Laptop microphone jack?

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Well, I certainly don't want to waste my time making average vinyl rips, if I can make higher quality. No, I don't think I would want to spend "hundreds". I would spend $100 on a used product that is quality. I see so many on ebay, I wouldn't know where to start.

The game here is being strategic with any analog connections!

Proper analog handling gear and AD and DA converters are (or can be) expensive. There's a steep bell curve with analog signals and the cheap stuff falls off quickly. This can go SO far beyond any of the digital format stuff people like to fuss about. Lossy dts? Heck, 64k mp3 that would be better than analog gone wrong!

Digitizing stuff all happens at the converter circuit.
The little Apogee Duet or the RME Babyface are examples of little interfaces with boutique AD and DA converters. The kind of stuff that lines up with what people have paid $1000 per channel for in the past. Snipe up one of these on Ebay for a song.

Or even something like a Tascam, Focusrite, or MOTU product. These are solid pro interfaces and analog stages. Maybe not the boutique rep as Apogee. I was suggesting raising the nose towards the ceiling there a little more just because of the screwing around time it takes for vinyl. Make that worth it!

If you tried doing this with a USB turntable or some average home receiver tape out to laptop input, the result would make you think this was a hard impossible thing to pull off.

Don't those apogees require a firewire interface? I doubt his laptop can accommodate that.
The 1st gen ones are firewire 400. A thunderbolt to firewire adapter works and I know you can still run these and their cuemix software (not required) in Mac 10.13.6. Not sure about Windows.

Just a suggestion for a high bang for the buck way to get a pair of Apogee AD and DA stages. They have a Duet II that's USB 2.0. And there are other USB options if you don't have any other computer ports.
 
Its kind of Ironic. I own a turntable. I own some vinyl, though I purged nearly all of it in the 80's with the dawn of digital. I use a B&K outboard phono preamp a Phono 10. Many years ago, it developed a break in the ground shield on the inpurs (probably from forcing incredebly tight cables onto it). Since B&K was local to me, I drove it over to the factory for repair and picked it up a few days later when it was repaired. I was notified at pickup that in addition to repairing it, they uprgaded it with the option of including an
ADC and digital coax output. I have never used it.

Oh yeah, That preamp was bought 2nd hand on Ebay. It was out of warranty by over 5 years. B&K repaired it and upgraded it for free. They never charged me or anyone I knew who lived in the area for any repairs. Sadly, B&K is long gone, But they were the best people to deal with. I still use a 5 channel B&K power amp in my main system. I would still use my old B&K surround processor if it werent for the fact I eventually required HDMI inputs. Who is this era's B&K?
 
So, because I tend to start with small steps as opposed to jumping off the cliff.....I bought a simple (cheap) USB
That looks pretty video-centric. Something like this may be preferable.
Because it was cheap, and certainly sounded like what I needed, I purchased it. Turns out, when I use it and press record in Audacity, the recording levels are maxed out. Normally, I would simply lower the recording levels in Audacity.....it lets me lower them, but it doesn't change anything. Meaning, still maxed out in the red.

So, basically, it's a worthless piece of junk. It was my decision to buy it...in fact, I read a lot of reviews and tried youtube reviews. So, now that I know something like this is not going to work, what is the next step? No, I'm not going to spend $500. Not gonna happen. Do I need something that is essentially the same thing, only it has level control knobs built in?? Not necessarily this brand.....but

1614537700445.png
 
So, because I tend to start with small steps as opposed to jumping off the cliff.....I bought a simple (cheap) USB

Because it was cheap, and certainly sounded like what I needed, I purchased it. Turns out, when I use it and press record in Audacity, the recording levels are maxed out. Normally, I would simply lower the recording levels in Audacity.....it lets me lower them, but it doesn't change anything. Meaning, still maxed out in the red.

So, basically, it's a worthless piece of junk. It was my decision to buy it...in fact, I read a lot of reviews and tried youtube reviews. So, now that I know something like this is not going to work, what is the next step? No, I'm not going to spend $500. Not gonna happen. Do I need something that is essentially the same thing, only it has level control knobs built in?? Not necessarily this brand.....but

View attachment 63901
I'd replace it with the Behringer unit I recommended. That looks like it's more for DJs and podcasters, and the Behringer has a built-in phono amp.
 
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I'd replace it with the Behringer unit I recommended. That looks like it's more for DJs and podcasters, and the Behringer has a built-in phono amp.
I'll look at it. So, basically I'd be bypassing my Parasound preamp, and going straight from TT to Behringer, then to my laptop.
 
Products like that can really make this seem hopeless and confusing!
Sorry for your loss of $50 GOS. :(

A starting place rule of thumb:
Avoid all of that 'no name' stuff sold on Amazon!

The more frugal interface makers:
Presonus
Focusrite
MOTU

More expensive:
RME
Apogee

Often considered a step too cheap but, honestly still a reasonable product that isn't just broken in the package grifter fare:
Behringer

Those cheapness products popping up all over Amazon these days. Probably in Best Buy and Wallmart too. Sporting only RCA jacks. Don't buy that stuff!
 
That one looks like it maxes out at 48K, if that's OK then maybe :unsure:
People have used it to record at higher frequencies without a problem according to Amazon reviews. That said, it sort of depends on what one wants to do with the recordings? I do think that a device that records cleanly at 48 is better than a device that claims 192 but is made of cheap components and introduces noise and distortion and such.

Although I like high-res for listening, I think it's overhyped for vinyl rips, especially if the purpose is simply to have a personal archive/backup using mid-fi gear. But that's a side discussion.
 
I guess, this all still sort of confuses me. Really dumb question. When ripping vinyl, does the phono preamp (whether it's internal with AVR, or a standalone like my Parasound) play a part in the quality of the rip?

I'm asking because, if my Parasound preamp is of higher quality than the preamp that may come with this USB audio interface, wouldn't I want the Parasound to be in the loop?

Secondly. This cheapo USB audio interface I bought. The fact that it wouldn't allow me to adjust the recording level in Audacity was a deal breaker. Why on earth would it default to maxing out the levels? I mean, it was maxed in the red. Just horrible. How do I know that this next interface will allow me to tweak the recording levels in Audacity?
 
I guess, this all still sort of confuses me. Really dumb question. When ripping vinyl, does the phono preamp (whether it's internal with AVR, or a standalone like my Parasound) play a part in the quality of the rip?

I'm asking because, if my Parasound preamp is of higher quality than the preamp that may come with this USB audio interface, wouldn't I want the Parasound to be in the loop?

Secondly. This cheapo USB audio interface I bought. The fact that it wouldn't allow me to adjust the recording level in Audacity was a deal breaker. Why on earth would it default to maxing out the levels? I mean, it was maxed in the red. Just horrible. How do I know that this next interface will allow me to tweak the recording levels in Audacity?
The phone pre-amp will play a part, if its $10 it'll probably be cr*p, but for most 'decent' amps not that much. I doubt if Audacity would change the record level, did you adjust the 1 & 2 line level control on the box so that the CLIP LED on the box doesn't flash? You would probably also have to adjust the Master control so that it doesn't over load the converter as well, which would appear as maxed out in Audacity.
 
The phone pre-amp will play a part, if its $10 it'll probably be cr*p, but for most 'decent' amps not that much. I doubt if Audacity would change the record level, did you adjust the 1 & 2 line level control on the box so that the CLIP LED on the box doesn't flash? You would probably also have to adjust the Master control so that it doesn't over load the converter as well, which would appear as maxed out in Audacity.
Again, sorry for my ignorance. When you say "did I adjust the 1&2 line level control on the box"..what box are you talking about?
 
Again, sorry for my ignorance. When you say "did I adjust the 1&2 line level control on the box"..what box are you talking about?
No problem the one with the arrow, that will lower the level of the input to the mixer section, the Master will alter the output.
Edit: in my 1st post I should have said 2&3!
1614551805091.png
 
No problem the one with the arrow, that will lower the level of the input to the mixer section, the Master will alter the output.
Edit: in my 1st post I should have said 2&3!
View attachment 63930

Oh, I don't own that box. I bought a much cheaper $18 audio interface. I put that picture because, I was asking if I should buy it.
 
Because it was cheap, and certainly sounded like what I needed, I purchased it. Turns out, when I use it and press record in Audacity, the recording levels are maxed out. Normally, I would simply lower the recording levels in Audacity.....it lets me lower them, but it doesn't change anything. Meaning, still maxed out in the red.

That sounds like W*nd*ws and/or Audacity are the problem, not the device. I mean, if you're lowering the volume in Audacity, but the volume isn't going down...

But I'm just speculating. I tried using my computer as a recorder for projects like this all the way back in 1998 and had so much trouble that 23 years later I still don't do it, even though everything probably works fine now. I prefer to use little self-contained recorders, currently the Roland R-05, though I may well be leaving some fidelity on the floor by doing so.

One thing you might try is right-clicking on the speaker icon in the lower right of your W10 desktop and checking the sound options there. I get something that looks like it might well lower the input, though since I'm not trying to do the same thing you are I can't promise that it will work.
 
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