What's your budget? Get a half decent soundcard and you won't need to worry about an external ADC.

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Andy Davey - Concept 93 (Deep house/techno mix)

Something that's proven quality without being too silly (so maybe £300 limit).

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Help ID this lost Planet Perfecto / Trouser Enthusiast track

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fj2uIleonh4

You can get something that will do the job nicely for around half that. Not sure if you have a desktop or a laptop, but I'd go for a USB/Firewire interface either way for versatility.

Check out the following:

Cakewalk UA-25EX

E-MU 0404

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Andy Davey - Concept 93 (Deep house/techno mix)

Last edited by andydavey on Apr-28-2011 at 19:25

you would maybe consider this all in one solution, included RIAA and USB device for ripping by Pro-Ject? probably alot better and cheaper than the technics solution, as its 100% dedicated to what you plan to do.



And it looks awesome!

http://www.project-audio.com/main.p...ntables&lang=de

pro-ject is pretty serious stuff, and probably comes with a better sounding needle than the ortfon dj type. the only negative thing about this is the manual change of gear (33/45rpm) as its not direct driven but belt driven. quite the hussle but if you sort your vinyls into two piles it should be good, one for 33 and one for 45.

you wouldnt think this is better but it probably is, even though its 1/5 of the cost of your technics + riaa + soundcard solution which will be uselessly expensive compared to what you get, atleast with dj needle like the aktiv.

Last edited by Zak McKracken on Apr-26-2011 at 18:16

I had considered that but the belt put me off. I chose to go with the quartz direct drive of the technics because I didn't fancy the speed messing about as I intend to mix with the rips.

Thanks for the soundcard names will check them now. I'm on a laptop

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Help ID this lost Planet Perfecto / Trouser Enthusiast track

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fj2uIleonh4

im about to do the same with one of my 1210s. replace the arm and cartridge+needle with a Rega 300 one, get a Vincent RIAA for about 120USD (guessing, i dont live in the US) and connect it all to my Echo Audiofire 4. Should get me decent results. i need to clean some of these vinyls though, they reek. I just bought another 300 today lol. Im addicted again.

well what i did yesterday was this: i replaced the dj pickup with a Ortofon 2M Red (moving magnet, decent price). not for djeing but much better signal/noise ratio and sound in general imo, also less noisy (the dj cartridges are terrible imo with the trebling noise). also i bought a ClearAudio Nano Phono RIAA (mm and mc) which was awesome compared to my Xone32 quality. The sound is fucking tight. The ortofon was attached to the original Technics headshell that comes with the turntable, this way i didnt have to get a new tonearm. I might try get a new tonearm and more expensive pickup later when this one wears out. Anyhow vinyl just got WAY more fun now that it sounds huge compared to my mp3s. so worth it.

and i just bought another 300 second hand vinyls so now i have lots do go through lol:

Ohh how is the pre amp performing?

I'm stuck with the ortofon arkiv Moving Magnet cart. While it sounds ok and Im hearing some details off old vinyls i never heard before It annoys me i could go better with a Moving Coil.

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Help ID this lost Planet Perfecto / Trouser Enthusiast track

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fj2uIleonh4

PROJECT PHONO BOX III
Bellari VP 530
NAD PP3i / NAD PP3 (dunno the difference here)

That's the three I am looking at, to save me getting into silly money as I will never be able to shell out over £20,000 for an extra half db of sound.

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Help ID this lost Planet Perfecto / Trouser Enthusiast track

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fj2uIleonh4

The preamp sounded very good but i replaced the ClearAudio with Pro-Ject Phono Box 2 as the terminals on the CLearAudio was too small for my cables, just to tight back there, also ground was too close to the terminals. And while Phono Box is almost 50% of the price i cant really tell any difference in audio with the needle i bought. I wish I bought the Blue ortofon needle instead though, apparently quite a bit better for not much more money. But ill probably wear this one out pretty fast so i can get a better needle then. I didnt know Phono Box 3 was out though, whats new with it compared to 2? Whats nice about these RIAAs is that they are both MM/MC so if you want to upgrade to moving coil pickup later its no problem. i think those cost quite a bit more though and probably not any point in EDM. I do however love the dynamics and treble of vinyl compared to mp3.

the phono box 2 comes in a USB version too btw, which could save you the whole soundcard thing.


id go for that, and put the rest of the money in some needle.

Last edited by Zak McKracken on May-09-2011 at 10:54

Yeah I think I am going Phono Box III

Only can do 16bit 48Khz rips but hell that's fine by me.

Just need to solder the van damme cable into the technics arm now and maybe look into a high end USB cable perhaps?


Dont think i could do much else unless i was spending £20,000 for that extra 1% difference.

___________________
Help ID this lost Planet Perfecto / Trouser Enthusiast track

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fj2uIleonh4