ADC recommendations

[scorpio333]

I'm ready to HULK SMASH something here. Once upon a time I had a good setup for ripping vinyl. Not sure where it all went wrong, but it has. Mac Pro just gets noise on input. I had a Dell laptop my wife had and it worked, but our niece needed it for school. An old friend gave me a Dell her mother was using when she passed away. I don't want to sound ungrateful for the free computer, but Dell thought it would be nice to save a dime and create a mic/headphone port all in one. It's total garbage. The drivers never sense that it could possibly be an INPUT. I went round n round with it and I do NOT like Windows so I'm done with all this monkeying around.

Here's what I want to do. TT goes into a Yaqin tube pre amp. The pre has two sets of outputs, .7 and .25. The .7 goes to my tube amp. I want to run out of the .25 into a ADC and the ADC into the computer via USB. I'm not looking to win awards with my rips, just get some of this vinyl onto the computer and then in an iPod for the vehicles. Being able to listen and record concurrently with my current setup is a must.

STaL recommended the Focusrite 2i2 in the past. I think that will do the trick, though I'm a bit shady on how to run RCA's into it. Anyone have other opinions or recommendations? Budget isn't much, maybe 150 tops. I see Focusrites on epay for 80-150.

[scorpio333]

I also need to ask if the $10 1/4" to usb sticks are even remotely worth $10. Would it be any worse than running a RCA to 1/4" directly into a line in on a computer?

[Sir Thrift-a-Lot]

though I'm a bit shady on how to run RCA's into it.

http://www.musiciansfriend.com/accessories/american-recorder-technologies-1-4-male-mono-to-rca-female-adapter/339508000377000?cntry=us&source=3WWRWXGP&gclid=Cj0KEQjwvJqvBRCL77m2-uKczsIBEiQAkx8VjGKg9lCu_X_YCrxwrCJD5oUN9yPa5E-mYoWQ5Ee-wIoaAjN68P8HAQ&kwid=productads-plaid^82171013787-sku^339508000377000@ADL4MF-adType^PLA-device^c-adid^51870555867

[bearjew]

The focusrite is reliable, and I have not used it myself, but it supposedly has a "british" sound to it according to some friends of mine that have it.  I use a MOTU 896mk3 hybrid.  It's more expensive and much larger than the focusrite, but I find that MOTU in general has incredibly neutral inputs.  You'll still need to convert RCA to XLR or 1/4", but that's going to happen with you buy Focusrite, Avid, MOTU, SSL, Antelope, or anything else...  I don't know what budget you're looking at, but the RME Babyface is supposed to be incredible as well.

[Sir Thrift-a-Lot]

The RME is five times the cost of the Focusrite.

[scorpio333]

The budget is in the low end. Less than 150. If the focusrite is going to give Tom Petty a British accent, then I'm out! Not sure what you mean by British sound. Thin and sharp high end like old Yardbirds recordings?

Seems like the Focusrite can also be used as a DAC, which may come in handy but I don't think I need a DAC. All of my home listening is vinyl. Except for rare occasions.

I found what I think may be a good deal on one that includes the mic and headphones for less than the cost of a new 2i2. I'm not a headphones guy, I own a pair of old Sennheisers that are rotted and sound horrible, maybe I'll use the included headphones here n there.

[OldiesButGoodies]

I rip my vinyl to R2R 

[Sir Thrift-a-Lot]

Maybe it means smooth and flat like Harbeths or Splendors.

[scorpio333]

I picked up the 2i2 last night and played around with it for a bit. Windows 7 installed the driver and recognized it without issue, Audacity also saw it. I recorded one side of Warren Haynes Ashes n Dust just to play around with the levels and settings. It's a very lively sounding record with lots of instruments. I haven't played that file back on anything other than the laptop. No clipping or obvious sound problems. The plan is to record one song over and over with different tubes, then stick with those tubes and settings. I plan to record at 24/96, save those files and convert them down to playable rates for the iPods n such. Drive space is plentiful.

The head phones are ok I suppose. Again, I'm not a headphone guy, I like hearing things fill the room. That said, I tried them out and they seem to be fine for monitoring. More than an hour with them on would likely be fatiguing to me. I monitored the record two ways, one directly into the 2i2 and the other using the headphone jack on the computer. I switched back n forth multiple times and honestly the computer sounded better and more "spacious", the monitor port sounded a bit heavy and crowded on the low end.

Time will be the real test, if it allows me to get decent recordings and doesn't "get in my way" then it's a winner for me. Haven't tried it yet with the Mac, but I would expect too much difference.

[scorpio333]

Here we are slightly over a year since I started down this road. I lacked the proper setup and space to get this whole vinyl to digital process going. I recently moved my wife's work at home office to a third bedroom and eminent domaines her old space in the basement. Removed everything down there and set up a work space for all things audio.

Right now I've been goofing around with getting things in place for digitizing. VPI record cleaner in place, which needs a new platter. Dual 1249 setup with a Shure M95 and Jico SAS going into a Kenwood KA7300 integrated out to the Scarlett 2i2 and into a Mac Pro. I plan to do a few rips of a 12" single with this setup, then a few with the Yaquin tube pre in place of the Kenwood. And maybe a few more with a Shure V15vxmr with Jico SAS.

All of that is easy enough. Now the part that's been giving me headaches...the recording settings. I'm using Audacity. Googling bitrates and sample rates is like reading about my dad beating up your dad. Hard drive space is plentiful and not a concern. The rips will be used for iTunes for my wife and for an iPad I use in the truck. I'm thinking of recording at 16/44.1 AIFF. That file would get coverted to say ALAC, the AIFF would get archived. I'm hung up on, one day maybe things change and I'll regret not ripping the AIFF to a higher setting. Honestly, for my current purposes and possible future converting, where is the point of diminishing returns? 16/192? 24/192? 24/96? 

Also, if anyone is interested in critiquing my rips, I can upload them somewhere.

[bearjew]

I realize this is completely unrelated, but I was reading up a few posts that you got the 2i2.  I just bought one in May and it already stopped working

[Sir Thrift-a-Lot]

I would rip to 24/96 (lots of reasons for this) and would be happy to critique your rips.   

On the first one, upload a completely unaltered rip.   No EQ, no volume changes, nothing.   There is a bug in Audacity that sometimes with some hardware, even if it is set to 24/96, it records at 16 bit and pads the last 8 bits with zeros.   If you do any processing, the software will (as it should) use all 24 bits, so that is why you must start with an unprocessed clip.

[Sir Thrift-a-Lot]

I realize this is completely unrelated, but I was reading up a few posts that you got the 2i2.  I just bought one in May and it already stopped working

What's the warranty?

[scorpio333]

I would rip to 24/96 (lots of reasons for this) and would be happy to critique your rips.   

On the first one, upload a completely unaltered rip.   No EQ, no volume changes, nothing.   There is a bug in Audacity that sometimes with some hardware, even if it is set to 24/96, it records at 16 bit and pads the last 8 bits with zeros.   If you do any processing, the software will (as it should) use all 24 bits, so that is why you must start with an unprocessed clip.

I reset things to 24/96, easy enough. Which format would you recommend to export the audio? This would be the file I could upload and keep in archives.

I realize this is completely unrelated, but I was reading up a few posts that you got the 2i2.  I just bought one in May and it already stopped working

That sucks. Mine sat for months. When I pulled it out to use, the left input was a bit intermittent at first, it seems to be working ok now. Have you contacted Focusrite?

[Sir Thrift-a-Lot]

WAV then convert to FLAC is what I do.