Max is a pretty comprehensive file converter. I've not used it a lot but when I did it worked well. Check out Max for more info but it will convert between wav and AIFF and between lots of other file formats too. Let me know what you think.

I saw that some were interested in importing their LPs to Itunes after digitizing them and were settling for MP3 versions of the music. If you convert the digitized LP to Apple Lossless, then you can listen to the converted LP on Itunes without compromising sound like you do with the MP3s. And better, for around $300 more you can get an Apple TV and download the lossless digitized LPs (and any other music ) from Itunes into the Apple TV that then feeds your pre-pro with lossless sound. If you are already using Itunes (for convenience or otherwise), you might as well get an Apple TV and convert what you have to Apple Lossless to have seemless access to your lossless music collection. I have done that and am now very happy with the convenience and versatility of the Apple TV. As an added benefit, I loaded my family pictures and video (which before only sat unviewed) into the Apple TV and now get to view them on the TV while listening to good music, both of which working together really bring back good memories and increase my listening pleasure. Note, however, that I spent a little more money as I hacked the Apple TV and upgraded to a 750 gigabite hard drive and also bought an Itouch and downloaded an app to use the Itouch as a remote for the Apple TV. While the Itouch is basically a necessity, the large hard drive may not be--Once I load all my current music (500 CDs in Apple Lossless) and family pictures I may still not use up all the 160 megabytes of the unhacked Apple TV (perhaps that might change if I load a lot of movies).

What type of ADC are people using to digitize their LPs. I saw a Bellari tube preamp with a USB analog output but there has to be something that does not involve the tubes which can go straight from the phono to USB. The Bellari is supposed to be compatible with all the Windows Media stuff and comes with its own software which isn't one of the "lite" versions.

…still using the NAD PP-3 phono preamp with USB input…and diggin' the hell out of it. It came with a disc for Vinyl Studio for Windows, but I have a Mac, so I downloaded the free Mac version from the site. In terms of digitization (bitrates, types of files and whatnot), it's actually the entire program, but in the no-cost (read: "lite") tier what you can do with the finished product is limited.


Will do, AvFan, and thanx much!

Is the USB an input or output? What do you mean limited with what you can do with the finished product? The bottom line is: Can I digitize my albums, remove the clicks and pops and convert them to MP3s to put on my iPod.

Whoops! Clarification: The USB is technically not an input or output. As per the manual, it's described as a "USB socket" or "USB digital interface". I mixed up the names because I connect the preamp to my laptop the same way I connect to the RR2150's USB input. The NAD PP-3 has one line-level RCA "out" and three inputs…a line-level "in" and one each for moving magnet or moving coil cartridges. I've tried the moving magnet "in", but I prefer the line "in" because that way I use the RR2150's phono stage.

As I explained above, if you have the no-cost version of Vinyl Studio, you can digitize LPs and import them into iTunes raw, without any cleanup. If you opt to erase any pops and clicks, in order to save and burn the finished files you have to pay for the software. Clearer?

[quote=AvFan]I'm also curious what Behringer product EEman used.

I have the Behringer UFO202. Specs are here:

Behringer UFO202

The Sony Soundforge software I'm using allows storage in more formats that I'll ever use. The auto click/pop removal works well but you can also zoom in and manually take out that half sinewave pop if you so desire.

So it looks like the Gunslingers are using the following phono preamps with an ADC and USB output:

NAD PP-3 at $200 retail and regularly available for $179
Behringer UFO202 at $45 retail

There are a couple of others, one mentioned here:
Rolls/Bellari VP-530 at $400
Audio Genie Pro at $70 but their website says the item is discontinued but it seems to be available from online retailers.

There is also the Pro-Ject II USB for $200 online and BestBuy.

I've not seen any side-by-side comparisons between any of these preamps with usb. Anybody else seen a comparison or made one themselves? One of the issues I'm trying to figure out is each ADC's sample rate.

Thanks TruBlu. Much clearer now. Is there anyone using the Bellari 530? It looks like a pretty good device but I already have a phono stage and just want to digitize LPs.

ive used a Grace lunatec V3 for all my ADC conversions. a friend has a sweet table that runs to his phono pre and then balanced into my v3> hard drive. i like wavelab over sony SF for audio processing, but both work fine. declicker is a miracle tool.