Good A/D converter for Mac?

[BHD]

Hey all, I'm looking for a good external A/D converter that I can connect to my Mac laptop for mastering LP's. Suggestions for software would be appreciated as well.

Sorry if it seems like I didn't search, but everything seems to be for D/A converters for music servers.

Thanks in advance for any help and suggestions.

[AvantGuy]

There are so many alternatives for the software side. A good solid (also free and multi-platform-Linux, Win, OSX) solution is Audacity.

As for the hardware: Among AD converters, there might even be more alternatives :-) The real audio experts here would probably want you to define your quality requirements and what kind of cartridge you have, so as to steer you to appropriate preamp specs.

Depending on your quality requirements, you might not even need an outboard A-D, just a phono preamp or the preamp or integrated amp from your stereo system -- that is, use your computer's line input, if one exists. Most built-in computer audio input stages are noisy beyond belief, however.

--Bob

[BHD]

Thanks for responding!

Right now I'm looking at reviews of the Apogee Duo. I'm running a DPS turntable with a Schroder arm and Allaerts cartridge, so I'd like to get a pretty good quality setup.

I've looked at Bias Peak LE and Sound Soap LE. Any other suggestions would be great.

I am using a separate phono section, so the input to the computer will be line level.

Again, any suggestions would be appreciated.

[lazycatken]

I'm using Creative E-MU 0404, E-MU Systems - 0404 USB 2.0 - USB 2.0 Audio/MIDI Interface
You can find some reviews on internet.

[d to the g]

Originally Posted by lazycatken

I'm using Creative E-MU 0404, E-MU Systems - 0404 USB 2.0 - USB 2.0 Audio/MIDI Interface
You can find some reviews on internet.

This is the same dac that is being used in most small recording studios, and is highly regarded.

[n_maher]

Apogee Electronics > Products > Duet

[planet10]

Current state of the art software is probably Pure Vinyl. It is quite reasonably affordable.

They also have some hardware to support it... some quite strataspherically priced. And if we are going there, the stuff from Digital Audio Denmark have some items with extreme lust quotent. Weiss also makes some top notch stuff.

Coming down from there, there is a fairly wide range of "budget" stuff for pro audio. The Apogee stuff is toward the higher end of that. I got an Edirol FA-66 for starter kit.

Don't bother with anything that doesn't have FireWire.

dave

[BHD]

Ooops, I stand corrected, not Apogee duo, Apogee duet...



Thanks for the responses guys, I really appreciate it. I'm kinda sold on the duet at this point for use with my 2GHz MacBook, but we'll see. I appreciate any and all input.

[n_maher]

Originally Posted by BHD

Ooops, I stand corrected, not Apogee duo, Apogee duet...



Thanks for the responses guys, I really appreciate it. I'm kinda sold on the duet at this point for use with my 2GHz MacBook, but we'll see. I appreciate any and all input.

I've had several friends use it for needle drops, quite successfully. I used one for a while as a DAC as well and it was very respectable. In the DIY spirit of things it's a pretty easy build to replace the stock, wretched tangle of a break-out cable with one like this:



Apogee lists the pinout right on their website (last I checked anyway).

[Charles Darwin]

You might want to check out Lavry Engineering for the AD convertor.