name is Igor, too.

    Secondly, I read in some reviews that Igor Levin, a native of Ukraine. I am also from Ukraine. This is of course a joke!

    In fact, I have never recommended Antelope for LP ripping. One of the reasons that I use Pure2 is what I already had a rubidium clock from this company, and I directly connect it with my ADC interface (10MHz Input). Although I was interested in only part ADC in Pure2, I was pleasantly surprised that the DAC is also implemented at a very high level. At first I wanted to buy a more expensive interface from Antelope - Eclipse 384. However, after consultation with Rob Robinson from ChannelD we came to a consensus that it would be superfluous and better to spend money on another, no less important equipment.

    It is very difficult to advise you, because I do not know what kind of equipment you use and what you do to the sound requirements. You can send me a list of your system in a private message, and then it would be easier to comment.

    RME ADI 2.0 Pro (As the most flexible converter available, the ADI-2 Pro offers balanced / unbalanced analog I / Os, double Extreme Power headphone outputs, SteadyClock III, 4-stage hardware input and output level control, DSP-based signal processing , external power supply operation, Class Compliant USB compatibility, sample rates up to 768 kHz as well as DSD record and Direct DSD playback (256 / 11.2 MHz).

    Given that you are not going to use the software Pure Vinyl for PL ripping, you better use a RME. Especially considering the possibility of recording in the DSD. Now, so do many rippers.

    After a weekend I ask friends who gave me to test Lynx Hilo. What they would prefer: Hilo or RME ADI-2 Pro?

     

    Igor

    Pure Vinyl Club

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    straycat

    Thank you for your reply. It would be interesting to see how ADI compares to Lynx Hilo. Few years back Michael Fremer did some comparisons of some ADC with regards to vinyl ripping and stated that Hilo sounded a bit dry. Besides it has been on the market since around 2012 so the technology used is about 5-6 years old which is quite a lot for today's developments in technology. So RME has few thing going for it yet the best would be to hear what people using it have to say. On vinyl ripping I am not counting out PureVinyl as I think it is interesting approach and need to check this again but with right tools at hand.

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    Pure Vinyl Club
    Thank you for your reply. It would be interesting to see how ADI compares to Lynx Hilo. Few years back Michael Fremer did some comparisons of some ADC with regards to vinyl ripping and stated that Hilo sounded a bit dry. Besides it has been on the market since around 2012 so the technology used is about 5-6 years old which is quite a lot for today's developments in technology. So RME has few thing going for it yet the best would be to hear what people using it have to say. On vinyl ripping I am not counting out PureVinyl as I think it is interesting approach and need to check this again but with right tools at hand.

     

    Very good TT setup! It is interesting to find out whether there is in your phono preamp "flat" output, without correction RIAA? If there is no such output, then you have to take a good mic preamp. Otherwise you can not take full advantage of the Pure Vinyl Software.

    And what do you use DAC to monitoring and simply listen to music?

     

    Pure Vinyl Club

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    straycat

    While ripping I simply monitor the output through headphones connected to my Mac mini. For listening I am using streaming software StreamToMe to my iPhone while 48/28 files land on my iPod Classic 160Gb for listening in my car. Quite simple setup.

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    straycat

    My preamp is phono stage which means it already has RIAA applied. While testing PureVinyl I was using XRL to RCA adapters with resistors added to match the cartridge used. I was going with tonearm cable straight to TC Impact Twin ADC and then applied RIAA with Pure Vinyl on my mac.

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    Pure Vinyl Club
    Thank you for your reply. It would be interesting to see how ADI compares to Lynx Hilo. Few years back Michael Fremer did some comparisons of some ADC with regards to vinyl ripping and stated that Hilo sounded a bit dry. Besides it has been on the market since around 2012 so the technology used is about 5-6 years old which is quite a lot for today's developments in technology. So RME has few thing going for it yet the best would be to hear what people using it have to say. On vinyl ripping I am not counting out PureVinyl as I think it is interesting approach and need to check this again but with right tools at hand.

     

    My friend answered me about the RME. He had listened to the ADI-2 Pro. Direct comparison with your Hilo he has not done, but said that now he would have chosen the RME. Hilo, compared to ADI, has less depth, bass digs are not as deep and the scene is much narrower and lower.

     

    Pure Vinyl Club

     

    Listen to short demos of the LP Rip

    and share your experience and observations.

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    straycat

    Thanks for an update. I suspected impressions would be something like this. The question would be how this new RME ADI 2 Pro compares to Antelope Pure 2.

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    Pure Vinyl Club
    That sounds amazing. I would be thrilled to get some of it. I have found a lot of ripped vinyl off of various torrent sites and whatnot, however most of them sound muddy to me and I miss a lot of the vinyl benefit-especially some of the Radiohead stuff I have heard.

     

    In contrast, your files sound awesome. The only one I didn't like was the Fleetwood Mac as you know.

     

    Well-keep me updated-I am happy to help in any way, and more than happy to pay-certainly if someone is putting time into it they should be reimbursed for their efforts!

     

    Once again, I am telling you that I'm not doing this for money. If I can find these albums here in Ukraine, I am pleased and happy to do it. And also added to his collection of good music. After all, music is the main thing why we are doing all these.

     

    I hope that Chris will soon open a special blog where we will be able to place a lot of different samples with good music. And I promise you that you'll be pleasantly surprised, repeatedly!

     

     

    Pure Vinyl Club

     

    Listen to short demos of the LP Rip

    and share your experience and observations.

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    The Computer Audiophile
    I hope that Chris will soon open a special blog where we will be able to place a lot of different samples with good music. And I promise you that you'll be pleasantly surprised, repeatedly!

     

    Yes. New and improved and coming soon. I'm shooting for the end of February. It requires a switch of the entire site software, but other cool benefits will come about as well.

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    lazerdewd
    Finally we have something for vinyl people trying to digitize their collections in the best possible way. I'm into getting optimal conditions to digitize vinyl records so that the rip is the truest to the original and I think this is broad subject. Thank you for launching it. It woukd be interesting to hear how you approach the process what tools you use to get the final result.

     

    Being on a budget I've decided to "keep things simple". I purchased the Sony PS-HX500 turntable (found one for $350) and have been using its native encoding to produce 2.8 MHz DSD files from my vinyl - especially newer LP's released on 45 RPM vinyl. Those sound fantastic. If using a computer to play back the DSD files I use the iFi Nano iDSD DAC combined with either a Naim Mu-so or Klipsch ProMedia 4.1's and if using a dedicated stereo playback is handled with a Sony UHPH1 Premium Audio and Video Player. That thing is a digital Swiss army knife of audio file and physical media playback. As the DSD files are large I store them on a 8 TB Synology NAS. All the hardware was purchased over a 2 ½ year period so the cost was pretty spread out. Wish I had a bundle to drop on gear all at once, but hey there’s more than one way to skin a cat!

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    Rexp
    Being on a budget I've decided to "keep things simple". I purchased the Sony PS-HX500 turntable (found one for $350) and have been using its native encoding to produce 2.8 MHz DSD files from my vinyl - especially newer LP's released on 45 RPM vinyl. Those sound fantastic. If using a computer to play back the DSD files I use the iFi Nano iDSD DAC combined with either a Naim Mu-so or Klipsch ProMedia 4.1's and if using a dedicated stereo playback is handled with a Sony UHPH1 Premium Audio and Video Player. That thing is a digital Swiss army knife of audio file and physical media playback. As the DSD files are large I store them on a 8 TB Synology NAS. All the hardware was purchased over a 2 ½ year period so the cost was pretty spread out. Wish I had a bundle to drop on gear all at once, but hey there’s more than one way to skin a cat!

    Love this approach. Perhaps you can post extracts from your files to compare to Igor's? Also would be interested to know if you've tried recording to WAV files and how they sound? Cheers!

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    Pure Vinyl Club
    Being on a budget I've decided to "keep things simple". I purchased the Sony PS-HX500 turntable (found one for $350) and have been using its native encoding to produce 2.8 MHz DSD files from my vinyl - especially newer LP's released on 45 RPM vinyl. Those sound fantastic. If using a computer to play back the DSD files I use the iFi Nano iDSD DAC combined with either a Naim Mu-so or Klipsch ProMedia 4.1's and if using a dedicated stereo playback is handled with a Sony UHPH1 Premium Audio and Video Player. That thing is a digital Swiss army knife of audio file and physical media playback. As the DSD files are large I store them on a 8 TB Synology NAS. All the hardware was purchased over a 2 ½ year period so the cost was pretty spread out. Wish I had a bundle to drop on gear all at once, but hey there’s more than one way to skin a cat!

     

    Hi lazerdewd. I also love many releases at 45rpm. Very often, they sound amazing. We call these releases "HD Vinyl". Later, I will set in blog for comparing two identical sample recorded with different releases - 33 and 45rpm.

    And yes, your setup to use the DSD, it is the best to get the best result.

     

     

    Pure Vinyl Club

     

    Listen to short demos of the LP Rip

    and share your experience and observations.

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    Snowdog57

    Great article and variety of music, Igor!

    One correction... The song portion by Rush is from "Different Strings", not "Natural Sciences" as indicated.

    Keep up the good work!

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