Posted: 12/1/2025 1:07:00 PM EDT
[Last Edit: R2point0][Edited]
|
TL:DR what's a good phono pre-amp/signal converter to rip old albums? My father has an album collection that, while not huge, is relatively valuable both personally and financially. He was very into bluegrass and classical music in the mid to late 60s and has albums and box sets that haven't been played in decades. He's in his 80s now and needs a hobby so we suggested that he convert them to CD so he can listen to them again. I've looked into the different options and there appear to be three: an all-in-one unit with a turntable and a CD burner built in, a USB turntable to convert to digital format and then burn CDs with a computer, and using a turntable pre-amp and D/A converter (separate or combined) with his existing turntable. The all-in-ones are the cheapest, and the simplest to operate, but cheap means cheap, and I don't trust them with his old albums. It also seems that you are stuck with whatever audio processing is in there. The USB turntables I've seen are $250 and up, and then he'd still need to do the work on a desktop or laptop. He can do it, but it's still a pain in the ass. So I'm leaning toward the third option. The turntable is a Technics SL-D2, which is direct drive so I wouldn't need to replace the belt, and which I understand is quite a good unit. I'll need to Deoxit the controls, but there are only two of them. And a cursory search showed a converter with what appears to be good specifications for about $100. All that to ask: 1) specific recommendations for hardware? 2) should I budget for a new cartridge? The original one wasn't exactly in heavy use, but do they deteriorate with non-use? 3) software recommendations for creating the files and burning to cd? I want to rip to FLAC and then to CD. And for those who are going to suggest just setting up his old system and listening to them live, not going to happen. For one, the receiver is going to need a lot of work with contact cleaner. He also doesn't have speakers anymore. And finally, my mom just won't stand it. He's asked for a walkman for Christmas, though I'm going to try to convince him to skip the cd part and just use his phone. Sorry for the wall of text; any advice is appreciated |
"As God is my witness, I thought turkeys could fly." A. Carlson
|
Seems like all he needs is a turntable with a USB out. He can go directly from that into a computer and burn CDs with it. Also, he doesn't need to set up an entire stereo to listen to his albums. Get a turntable with a built-in pre-amp and feed that into a headphone amp. He can listen to his records through headphones and never disturb the little misses. |
|
Originally Posted By Bladeswitcher: Seems like all he needs is a turntable with a USB out. He can go directly from that into a computer and burn CDs with it. Also, he doesn't need to set up an entire stereo to listen to his albums. Get a turntable with a built-in pre-amp and feed that into a headphone amp. He can listen to his records through headphones and never disturb the little misses. There's also something of an ulterior motive. He needs something to *do*. Even him sitting at a table with a turntable and a laptop playing with dials and controls is better than him sitting at the couch all day playing online poker. |
"As God is my witness, I thought turkeys could fly." A. Carlson
|
Originally Posted By R2point0: Cost is a thing - money is tight for him, and my brother and I aren't exactly rolling in it. New turntables of any quality are substantially more expensive than a signal converter. But I'm also willing to be proven wrong. There's also something of an ulterior motive. He needs something to *do*. Even him sitting at a table with a turntable and a laptop playing with dials and controls is better than him sitting at the couch all day playing online poker. I don't know what to tell you. Audio gear costs money. You can't spend what you don't have though. Maybe look for a different way to keep pops occupied. |
|
Originally Posted By Bladeswitcher: I don't know what to tell you. Audio gear costs money. You can't spend what you don't have though. Maybe look for a different way to keep pops occupied. |
"As God is my witness, I thought turkeys could fly." A. Carlson
|
Originally Posted By R2point0: Are the combined phono pre-amps and signal converter not worth it? Yes, convenience is good, but he's willing to trade convenience for value. I talked with him about the options earlier today. Honestly, I've never looked into them. I'm sure you can find reviews online for whichever one you're considering. Have you thought about having him CLEAN his records before ripping them? I sure wouldn't waste a bunch of time and money duping old records unless I cleaned them really well first. I use a simple/cheap Spin Clean record washer. I've cleaned maybe 800 albums on that thing. Makes a HUGE difference. Gets rid of 80+% of the pops and noise. You want something to keep Pops occupied, a Spin Clean will do that. |
|
Originally Posted By Bladeswitcher: Honestly, I've never looked into them. I'm sure you can find reviews online for whichever one you're considering. Have you thought about having him CLEAN his records before ripping them? I sure wouldn't waste a bunch of time and money duping old records unless I cleaned them really well first. I use a simple/cheap Spin Clean record washer. I've cleaned maybe 800 albums on that thing. Makes a HUGE difference. Gets rid of 80+% of the pops and noise. You want something to keep Pops occupied, a Spin Clean will do that. An ulterior ulterior motive is the disposition of the record collection when he passes or is otherwise unable to enjoy them. I've been meaning to get his collection up on Discogs for years but have neither had access nor time. It would be nice to be able to say that the albums have been checked out and don't have any problems. Or do have problems. ETA: just looked up the spin clean. It's definitely going on the list. It might take up some of the dining room table, but Mom can lump it. |
"As God is my witness, I thought turkeys could fly." A. Carlson
|
Originally Posted By guyina4x4: Sign up for a $10 month music streaming service. Steam whatever musty you want. The idea is to give him something to do and accomplish. |
"As God is my witness, I thought turkeys could fly." A. Carlson
|
Buy 2 or 3 of amazon. Try them out. Return all but one. You don't have to get stuck with trash with amazon's easy returns. Hell, many other online stores have followed suit. Summitracing, walmart, yada yada. They give you 30 or 60 days with free returns. If you don't like something, you just take it to walgreens or any other fedex/UPS dropoff location. They print the prepaid label and mail it. You get a refund. Thats what I did when I was looking for something to digitize VHS. Try out all the all-in-one ones. Keep the best. Pops isn't going to be that great if he's got to manage a pipeline of 10 different components and click through protools to create an album. |
|
Originally Posted By giantpune: Buy 2 or 3 of amazon. Try them out. Return all but one. You don't have to get stuck with trash with amazon's easy returns. Hell, many other online stores have followed suit. Summitracing, walmart, yada yada. They give you 30 or 60 days with free returns. If you don't like something, you just take it to walgreens or any other fedex/UPS dropoff location. They print the prepaid label and mail it. You get a refund. Thats what I did when I was looking for something to digitize VHS. Try out all the all-in-one ones. Keep the best. Pops isn't going to be that great if he's got to manage a pipeline of 10 different components and click through protools to create an album. I was also looking closer at pricing. I can get a USB turntable for about 200 bucks, and the converter is 100. It might be worth the extra hundred just to take a component out of the loop. For software my search turned up VinylStudio, which is made specifically for ripping analog recordings to digital. It's not too expensive and it automates a lot of the process. |
"As God is my witness, I thought turkeys could fly." A. Carlson
|
Originally Posted By Sartorius: Just out of curiosity, what are some of the albums? I'd be curious if they were on Amazon Music. His first choices were albums from all 4 US military matching bands, probably dating from the early 60's. Keep in mind, part of this is to give him something to do. Complications from a bout with esophageal cancer have left him very weak, and this is something he can do while sitting down. I did a test run on his setup and it seemed to work well, though there is some adjusting to do. |
"As God is my witness, I thought turkeys could fly." A. Carlson