Vinyl to CD conversion

mugenfoo wrote:Graphs make very nice eye-candy ..... but what do your ears tell you ?

hello mugenfoo,

i tried wheatus dsd download on my xa5400es. very analog sounding loh, to my untrained ears. too bad they are rock/pop songs, the vocals are not "audiophile" yet. hhaahaa

here is the link:

http://www.wheatus.com/download_dsd_frameset.html

cheers,
wps

junchoon wrote:

hello mugenfoo,

i tried wheatus dsd download on my xa5400es. very analog sounding loh, to my untrained ears. too bad they are rock/pop songs, the vocals are not "audiophile" yet. hhaahaa

here is the link:

http://www.wheatus.com/download_dsd_frameset.html

cheers,
wps

You already compared the dsd with the analog version?

Just my opinion and findings here:
I have both the same album in DSD format and also LP version.
I compared them and I found that they have different characteristics.
I remember I also used both to trick my friend and make him guess which is which. hahahahaha..
His face expression while doing the guessing game is so funny..

car o scope wrote:
You already compared the dsd with the analog version?

Just my opinion and findings here:
I have both the same album in DSD format and also LP version.
I compared them and I found that they have different characteristics.
I remember I also used both to trick my friend and make him guess which is which. hahahahaha..
His face expression while doing the guessing game is so funny..

it was released in LP format??? interesting. which rig u use to play the dsd? and which rig for the LP? i used the xa5400es balanced out, sounded better than the RCA imho. but unfortunately i tak ada tt lah, so cannot play lp.

cheers,
wps

Wait a minute..
I think the DSD that I mentioned might not the one that you mentioned..
Err.. I am confused..

I meant that I have the same album, one in CD and one in LP.
The CD is DSD remastering.
Not sure if it is the same as you mentioned.

I use the same rig to play but of course, CD with CDP and LP with TT.

car o scope wrote:Wait a minute..
I think the DSD that I mentioned might not the one that you mentioned..
Err.. I am confused..

I meant that I have the same album, one in CD and one in LP.
The CD is DSD remastering.
Not sure if it is the same as you mentioned.

I use the same rig to play but of course, CD with CDP and LP with TT.

oh okay. i am talking about DSD files, not exactly the same as DSD mastering.

cheers,
wps

I see.. my bad my bad...

Gong Xi Fa Cai and Happy Holiday!!
I will spin more LPs on my TT these few days..
Maybe try to search for CNY LP at home.

happy cny!

cheers,
wps

Hi Wan Azami,

Going back to your original first post regarding the Pioneer PDR509/609, I have a Sony CDRW-66 which is sort of a professional cd recorder. Its specs boasts 24bit AD/DA and up to 96kHz sampling (unless 44.1kHz detected), has all ins/outs one needs, XLRs, and even a BNC word clock input. I find its recording indistinguishable (for me) from the original source. IMHO using ultra low noise phonostage is a must as "tube rush" noise finds its way into the recording and this can be heard when monitoring through quality headphones, which is also a necessary item, as Wan pointed out - to prevent speaker sound vibrations from affecting the turntable. Don't ask me how it uses 24bits of info in a 16-bit audio cd format, but thats what the specifications says (maybe the least significant bits are truncated). Maybe some gurus can enlighten us.

Hi CLH,
That's what I mean. Unless you'd try this route than you know what I saying. There's so many theories out there and I'm for one a person technologically (esp digital) less informed/ interested but rely on my musical ears being used to analogue since the early late 70s till now. These recorders really work. Cheers.

the S/PDIF stream allows for up to 24 bits resolution (optional) but its default transport stream is 20bits of resolution.

AES/EBU uses 24bits for signal resolution by default.

When encoding into Redbook format which is only 16bit resolution, the digital resampler chips usually downsamples the resolution to 16bits hence in the digital stream, the extra bits are just set to zero.

Another example of a studio hardware that also does AD/DA and digital sampling rate conversions would be the Behringer SRC2496.
U can feed it any digital stream from 16,20 or 24 bits with a sampling rate of 32,44.1,48,88.2,or 96KHz, and it will convert it to any combo choice of 16, 20 or 24bit resolution with 32, 44.1, 48, 88.2, 96KHz signal output. If the resolution is being bit-reduced, there is a "dither" function to smoothen out the noise artifacts due to the reduction in bit resolution.

http://www.behringer.com/EN/Products/SRC2496.aspx

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S/PDIF


Another flexible consumer solution to digitise vinyls would be to pipe the phonostage's line-level output into a A/D converter (like the Behringer), and then from the A/D's digital out, feed it into a PC that can take S/PDIF signals and save the signal as a WAV file.
This can even be saved in the native high-res format of 24bits/96KHz (provided the PC soundcard's digital input can accept the format).

From the WAV (or whatever lossless format) file, it can even be manipulated or cut and segmented into separate audio tracks and then burnt onto a CD-R in Redbook format, with all the track numbers nicely indexed into the TOC. Can even encode CD-TEXT features as well into the disc.

Here's how i digitise vinyls: from the pre-amp's tape-out jacks (yes, i dont grab it directly from the phonostage coz i'm just LAZY), feed into my Behringer (cheap cheap good good, less than RM1.5K brand new), then digital Toslink into my Macbookpro. Recording software is called Audacity (a very powerful Freeware audio recording software for Mac OS). From there, chop up the tracks into separate files, then burn onto a CDR using Toast-Ti.

If i was in Windoze mode, the recording software would be Sound Forge, and a typically good burning software would be Nero.

Hi Mugenfoo,

Thanks for your explanations. Yes, my Sony recorder has AES/EBU input & output (using XLRs) so from your writing it can output 24-bit digital if I use it as an A to D? You can see from the picture it is clearly labelled as "24 bit" And it can also write text for album title and song title using the jog dial or external computer keyboard. Soundwise and functions, I have no complaints about this unit.

Hi Wan,
I see u have "Too Much Gears" to clear. Besides the Sony CDR-W66, I also have the Marantz CDR630 also "professional" recorder, and I am keeping both. Better keep your cd recorder - its rare nowadays. I am looking for a Sony 'new old stock' cd writer/drive (of the same model/type used in my recorder) should be cheap at LowYat if can find one, as a spare in case the laser kaput in future.

can try and see, feed the Sony's AES/EBU output into some digital recorder or computer , see if it registers as 24bit or not lah.