How do vinyl records rip to digital format with Sylvania Turntable Record Player with USB Encoding?

I bet all of you have much bigger and higher quality products for ripping and needle dropping your records into digital format to listen on the go or if you don't like a the CD version, but maybe you guys have heard about this piece of equipment.

I have bought a couple of records online for very cheap and they look beautiful and mint. I would like to start a record collection but I'm moving back home soon, so I don't want to invest in a huge setup as it will cost me a fortune to move it all back home in South America. I have absolutely no equipment for turntable or record listening, so figured that maybe ripping the records to digital will give me a taste of what I'm missing until I buy the proper equipment, which I honestly don't know when that could be.
I came upon this online and, from what very little I know, apparently this along with the audacity software is all you need to rip the records. Would you recommend this for transferring to digital? Is there a better way without shelling out for bigger size equipment? Have you guys tried this and what was your experience or any other comments regarding this or similar products would be much appreciated, or anything regarding what is the most cost-effective way of transferring vinyl records to quality digital format.

Thank you all very much in advance.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00KADVQWI/ref=twister_B00KHMAIKI?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1

 

Nothing in that form factor is going to sound good at all and will most likely damage your records, sorry to say. If the intention is to listen digitally and you can't afford or store proper equipment in order to make your rips I think you're almost certainly better off downloading the songs from somewhere, at least a couple hundred dollars are needed in order to acquire equipment that will produce decent quality files.
If you just want to listen to the records on a portable setup, the MPK TT270 was recently released and has been received well. It has a proper cartridge and counterweight and so it will be kind to your records and is able to be upgraded later on.

 

I think you need more than Audicity. But Audicity is good enough to record. It's not so good if you want to Declick. I used ClickRepair. This used to be the best software. But there is now freeware that has tools. It's probably not as good as ClickRepair. Once you get ClickRepair dialed in, you can used automated settings, which speed things up a lot. Freeware is called Gnome Wave Cleaner. I've never used this software, so I'm not going to give it a recommendation. But since this is more of an experimental situation, I would give it a shot.

Gnome Wave Cleaner

 

Looks like a nice alternative until I get a proper setup, they look like Crosley turntables, which I've heard nothing but terrible reviews because they ruin your records. How is this different from those Crosleys, is it the Audio Technica cartridge or any other upgrades made in these portable turntable nowadays?

 

That will sound terrible, you'd be better off with MP3s.

 

The rips will sound exactly as you hear the music from the turntable. For more of what's in the groove to get, buy a better TT. Now, with a streaming subscription at about $10 monthly, ripping just does not make much sense.

 

Great sounding needledrops take quite a bit of effort, time, and money. The results you will achieve with that device aren't worth the time or hassle. For $30 you can buy a few months of a streaming subscription or a handful of CDs. Do that instead...

 

Add one of these to your Amazon cart and you'll be able to transfer your vinyl to files:
https://www.amazon.com/Behringer-U-Control-UCA202-Ultra-Low-Interface/dp/B000KW2YEI/

I'd recommend doing the transfer the first (and only) time you play the record on one of these cheap devices. Then put the LP back on the shelf until you have that "proper setup". Until that day, listen from the files.

 

Yes the MPK TT270 has a magnetic cartridge (it says "MM" which means "moving magnet", thus magnetic), which low tracking force. It'll probably sound horrible, but it won't ruin your records.

 

So this means that I can use an excellent turntable and this device for ripping only, with no need for further amps, pre-amps and speakers? Will I be able to listen to the music as it transfers to digital using headphones? This way I can invest in a top of the line turntable and later build a sound system around it, this way I don't have to settle for a hundred-dollar basic turntable either. Thanks in advance.

 

I would hold off until you have the money, or space, for a better setup. That device may only be $30 but you're basically throwing away $30. Plus it will likely damage your records.

But if you cannot wait for that...this TT isn't great, but at $99 it's much much better than that other device you've been looking at : https://www.amazon.com/Audio-Technica-AT-LP60BK-USB-Automatic-Belt-Drive-USB/dp/B016YYFZS2

Has a built-in pre-amp + USB out and you can just download Audacity for the recording portion, on your computer.

 

On top of the turntable, you'll still need a phono pre-amp. Basically, you'll still need to hook it up this way: Turntable -> Phono pre-amp -> Amplifier -> Behringer USB -> PC

And to answer your second question, yes. All other solutions provided above with crappy record players will not provide acceptable recordings of your LPs.

 

Spotify / Youtube Music is your best bet for now.
But it sounds like you are expecting much better quality from vinyl in general?
I would suggest to just start out with it for the fun
You can hear many vinyl album rips on youtube or as downloads as well so you know what you can expect, of course, all are not done equally though.

 

I did listen to youtube vinyl rips, this is what made me want the rips in the first place, especially rips of more modern releases and not so much remasters of old albums. I find new releases sound more relaxed and balanced when compared to the harsher CD sound which I figure is more of a media format thing than a mastering issue.

 

You mean vice versa? There is nothing about CDs or Vinyl that make them sound a particular way. Both can be bad and good.

 

I've only listened to CDs my entire life, but months ago found a vinyl rip of a favorite of mine (We're Here Because We're Here by Anathema - 2010) and found it to be much more equalized and balanced when I compared it to the CD. I guess not necessarily better, but different enough for me to rediscover more of my favorite music in this format. Maybe I'm missing something in my simple Grados RS2i/HiFiMan HE-6 + Oppo + HiFiMan EF5 amp rig that isn't getting the warmest sound possible. I am also looking for a DAC currently, could this be the reason I notice such a big difference in sound quality?

 

Well I havnt heard it personally but the vinyl is definitely more dynamic in this case it seems:
Album list - Dynamic Range Database

But again, this is caused by the production chain, mastering most likely. If the CD was mastered better it should sound similar. Personally I dont think true audiophiles, like simple music lovers shouldnt favor one medium over the other. Even Cassettes can sound fantastic.

 

It's almost always a mastering issue. The problem with CD and digital audio is that there is a trend that got really out of hand sometime in the mid-90s and has continued to the present day. It's called the loudness war. Make something louder and it's going to sound harsher. For new music that was crushed by compression on CD or digital audio, it's easy to be "tricked" by a vinyl rip of such music, when that LP was often mastered in a cheap fashion from the same compressed files to make the CD. Often the cutting engineer will be forced to lower the levels to get it onto a lacquer or DMM plate and not have the end product skip or distort too much on some cheap turntables. That lower volume level doesn't get rid of the compression already in the files but can be more easy on the ears when you combine the fact that most needledrops are recorded at a lower level also.

If you level match these needledrops with the digital audio, differences should be less apparent - the main differences you'll likely hear are in the playback chain used to make the needledrop, which is going to add a sonic signature of its own. Most cartridges aren't 100% flat when you look at the frequency response. They have peaks and valleys. Plug that into some highly colored equipment and it works like pseudo-EQ.

Now with older music things are a bit different. Often each engineer that cut an LP or that mastered a CD has their own philosophy (and client demands) that require applying a certain EQ or compression in a certain way to achieve a desired result. Basically, you could have an old classic rock or jazz album that's been issued an nth number of times over the years. Take 5 different LPs mastered by 5 different engineers and 5 CDs following the same and they could all sound slightly different due to what the particular engineer did, what source they used (often there is more than one tape), and their equipment chain.

If you do not have the money or space to invest in vinyl, I would not worry about it too much. Just focus on getting the best sound you can out of digital audio. Seek out better and different masterings for some of your favorite albums and compare them yourself.

As for your rig, I won't comment on it too much. I will say that most headphones don't measure the same and there should be audible differences when the difference in frequency response meets a certain threshold. If you're not happy with your current headphones, try something else.

 

This.

 

Thank you very much for your detailed response, curious as to why the needledrop seems to sound softer and more balanced, I just wish I could get the same out of a digital file simply by ripping a CD. That database of dynamic range certainly seems to point out big differences between the two formats. You must use an external DAC yourself, in your experience does music sound a lot better with one and is it worth investing on it? Would it balance the music one usually hears with just a pair of great headphones and a computer with FLAC files?

 

Don't waste your money on junk like this. Get a real turntable.

 

The problem with using the DR database for vinyl vs. CD comparisons is that you can't use the DR meter to accurately measure the DR of a vinyl LP. Many people do not understand this and put too much stock in the vinyl LP DR scores there. They don't understand that not all phono cartridges have the same output, not all phono preamps have the same amount of gain, and not everyone sets the recording levels of an LP the same way using their ADC and recording software. That's before we get to any post processing that may affect things further.

When I go to the DR database, I automatically ignore all the vinyl entries. IMHO they should not be there or there should be a way to filter them out when viewing. Since the site is not updated too often that feature does not exist.

Now, lets get back to CD playback. The problem is that most people only own one CD copy of one of their favorite albums. It may be a well mastered version or it may not be. If it's a poorly mastered version, it doesn't matter how good of a DAC we play it back from, it will sound poor. Garbage in = garbage out. It's really that simple. Of course finding the best masterings on CD can be a challenge.

Besides the DR database, which only covers DR and not source or EQ, we have whole lot of fuzzy subjective information to go on. If we are lucky we can research what source was used, figured out who mastered it, etc. but this not always the case. What one prefers may be subjective in the case of two masterings that are close. We can graph EQ differences to confirm what we think we are hearing, we can conduct blind, level matched A/B tests using playback software, etc. Nothing is stopping you from getting a few different versions of an album you like and doing a scientific or unscientific comparison.

As for DACs, yes I do use an external DAC (more than one actually) for playing back digital files and my CD rips. I don't have a specific recommendation for a DAC. My advice would be to figure out a budget, what features want/need, and go from there. Nowadays it is possible to purchase a relatively high performing DAC for a couple hundred dollars or less.

 

You can buy DACs of varying quality. Not all sound the same and its not just about being external.
Case in point :


But again, its not pointing out format differences, but mastering differences. You can see the quality change between 2 CDs as well.

 

Logically though, you can see the improvement on the vinyl. If we were comparing a record that had less DR then the argument would be mpre relevant since the person may have used a very poor cartridge and so on.
But since digital can have better DR in general, and it doesnt show in on these entries, then that is telling of how the vinyl might be better, with one setup type anyway.

 

And neither would a Crosley or the Sylvania record player the OP mentioned. That's just a myth propagated by Michael Fremer.

The MPK TT270 is probably the best suitcase-style portable record player you can buy today, and it doesn't sound half bad, but it does not have a USB output.

The real bargain buy right now is the Connected Essentials CET500 turntable. For only $59.99 you get an upgradeable magnetic phono cartridge, adjustable counterweight & anti-skating, full-size aluminum platter with strobe marks, and USB output:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00B72D3RC