'Audiophile way' to transfer tape to harddisc

Hi,

Owning some great cassettedecks (Nakamichi Dragon / CR7) I am playing with the idea of doing a 'audiophile way' of transferring tape to harddisk. So....what is the best way to transfer an official audiocassette (the one you bought in a shop ages ago).

- What should I hook up on the Dragon (I have some recordingdevices like Edirol R44 or Sony M10), but it there something to look for in the specs?
- For official cassettes, should I use Dolby B if it was recorded with Dolby B (or not, if it sounds better..)

I know, kinda freaky, but looking for options and things to look for to do it 100% best.

 

I've seen RCA to USB adapters then there's plenty of software out there. Would it be any different than needle drops?

 

I connect my decks (also own the same two Nak's as the OP) to a Tascam DA-3000 and record in DSD. Then I copy the files to the computer. Using Korg Audiogate I can do some basic editing and conversion to PCM for other playback devices.

 

Thanks for the suggestions. In addition.

I think in all cases it is better to connect the cassettedeck straight to the recording device (Nak > RCA > Recorder) to avoid any unwanted noise.
Or would Nak > RCA > Amplifier IN > Amplifier OUT > Recorder be a way to go? And why?

 

Unless the release was not available elsewhere, I wouldn't bother transferring store-bought cassettes to digital, gourmet deck or not. Most of them were made on poor quality tape, and are in badly made shells. I'd just buy a digital version and be done with it.

 

I use a Furutech GT40 USB ADC/DAC headphone amp interface from a Nak 670ZX into an iMac or Windows laptop with Audacity software.
I'm using cassettes recorded from vinyl - no store boughts. I keep the digitized flac files on one of several USB thumb drives and external hard drives.
I use this method for digitizing vinyl, also.
Hope this helps.

 

In my opinion, for an 'audiophile' transfer, find an ADC you like the sound of and connect it directly to the cassette deck's output. You can use headphones during setup/cueing, but turn them down during the actual transfer. If you can calibrate the playback gain of the deck for proper Dolby decode, do that. Otherwise, use Dolby or not based on how you like the playback sound.

 

What is really going to determine the sound quality will be the ADC. You can get good conversion for not much money these days- the Edirol is probably good enough for this. If it was recorded in Dolby B, you will want to play it back with it.

 

I would buy a Tascam dr-40 and record them at 2496 and you can put them in your computer by USB. You could do it at redbook, but HD space is cheap as a portable 1TB drive is about $80.