a/d analog to digital converter recommendatons

[Miska]

Doesn't get much better than RME ADI-2 Pro... I have two of those... Recording up to 768/32 and DSD256.

 

[Miska]

I have also some other ADCs like Prism Lyra, which is also very good performer, but limited to 192/24 PCM. Should be enough for vinyl though, if one wants PCM. But I would personally go with DSD256 recording for vinyl.

 

At some point I'll hopefully also have the new Merging Anubis, which is potentially good for the purpose too.

 

[Miska]

On 9/14/2019 at 4:53 PM, ronfint said:

Unless one has only very new records, some processing post conversion will be needed. (I really like iZotope RX Advanced for this.)  If a record is converted to DSD, how does denoising get done?

 

You'd maybe need to develop tools for that, entirely possible though.

 

But I don't do denoising, so far I find they all cause more harm than good. But you can always preserve the original DSD as master and convert it to for example 705.6/32 PCM for experimenting with PCM tools if you like to.

 

[Miska]

9 hours ago, audiobomber said:

- DSD recording is kludgy with Vinyl Studio

 

I just use my own software to record in DSD with ADI-2 Pro. It is at least equally kludgy as PCM in my case...

 

9 hours ago, audiobomber said:

- Tagging, downloaded track separations, song titles, album covers is problematic.

 

I don't think tagging and album covers is any different from PCM, since DSF file format supports ID3v2 tags and MP3tag can tag DSF files.

 

9 hours ago, audiobomber said:

RIAA equalisation when recording (which I did not use)

 

I can do that if I want, but I prefer to use analog RIAA in the phono stage.

 

9 hours ago, audiobomber said:

declicking and patching filters (hiss, hum, rumble, graphic equaliser, normalisation and equalisation curves / FFT filter)

 

I can already do any kind of eq (due to convolution engine) and normalization, just haven't implemented the other stuff yet. I could also do reverb/echo, but not relevant in this scope..

 

9 hours ago, audiobomber said:

fading tracks in and out (huge loss with some albums)

 

I have that too in the sofware, but no way to edit such (yet).

 

 

You can of course do quite a bit of DSD editing with tools like Merging Pyramix (with DSD option).

 

You can of course always convert DSD master to PCM for processing. With any modern ADC the digital data begins as DSD-like data and then gets converted into PCM by the ADC chip in digital domain. I rather leave that phase out or for later. If you use for example your Korg DS-DAC-10R, or Korg MR-2000S, or TASCAM DA-3000, or something like RME HDSPe AIO card, the ADC chip is really running at DSD128 also when you record PCM and just converting it to PCM for you.

 

If you don't still care about DSD recording capabilities and want pre-converted PCM, there are plenty of options out there. The ADI-2 Pro is still a good option and so is Prism Lyra too.

 

[Miska]

11 hours ago, Le Concombre Masqué said:

I wish I can keep my vinyl collection, see no point in recording BUT think it would be nice to apply via HQP same convolution filters I use with digital sources to vinyl source (excellent, much more expensive/ambitious than my TEAC 501)

 

suggestion of ADC for that ?

 

ADI-2 Pro DSD 256 recording capabilities seem overkill, thus overcost, except if it can perform SIMULTANEOUSLY and reliably as ADC fed by my phono pre and as a DAC that would be significantly better than my TEAC 501 (otherwise I 'd rather dream of a Merlot and think I would be happy settling for a second hand T+A DSD 😎

 

Same ADC's I already mentioned. ADI-2 Pro or Lyra. Note that from usability perspective ADI-2 is easier because it can be fully operated from the front panel. Lyra needs it's own control application and is thus bound to Windows and macOS.

 

I would go for ADI-2. At the moment you cannot use it for both input and output simulataneously in HQPlayer. And to keep processing power needs lower, it is anyway useful to run ADC at lower rate for such processing (like 705.6/32 PCM or DSD128) and then output at higher rate like DSD256 - which means that in any case same device cannot be used for input and output simultaneously.

 

I don't think it's an overkill. But there are of course many many other possible devices at lower price if you settle for 192/24  or lower inputs.

 

 

By the way, if you are thinking about Merlot as DAC, have you thought about Pinot as ADC? I have not tested Pinot myself (only Merlot), but that could be sort of natural combination.

 

Mytek has also ADC, but I have not tested that one either.

 

[Miska]

On 9/19/2019 at 10:00 AM, Le Concombre Masqué said:

ztw, is it worth dreaming of a Merlot  or a T+A 8 DSD, both HQP fed EC @256, would be non distinguable ?

 

Very different ones, but I'm not going to say anything about which route to take. You really really need to listen and decide yourself.

 

On 9/19/2019 at 10:00 AM, Le Concombre Masqué said:

for the record, as ADC for records,  there's also the discontinued TASCAM UH 7000 you once recommended that looks as the cheapest good solution

 

I know that one. I don't have it, but probably pretty nice for the price.