Vinyl transfer, noob question

I have a vintage Denon turntable and a vintage integrated stereo amplifier. I want to digitize some of my records on my 2019 MacBook Pro.

Am I right in thinking that an audio interface isn't necessary, because the preamp (phono stage) in the amp is already processing the RIAA signal?

If so, then would simply using a line-in to USB convertor, such as this one, suffice in getting the audio into my Mac?

I realize I'd then need to process the audio with software such as Audacity or GarageBand. (Does one have less of a learning curve than the other for vinyl digitizing?)

 

You will need to record to a program on you MAC. I have a PC and I record to Roxio's Easy LP to MP3 program. Now, interestingly enough, I do not digitize anymore since I can download pretty much any recording ever made from Apple Music via my Apple Music subscription. It's fast and sounds better than digitized LPs. Ya might want to look into that.

 

Why do you need a usb converter?
You can connect the line signal to the line input of your laptop.
Don’t forget to select that same line input at your recording software.

And yes, a phono preamp has a built in RIAA EQ. Without it, it would be a regular preamp

 

No. You need a different device. I don't read Japanese so I had to rely on translation. But it looks to be more of DAC than ADC. There is an ADC for a microphone, but I'm pretty sure it's not going with work with a standard RCA to 3.5mm connection. These would be connected to the output side of the device.

You need an Analog to Digital Converter not a Digital to Analog Converter.

 

Yes, I already have Audacity and GarageBand installed on my Mac. As for Apple Music, I had a 3-month trial once or twice and I get the 1-month free trial whenever they offer it to me again, but I don't fancy paying $120 a year for it.

 

My laptop doesn't have an audio-in port. Macs haven't had these for some years, unfortunately.

 

The Creative Sound Blaster X-FI HD is the interface I use to get LP to computer from preamp analog output. It converts analog to digital. It will also take TT output and apply RIAA. It's essentially an external sound card. I do not know if the unit works with Apple Operating System.

 

Thanks. Could you send me a link to an affordable one of those, please? When I search Google for "Analog to Digital Converter" I get all sorts of different products.

I know nothing about all this, sorry, but I thought, from previous reading around, that a Mac or PC could handle the audio-to-digital conversion, so that what was needed was simply to input the audio signal to the computer via a soundcard or equivalent, and the computer would do the converting. (OK, so the soundcard would be doing the analog-to-digital conversion, perhaps with the computer's help, I don't know) I admit, I'm as dumb as a rock about all this. I'm looking for a way to do it for around $50, certainly for less than $100.

 

Cheers, I'm looking online to see if that would work. Creative call it 'audiophile' quality, so that doesn't sound bad at all, although they are the manufacturer!

However, when I look for it on Amazon Japan, it pulls up many similarly named products, but not that one. Do any of these look like an equivalent product?

 

Ah yes, never buy electronics with names of food!

Does it have a microphone/headset input?
Because most of those inputs can be set to line level input in audio settings.

 

It doesn't have a microphone input, it simply has a built-in mic for audio chat and the like. The audio-out port cannot be reversed to be come an audio-in port. That was possible on older Macs, but not on recent and current ones.

 

I think that USB device you showed should do the job, if it’s an input and not an output.

 

Thanks, but now I'm in a dilemma, as @vinylontubes said it likely wouldn't work.

 

The manufactures product number for the Creative Sound Blaster X-FI HD is PTRB-220100325. The ASIN: BOOKY32DOE. This unit, in addition to converting analog at line or phono level to usb, up to 24/96, will also convert usb to optical S/PDIF, which means you can output songs in your computer's music library to your receiver, integrated amp, or preamplifier's optical S/PDIF input. It also has an optical S/PDIF input to send digital stuff to your computer, as well as RCA analog output if you want to convert the computer's digital output to analog, In other words, the X-FI HD gets digital or analog into the computer and gets digital or analog out of the computer.

 

For inexpensive ADC solution, take a look at

USB Phono Plus – Project Series – ART Pro Audio

Behringer | Product | UCA222

For software, highly recommend Vinyl Studio.

 

Thank you! (By the way, my vintage integrated amp is from the 1970s, so it wouldn't know what an optical S/PDIF is.) The RCA output would be fine though. When I play music on my computer through the stereo receiver, I just output from the Mac's headphone jack. I guess you're saying this would be better because it's likely a better DAC than the one in a recent MacBook Pro (or because an external DAC would be less prone to interference-derived noise).

 

Thank you. I read in Which or What HiFi (something title that) that the Behringer product gave a mediocre result because the 'timing' was off. Not very sure what that means, but my guess is that it means the time at which sounds are outputted can be microseconds out of place, which would sound jarring. Timing being good or bad is something I've read about in hifi reviews, but I'm not sure if I've ever recognized or if I would, although I'd hope I'm a discerning listener.

My Googling earlier today led me to read better things about the ART Pro Audio. Thanks for adding your word about that. My first thought about that was that it includes a phono stage, which I don't need, so I'd be paying for something unnecessary for me. I know it would do something else needed, but I think I'm after something like that, but cheaper, because that thing (which maybe I haven't tracked down yet) doesn't have the (for me) unneeded phono stage.

 

The X-FI HD DAC will take your computer's digital output up to 24/96, as well as up sample your computer's digital output up to 24/96 and convert to analog, perfect for listening to your music library no matter what the bit and bite rate of assorted files.