Preserving Analog Recordings on CDR

[dforion]

I'm planning to undertake the time-consuming task of recording my Vinyl and cassette collection (made on high-quality Metal tape and Harman/Kardon equipment) onto CDR.

I am under the assumption if I record these at 24-bit I will get a better WAV file, even though the current CD-burners only record at 16-bit. I would also have the option of saving these 24-bit WAV files to DVD media in the future. I realize 24-bit WAV files are 50% larger than 16-bit, but will also sound better.

Can anyone suggest a decent reasonably-priced soundcard for this purpose? I don’t play games, so the gaming features of the soundcard won’t be used.

I recently contacted Creative Labs, and one rep said the Audigy-1 would do this if I used a 24-bit Codec, whatever that means.

Any comments are appreciated.

Thanks.

[cfitz]

I don't have golden ears, so I won't offer a specific suggestion other than to say that the Audigy 1 series isn't truly a 24-bit card (it truncates to 16-bits within internal processing) so you should avoid it if you are looking for full 24-bit support. Supposedly the Audigy 2 series truly is 24-bits throughout...

cfitz

[jase]

OK, it is my considered opinion that when it comes to making digital rips of analogue sources, NOTHING beats a dedicated separate (component) unit designed for the purpose. You can buy any number of oh-so-expensive sound cards with 24-bit encoding etc, but the noise and distortion a PC introduce is enough to kill any performance enhancement you may get stone dead.

I have a Pioneer CDRW recorder. It takes those audio discs only but just buy a 10-pack of audio CDRWs and you'll be set. Record the analogue source onto CDRW, rip the CDRW to your PC (bit-perfect transfer, digital copies on a PC are of course perfect) and manipulate from there. It's only 16-bit, but trust me, I have a $5000 hifi separates system and have tried numerous times to get a good rip on a computer; it just isn't possible in my experience. If you care enough to make the rip 24-bit, you'll care as much as I do about getting it right.

[cfitz]

Intellectually I have never been able to comprehend how a sound card, buried within the bowels of a PC and subject to the electrical noise maelstrom emanating from all that high-speed digital circuitry, could possibly deliver superior audio performance. I always thought that the real advantage of going from a 16 bit to 24 bit sound card was that you could record the EMI at 8 bits higher resolution. I know the manufacturers' specs claim otherwise, but it is just hard to believe. I'm glad to hear that someone with better ears and budget than I confirms this.

cfitz

[dforion]

Thanks to all for your interesting answers. I presume the excellent specs on some sound cards may be due to their being tested in isolated in sound chambers outside of the 'bowels of the PC' environment.

It would be quite costly to purchase a standalone audio-grade cdrw recorder for just this purpose, especially when I'd still be at 16-bit.


The search continues.

[KuoH]

You might have 24 bits during the mastering process, but once you record audio to a CD, it becomes 16 bits audio, unless you plan to record it as data and play it back only on the computer. Honestly though, do you really feel that you'd be able to hear the difference?

KuoH

I am under the assumption if I record these at 24-bit I will get a better WAV file, even though the current CD-burners only record at 16-bit. I would also have the option of saving these 24-bit WAV files to DVD media in the future. I realize 24-bit WAV files are 50% larger than 16-bit, but will also sound better.