Converting Analog Audio to Digital

[bubbaridesfast]

I'm not sure if this is the right forum for this question.

Over the years I have set up a very decent phono system (Oracle table/Counterpoint tube Pre-amp) and collected many LP's that I wish to convert to WAV for burning on cd's.

I am exploring ideas on the best ways for the A/D conversion. I know I can do this using a soundcard in my pc, but is that going to get accurate (read really good) results? In my system, vinyl still sounds better than cd's. If there are really good  soundcards, what are they? And what are the pro's and cons of internal vs. external (USB) cards?

Or is the way to go just a stand-alone cd burner? What to look for (other than just bit-rate and sampling freqs)?

I've seen some opinions that an internal card will be colored by the electromagnetics generated in the pc case and other reviews that found fault with the USB connection of external soundcards.

Some say definitely get pro equipment that the likes of Creative Labs use shoddy connectors etc. My opinion of pro equipment has usually been that it is built rugged to take a beating but not usually up to audiophile standards.

Any comments/suggestions are welcome.

[Doug Mohr]

Depends how wild you want to go. The Lynx AES16 will do everything you want and more, but if you are only going to CD, then the extra resolution is pointless.

The Lynx AES16 is an entry level pro-grade card. Great for small studios and way overkill for vinyl to digital, but you won't have to worry about quality issues.

If you don't want to drop $700 on digitizing your audio, I would assume that anything with a 44.1KHz or higher sampling rate will do what you want it to.

Doug

[gopheralex]

There are really 4 classes of sound cards, in order of cheapest to most expensive - 1) the kind that come inside PCs that nobody thinks or cares about; 2) gamer cards like Creative's that are geared toward having lots of channels and useless gimmickry and flashy boxes and stuff; 3) amateur audio interfaces intended for home music studios; 4) pro audio interfaces that are total overkill for what you're looking to do. #3 starts at around $100 and that's what I'd recommend you go with. (Obviously, sound quality goes + as price +) If you are super anal, you could get a standalone A/D and capture the audio over S/PDIF or something.

The difference (well, one of the many differences) between the cheap piece of crap sound card that comes standard in all computers and a dedicated audio interface is the quality of the A/D converters. Standard $20 sound cards tend to be noisy not because they're internal but because they suck. Creative cards generally fall into this category because audio enthusiasts are not their target market.

Look around in the online music stores - music123.com, americanmusical.com, zzounds.com, etc. USB interfaces get knocked for several reasons, such as flaky drivers and not enough bandwidth for many channels of audio (USB 1.1). USB 1.1 has plenty of bandwidth for 16/44.1 stereo though, and the drivers on the reputable stuff are fine. Read reviews before you buy and look at Edirol, M-Audio, Tascam. Stay away from off-brands. Firewire is more solid but perhaps overkill for what you're looking to do. Internal PCI is fine and great and not noisy at all, as long as it's not a cheap, junky card.

[bubbaridesfast]

Look around in the online music stores - music123.com, americanmusical.com, zzounds.com, etc. USB interfaces get knocked for several reasons, such as flaky drivers and not enough bandwidth for many channels of audio (USB 1.1). USB 1.1 has plenty of bandwidth for 16/44.1 stereo though, and the drivers on the reputable stuff are fine. Read reviews before you buy and look at Edirol, M-Audio, Tascam. Stay away from off-brands. Firewire is more solid but perhaps overkill for what you're looking to do. Internal PCI is fine and great and not noisy at all, as long as it's not a cheap, junky card.

Thanks for the reply, it confirms some of the things I learned/thought so far. I have been seriously considering one from M-Audio but I hadn't heard of Edirol or looked at Tascam yet - I'll check those out.
The Lynx looks great but way too pricey for me - I had hoped to get good results under $200.