LP Archiving ... Korg MR2 DSD Recorder

[Johnloudb]

I've often considered getting a PCM recorder for archiving my LPs. And Dan's and Bill's comments (link below) in the "What CD are you listening to" thread got me thinking about the many great recordings and great music I have on LP. Many recordings do sound so much better on LP due to lack of processing, and my LP rig has been in mothballs for awhile. It's just too much of a hassle for me to mess with LP care, etc .. and my dad will never use an LP rig again, and won't mess with a computer interface.

http://www.htguide.com/forum/showthread.php?18807-What-CD-are-you-listening-to-right-now&p=585244&viewfull=1#post585244

I'm not going the way of computer audio as a source and want to put my LP's onto DVD or even Bluray. Can 24/192khz be recorded and played back on bluray? Would something like an Oppo be able to play that back?

Well, I noticed the Korg MR2 DSD recorder on Amazon for only $399 and they've been doing this for awhile as I remember. It gets great reviews, and includes disc burning software. So, this is something I'm considering. It seems pretty simple. Are there better options for archiving out there?

[PewterTA]

Well I think you have two things to consider.

One being, you're not going to get the metadata you "might" want out of track listings and what not if you burn it to bluray.... Then along with that...once Bluray's become obsolete... you're going to have to figure out how to move them to another format. This is where Digital Audio and formats like FLAC are coming into play and gaining a lot of speed in popularity. The metadata they can hold can really give you a great way to catalog your media and it's portability and ability to be "somewhat" future-proof is why everyone is going this route.

The second thing I'd have with this is that I'm unfamiliar with the Korg's Analog to Digital converter. None of the "professional rippers" I'm in contact with use it...which would make me hesitant to say you'll get the best rip from it. You might! I mean it is possible. It's just that I know most of them are on their 5th or 6th ADC each... so they've all done their work in finding what stays the most true to how it is presented on their systems.

Now granted this does increase the cost when you look towards a better ADC, but in the long run, to do it once, get the best copy you can (within reason) and to hopefully never have to transfer it again... well to me that's worth the cost of a ~$1200 vs $400. That has been what's stopped WKHanna and myself from doing his entire LP selection. We've gone back and forth multiple times tempted to by a cheap ADC and we keep backing out because we both agree our time and effort on this... doing it once is going to be enough. So that's where you end up with spending more money on an overall better solution and it pays in the long run.

Just some things to think about.

[Johnloudb]

Yeah, good points no doubt! I was able to dig up the specifications for the MR2 on Korg's website and I was surprised to find a S/N ratio of only 90dB and THD+Noise of only 0.018%, so probably not what I'm looking for.

There is the Benchmark A/D for a price! Thanks for your input, I'll keep looking. But do need to make the music accessible for my dad, whatever I do.

[Johnloudb]

Well, I found this and seems most people report on the very good sound quality of it. Looks nice and has very good measurement specs. And one person's review talked about how he preferred it's line input sound quality to the Appogee duet 2 audio interface, which is supposed to be very good. Anyway, something to think about. I can't afford a thousand+ dollar A/D just for archiving LP's though. Even this possible purchase will have to wait!

http://www.zzounds.com/item--FOCFORTEUSB

[PewterTA]

I've heard good things of the Forte... though I've not had the chance to come across one myself. I definitely think this would work well for you and definitely would be interested in your impressions on it if you decide to go with it.

[Johnloudb]

Very good to hear you heard good things about it too, I'll be sure to report my impressions of it if I buy it. Could be awhile as I've other priority purchases right now, but I'm very interested! We'll see ...