Recommendations for a good analogue audio capture card

Forums › Home Theatre (including HTPC and EPG Collector) › Recommendations for a good analogue audio capture card

LookingUp

399 posts

Ultimate Geek

#115215 18-Mar-2013 12:18

I'm in the process of rationalising my HT set-up, and am looking to retire my turntable after first transferring a reasonable number of LPs to a digital format.

I've done a few already, through a rather torturous process of recording to a DVD recorder harddrive, transferring to a DVD, then converting the .VOB video file to a high bitrate MP3. That works reasonably well, and as some of the vinyl does when played on the turntable, the end result sounds better than the CD equivalent I also own. (notice I say "some)

Over the weekend I decided I'd try and record directly from the turntable pre-amp into my PC sound card, which very significantly improved the workflow. However, probably not surprisingly, the resulting sound is not as good as when digitized through the DVD recorder, that will have a better analogue to digital section.

My question - does anyone have a recommendation for a cost effective but high quality audio capture card, for a Win7 64 bit PC?

Things are LookingUp.... A photo from my back yard :-)

B1GGLZ

1961 posts

Uber Geek

#783423 18-Mar-2013 13:21

Surely a High Quality sound card would work much better than the rubbish onboard sound on most motherboards.
I use a middle of the range soundcard for Amateur Radio digital transmission/reception in my PC which is considerably superior to the motherboard's onboard sound. Incidentally, when I upgraded from XP to WIN 7 some of my software wouldn't even recognise the onboard sound.

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LookingUp

399 posts

Ultimate Geek

#783750 19-Mar-2013 08:38

B1GGLZ: Surely a High Quality sound card would work much better than the rubbish onboard sound on most motherboards......

I was thinking the same, but then I assume that most soundcards are designed to deliver sound as opposed to recording it, hence my question to the forum in case anyone knows of a card that has a particularly good quality input and A to D converter.

Things are LookingUp.... A photo from my back yard :-)

lchiu7

6176 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

#784443 20-Mar-2013 13:53

I ripped all my Videos and some LP's using one of these.

http://www.grassvalley.com/products/advc110

It does 16bit/48kHz so the audio is pretty decent. But you do need a IEEE 1394 card in your PC.

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B1GGLZ

1961 posts

Uber Geek

#784491 20-Mar-2013 14:33

LookingUp:
I was thinking the same, but then I assume that most soundcards are designed to deliver sound as opposed to recording it, hence my question to the forum in case anyone knows of a card that has a particularly good quality input and A to D converter.

I use one of these
http://www.pbtech.co.nz/index.php?z=p&p=AUDCRE0026&name=Creative-Sound-Blaster-Audigy-Value---PCI-Retail-7

Whilst soundcards are basicall designed for outputting sound you'll find they do an excellent job recording as well. You get what you pay for though. The audigy is certainly better at processing sound input (and output) than my motherboard's onboard audio. The cards usually come with audio processing software (including a graphic equalizer) which you will need to engineer your audio input to clean up noise from scratches etc. Amateur radio digital transmission and reception requires better audio processing quality (input and output) than the average cheap card or motherboard audio. Likewise you need superior quality for you recordings.
I think tha Audigy or similar or better would do the job OK.
I know - audiophiles don't scratch there vinyl!!

B1GGLZ

1961 posts

Uber Geek

#784493 20-Mar-2013 14:35

lchiu7: I ripped all my Videos and some LP's using one of these.

http://www.grassvalley.com/products/advc110

It does 16bit/48kHz so the audio is pretty decent. But you do need a IEEE 1394 card in your PC.

Looks like a nice little unit but its only 16 bit. Audio cards can be 24 bit or more.

lchiu7

6176 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

#784504 20-Mar-2013 14:45

B1GGLZ:
lchiu7: I ripped all my Videos and some LP's using one of these.

http://www.grassvalley.com/products/advc110

It does 16bit/48kHz so the audio is pretty decent. But you do need a IEEE 1394 card in your PC.

Looks like a nice little unit but its only 16 bit. Audio cards can be 24 bit or more.

True enough but Cd's are only 16 bit and that hasn't been an issue. And especially when you are capturing a source with a limited dynamic range like a LP.

Staying in Wellington. Check out my AirBnB in the Wellington CBD. https://www.airbnb.co.nz/rooms/32019730 Mention GZ to get a 10% discount

B1GGLZ

1961 posts

Uber Geek

#784613 20-Mar-2013 17:29

lchiu7:
True enough but Cd's are only 16 bit and that hasn't been an issue. And especially when you are capturing a source with a limited dynamic range like a LP.

Depends how fussy you are about quality.
I'm quite happy ripping vinyl with my Audigy card for $63. The cheaper ones are probably just as good. I doubt you could tell the difference.

LookingUp

399 posts

Ultimate Geek

#784770 20-Mar-2013 23:51

B1GGLZ:
lchiu7:
True enough but Cd's are only 16 bit and that hasn't been an issue. And especially when you are capturing a source with a limited dynamic range like a LP.

Depends how fussy you are about quality.
I'm quite happy ripping vinyl with my Audigy card for $63. The cheaper ones are probably just as good. I doubt you could tell the difference.

Thanks for your input, but sorry , but I'd beg to differ on that one, hence my quandry. Quality is my objective. Yes, I can rip an LP and it'll sound as good as a CD (albeit with the odd crack and pop) but with a decent turntable and stylus many old LPs leave their CD equivalents for dead - seriously. What I'm looking to do though is capture the quality of vinyl that many old CDs lack. (before you all leap into this I'd suggest a visit to a "real" HiFi shop for a listen to a high end turntable)

Having done a bit more digging since the original post, as I see it I have 4 main options:

1. A video card that will supposedly do a reasonable job at 24 bits / 196kHz for ~$100

2. A video card that will almost certainly do a reasonable job at 24 bits /196kHz for $~300

3. A studio quality card for $1,000+

4. Keep using my DVD recorder, which does a pretty good job at 196kHz when set to high quality, but is painful to use.

Option 3 is out, so I'm still considering 1 & 2 versus 4.

Things are LookingUp.... A photo from my back yard :-)

LookingUp

399 posts

Ultimate Geek

#784802 21-Mar-2013 08:32

Oops - correction to the above - it should be 24/192kHz. Was a up a bit late last night!

Things are LookingUp.... A photo from my back yard :-)