Vinyl To Cd - Better Interface Than Line-in?, (What Again?) Options

[Peter B.]

Hello:

No doubt this question has already been answered a thousand times, but...

All I want to do is transcribe vinyl LPs to CD. I've been using the line level inputs on two different PowerBooks (G3 and G4), but can definitely hear the 'loss' in the final product.

I'm wondering if an external USB analog to digital device will give better results?

The iMic is not (apparently) thought highly of here, but might it be a noticeable improvement over the straight line-in arrangement?

And/or is there a relatively inexpensive alternative that would give a superior result?

Thanks very much for your time and patience.

Peter B.

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[Peter B.]

mortalengines:

Thanks to you as well...

>You are also really gonna need a phono preamp-
>(if you are not using the line outs of your stereo
>receiver to the line inputs of your computer which
>may impart a bit of color/noise that you don't want)

This was a bit confusing, but I read it as "_using_ the line outs from the receiver direct to the computer may impart color/noise".

So *ideally* I should bypass my receiver altogether... use a pre-amp... output to (something like) the M-Audio interface... feeding to the computer?

The Compact 4 appears to offer more features than I really need and the Radial DI seems a bit pricey.

Any lower cost preamp recommendations? Or would I be making a mistake trying to use something 'less'.

I genuinely appreciate the help, and I apologise for cluttering a forum that I realise is dedicated to subjects above and beyond this. Sooner or later, I'll just have to bite a bullet on my own, but I really didn't want to eat lead without a little 'pro' advice first.

Peter B.

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