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Posts: 89
Location: Vancouver Island
Joined: January 27, 2009
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I've observed that even 128k MP3 is perfectly capable of reproducing the clicks, pops, and distortion of worn vinyl. 320K or VBR at maximum quality may be audibly transparent, and it's compatible with much more portable and mobile playback hardware than lossless. But, if I was going to the trouble of capturing vinyl, I'd certainly archive it to FLAC, and burn as an Audio DVD (or is it DVD Audio?). I'd record at 16 or 24 bit, 48k, so DVD hardware can play it without resampling.
If it's anything like the Audigy 2 ZS, as long as you can avoid ground loops and engaging any unnecessary internal processing, it should be capable of quite high quality recording. The RMAA loopback tests were impressive, anyway.
I suspect you don't really need the mega ultra version for $300; the basic card is probably available for under $100 and will have pretty much the same performance. If you need to capture from S/PDIF, the console does provide that, but it's kind of a ripoff. The parts to add S/PDIF in to my Audigy 2 ZS cost me less than $10. Add a Behringer SRC-2496 as an external ADC/DAC, and it was still under $300.
And, FWIW, there's other even cheaper options that should be "good enough" if you really only need to make MP3s. SB Live! cards are said to resample everything to 48k internally, but if you record at 16/48 that's no problem. USB sound devices... Behringer has one with a built-in phono preamp, UFO-202. Reviews on Amazon are positive so far. Not a bad toy at all, if you have a laptop. It's got line input/output and headphone out as well. If it's based on the same USB audio chip as the UCA-202, then it ain't bad: the same chip (PCM2902) is found in considerably more expensive boxes. No S/PDIF, though; if that's useful, the ADSTech "Instant Music" appears to follow the reference design for the PCM2902 quite closely, tests better in RMAA than the UCA202, and has Toslink in and out as well as line. No phono preamp or headphone jack, though, and physically much bigger, but there's name-brand parts inside, and it's made in Taiwan, not China. About $40 to $70 depending on where you find it. The pictures at Amazon and ADStech look different from the one I got, so it could be made in China or by trained lemurs by now.
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RE: Sound Blaster X-Fi Elite Pro - bassbinotoko 01:18:01 11/03/09
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