Recommend me a USB ADC / DAC ~ £400.00.

[DarrenHW]

Hi all,

I'm nearing the end of the upgrade path for my first Techie so now turning my attention to a USB ADC for transcribing vinyl to HDD. This will also be used as a DAC for the PC so I'm looking for the best solution for recording and playback within my budget.

Initially I had planned on using a Tascam US-144 MK2, I've heard some "rips" made with this and have been quite impressed but can't help thinking it's a little low end? With this is mind I'm now considering the Furutech GT40 USB DAC which only has a USB input but as my CD collection is on HDD (and this is my preferred method of playback) this is not necessarily a problem, but additional inputs would be nice.

I'm sure there are many members on here that transcribe vinyl to HDD so would be interested to hear all thoughts and recommendations.

Recording will be made to PC running Windows 7 using Audacity to Flac 24/96.

Thanks in advance.

[Mark Grant]

The Furutech looks good.

Also lots of choices in the studio/pro audio industry for an ADC/ DAC ' soundcard'

Maudio, Apogee, RME etc

£400 almost gets an RME babyface
http://www.rme-audio.de/en_products_babyface.php

http://www.proaudiostar.com/in-dev-review-rme-babyface-usb-audio-interface
listen to the sound clips lower down on that page, it sounds good.

http://www.absolutemusic.co.uk/community/entries/186-rme-babyface-review

http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/apr11/articles/rme-babyface.htm

Might be a bit complicated but will be very accurate.

Good luck with the search.

[Tim]

I have no personal knowledge of this one, but I do have an HRT Music Streamer II+ and I'm very impressed with it.

http://mycollins.net/hrt03.jpg

HRT LineStreamer+ (http://highresolutiontechnologies.com/linestreamer-plus#prodd)

Review (http://www.hifiplus.com/articles/hrt-linestreamer-hi-fi-90/)

£299 here http://www.audioaffair.co.uk/hrt-linestreamer-adc?utm_source=google_shopping&gclid=CNut8vzx2LwCFWXnwgodYQ4A_Q

[DarrenHW]

Thanks for the recommendations. I've had a quick look into both products. I had considered the RME Babyface as it's highly recommended but had previously discounted it due to the higher price and the GT40 appears to be better built? I've done some more reading on this and in one review the TC Electronic Impact Twin is suggested as an alternative, this is another ADC / DAC I have considered, any view on this? I know this has a firewire interface, any advantage to using FW over USB?

I was unaware of the HRT Music Streamer II, upon further reading a review reported no audible difference between it and the GT40. My only concern with the HRT is it's inability to use an external PS and so must be powered via USB, my intention is to use a data only USB cable with 5v and ground removed, I guess the HRT could be connected with a split USB cable (1B / 2A - one for power, one for data) would this offer any advantage?

Mark - I took a look at your site (some very nice products BTW) and saw you have a Linear PS for the ADL Esprit, any offerings for the GT40 or Babyface?

[AlexM]

I've got a Linestreamer+ as well, and it is very, very good. I can't tell much difference between the record and ADC/DAC playback.

I wouldn't worry about the USB power - the designer has paid a lot of attention to the design of the power supply and claims that the noise rejection is much more than sufficient. Judging by the sound, I'd say he's right!.

I have also used an EMU 0404USB, which is very very good for the money, and has more features than you can shake a stick at. it is out of production for a while, but used examples pop up from time to time. Very low noise and transparent sounding.

Regards,
Alex

[DSJR]

I have to say that the electronics involved are a VERY few quid when used in the quantities that people like Fiio or behringer do. The casework is what costs the money in silly money digital.. The HRT is probably as good as you'd ever need if the Tascam feels to you far too cheap and looks cute too.

P.S. There's a £11 or so DAC available on fleabay and although I make no great claims for it, I was genuinely surprised it could sound any good at all, let alone as good as it actually is...

[MCRU]

The Esprit and GT40 are in a class of their own for "sound quality" when ripping vinyl to flacs etc, the Esprit is now dis-continued by the way, there are a few left, its also got a very good dac inside and a rather good headphone amplifier
if that is of any use.

Hope that helps.

[DarrenHW]

Thanks for all the recommendations, the Linestreamer II+ seems to be quite popular so maybe I was too quick to dismiss it, and I'm encouraged that 2 recommendations come from fellow SL 1200 owners :).


I've got a Linestreamer+ as well, and it is very, very good. I can't tell much difference between the record and ADC/DAC playback.

Big claim indeed, do you possibly have any uploaded "needledrops" I could listen to? I know that's quite cheeky just wondering if there's any chance you've done any before and after drops with your PS mods?


I have also used an EMU 0404USB, which is very very good for the money, and has more features than you can shake a stick at. it is out of production for a while, but used examples pop up from time to time. Very low noise and transparent sounding.

How would you compare it to the HRT? A product I was also considering is the E-MU 1212M PCI/e does anyone have any views on this or PCI/e v USB in general?


There's a £11 or so DAC available on fleabay and although I make no great claims for it, I was genuinely surprised it could sound any good at all, let alone as good as it actually is...

I have seen similar items on eBay, do you know of any similar ADC boards?


The Esprit and GT40 are in a class of their own for "sound quality" when ripping vinyl to flacs etc, the Esprit is now dis-continued by the way, there are a few left, its also got a very good dac inside and a rather good headphone amplifier
if that is of any use.

Yes, very useful thank you. This is what I've read about the SQ of the GT40 and hence my interest, Esprit really is more money than I'm looking at spending and in that price bracket I'd be more inclined to opt for the TASCAM DA-3000, which really is my ultimate goal. The first ADC / DAC I buy will essentially be a stop gap / training tool, allowing me to digitise some vinyl so that I can;
i, preserve the out of press records I own,
ii, easily create compilations / mobile recordings (cassette, DVD, iPhone & streamed), and
iii, get my head around recording whilst my next TT's in development and A/B test achieving for aforementioned TT.

Best DAC SQ really is the priority as whatever I chose to go with will ultimately move down the line, Kitchen, Study, Gym / Games Room etc...

Thanks again.

[AlexM]

Thanks for all the recommendations, the Linestreamer II+ seems to be quite popular so maybe I was too quick to dismiss it, and I'm encouraged that 2 recommendations come from fellow SL 1200 owners :).



Big claim indeed, do you possibly have any uploaded "needledrops" I could listen to? I know that's quite cheeky just wondering if there's any chance you've done any before and after drops with your PS mods?



How would you compare it to the HRT? A product I was also considering is the E-MU 1212M PCI/e does anyone have any views on this or PCI/e v USB in general?



Hi Darren,

Yes, I do think that the ADC/DAC encode/decode process is very transparent. I was quite suprised by this myself, but it is a little difficult for me to quantify this accurately by direct comparison. When I am ripping vinyl, my workflow is to record at 24/96, then do some 'sensitive' processing of audible pops and clicks, split tracks, process intros and fades, and then usually downsample to 24/48 FLACs.

I have compared by looping back the Linestreamer+'s output via Audacity monitoring to the USB DAC in my CA 850CA's USB input, and flicking back and forth between LP source and digitised output. Allowing for slight differneces in gain, they do sound very, very close overall.

The end result is that actually an improvement on the source in most respects including, of course, convenience and usability. If I compare the directly recorded analogue source to the unprocessed 24/96 WAV then there does seems to be very little loss of detail, change in tonal balance, image depth/width etc. Admittedly this non-purist method may not be what you are interested in terms of archival - I also retain the exported WAV files unprocessed as a backup. Some (most?) of my legacy vinyl is in less than perfect condition even after a good clean on the Moth RCM and scratches and noise are an annoyance for me.

i think the EMU 0404 USB has good line-in preamplification and a decent ADC stage. The hardware used is similar to the E-MU 1212M card, but there is an at least theoretical advantage of not being in such an electrically noisy environment. I did find the EMU software bundle added some value, albeit that this is now aged and the drivers were always somewhat flaky in my experience with Win7/8. In terms of SQ, the 0404 sounded pretty good - quiet, transparent and neutral with only a small degree of coarseness introduced as a result of the ADC converserion. I didn't try it with a linear PSU, but I suspect it might have been an improvement.

I think the Linestreamer II+ edges it as an ADC. I also think that there is an advantage to havinh seperate ADC/DACs to allow you to upgrade them independently. I really like it's transportability/flexibility - I used it to capture the output from the Allen & Heath desk of a band I engineer for occassionally, and they were amazed at the SQ when I gave it to them on a DVD.

I'm taking a break from my mission to ditigise all of my vinyl at the moment, so you could borrow mine to try for a bit if you are happy to pay for return postage and 'underwrite' it if it doesn't make it back in one piece.

Regards,
Alex

[AlexM]

P.S. I may be able to do some before/after PSU needle drops if I can find something appropriate I ripped before doing the PSU on my SL1210.. might be interesting!.

[DarrenHW]

Alex,

That is a very, very kind offer and I would gratefully take you up on it, naturally I would cover all postage costs and take full responsibility for it, thank you :thumbsup:. I'm not quite ready to start ripping yet, my TT is currently with Marco so he can evaluate the arm and once I have it back I do have a few wrinkles to iron out, I had thought they were with the TT but none of the issues I was having were present at Marco's so once I have it back I need to identify and resolve the problem area. I also still need to perform the mods to my phonostage which means ordering parts from the USA so I've got at least a month there waiting for HMRC to process :steam:. Have yet to order the components as my entire system is subject to change at the moment so want to have a completed parts list before ordering. Cutting to the chase I'm still a way away from being ready to start recording which is why I started this thread now to give me plenty of opinions and time to research all the possibilities.

"Non-Purist" approach at this stage is not necessarily a concern, as it is my TT is a far cry from "reference" standard, just want to buy the best sounding product available within this budget as I plan on keeping it and it will most likely move into the kitchen for streaming the recoded files. This does kind of rule out the E-MU 1212M as I don't intend on having a PC in the kitchen and agree that in principle and external ADC/DAC would not be subject to the internal "noise" of the PC, however it does have a good reputation for Viynl recording and it's very cheap :scratch:

Again thank you for the offer and once I am ready to start recording hopefully you won't be knee deep in the same process yourself :).

How are you finding the improvements from the PSU mod? I was very impressed to say the least, I've just picked up a Timestep LNPSU-S-01 and find the speed stability of the DIY PSU far superior, from what I've read I believe this to be due to the Regulator being internal whereas the Timestep is external, Jim and Ken certainly did some outstanding work designing this.

[AlexM]

Darren,

That's ok - look me up when you are in a position to run a trial. I think the E-MU 1212M is a very good product, as is the 0404USB. If the long term plan is to make the music available for streaming, then I think it might be best to not restrict your choice to devices combinging the ADC/DAC/streaming functionality.

For myself, I am looking for a post squeezebox touch ecosystem that makes sense investing in. For the moment, I have a touch in my main system, two squeezebox radios and two other squeezebox 3s, and there is nothing around that makes me want to replace it. All of the alternatives seem to have inferior functionality and are much more expensive.

Regards,
Alex