Best USB turntable for me

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arcorob

arcorob

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Hello..I am sure this has been covered (probably 100 times) and I am sure its like asking what is your favorite toothpaste.

I already have my legacy setup with a Marantz 6350 TT..so no, I don't need that. After listening to alot of my albums, my WIFE has said 'Why don't you get one so yuo can record these to the computer and burn me some MP3's..."

Okay, the truth is she didn;t say that, she said why don;t I copy these to the computer (using my existing setup) and I had to explain why that was not feasible. But I digress...

The question is ..which one ? I have looked at PYLE, DENON, Audio Technica, ION, DJ etc...there are tons ! I want to stay below 150 and I want to get some decent quality (no ceremic cartridges please if they even make those) ..something kind to my vinyl and simple software...

Let the suggestions begin ! :-) and thanks in advance to all...
 
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Honestly, at 150 and under, I don't think I can suggest anything other than maybe the Crosley Spinnerette, which has a USB out and uses an Audio Technica 3600 magnetic cart. Most of the inexpensive USB TT's and record players use ceramic carts and you don't want that.
 
Don't waste money on any of the USB turntables. Get a decent external firewire or USB audio card and connect the tape outs. A good studio sound card will be light years ahead of any usb turntable you can buy.
 
I had thought

That the PYLE like this was mag ?

As to a sound card, etc etc...I have a good sound card. I don't want to do the following:

Move my Marantz TT
Have to pre-amp a TT

If I get a decent USB TT, it will be fine...I can always clean the sound with Sonic Foundry sound Forge.
 
are you aware you can come out of the headphone jack or tape outs directly into your mic input port on your puter. You can adjust the gain and tone with the controls on your receiver/pre amp. Save your money. If you are unsure how to do this, pm me and we can talk it over.

I did my whole collection this way. Couldn't have asked for better the way it worked out. Now I wouldn't do it any other way. USB tables are not sonically excellent at all. If you are going to go to all that trouble, you already have everything you need. You can d/l Audacity to master your files. It's freeware.
 
arcorob said:
That the PYLE like this was mag ?

As to a sound card, etc etc...I have a good sound card. I don't want to do the following:

Move my Marantz TT
Have to pre-amp a TT

If I get a decent USB TT, it will be fine...I can always clean the sound with Sonic Foundry sound Forge.
Click to expand...

If you find a decent one for that money, please report back. As far as I know, there are none.
 
I like the ideas

I really



Like the ideas. The issue is not what I have , its a case of "you cant get there from here. My stereo setup I not movable (not easily). My custom pc is not movable(not easily). Distance - total opposite ends of the house.

But based on feedback here, might just get a decent regular tt for the comp room and hook up....
 
I honestly don't understand why someone would buy a turntable just to digitize their music. You already have digital music - CD, iPod, digital downloads. Heck, you can download digital music for free with a simple Google search. Why jump through so many hoops just to end up with a crummier version of the same product?

Really, these cheap "USB turntables" are junk. The parts are terrible and the music is awful, below the quality of CD. For the money they charge, you're just being robbed. You might as well get mugged out in the street.

I have a better proposal. Why not just get a REAL turntable? Find a vintage model on eBay - with a $200 budget you can have just about any top-of-the-line Japanese turntable from 1980 - and enjoy your records. These things are going to become extinct in time, anyway. Why not enjoy those records while you still can?

Here's what I recommend: go to eBay and find a Sony PS-X600 table. They're up for sale all the time. Find one that's in excellent shape, and can be shipped by a professional (double-boxed, properly secured), get a good phono cartridge (everyone here can help you out), and have a blast spinning vinyl.

Oh, and if you still want to record "needle drops," all you have to do is connect a cable from the headphone jack on your stereo receiver to your computer. Ta-daa!
 
I am speaking from personal experience, I would not recommend a USB turntable. The sound quality is not very good, the wow and flutter specs on these are pretty high. If you are recording your vinyl, I don't know if there is software to get rid of wow and flutter. If there is, it is probably pretty expensive.
 
arcorob said:
I really



Like the ideas. The issue is not what I have , its a case of "you cant get there from here. My stereo setup I not movable (not easily). My custom pc is not movable(not easily). Distance - total opposite ends of the house.

But based on feedback here, might just get a decent regular tt for the comp room and hook up....
Click to expand...

I feel ya, and if you try and run long wires from a desktop you will get ground loop issues. That's another reason why an external studio type card works well, aside from the noise floor that most onboard or pci/pcie cards will produce. In general, most onboard cards, regardless of their quality are not ideal for sampling hi fi because they tend to pick up a lot of interference from the MB.

You might be able to run long, good quality cables under the house into an external card and get desirable results.

You might also consider saving a bit and getting a cheap laptop and a decent card. I used a laptop and a studio card myself because I have the same problem with my computer room being on the complete opposite end.
 
daniel thoma said:
I honestly don't understand why someone would buy a turntable just to digitize their music. You already have digital music - CD, iPod, digital downloads. Heck, you can download digital music for free with a simple Google search. Why jump through so many hoops just to end up with a crummier version of the same product?
Click to expand...

1. There are numerous recordings on vinyl that are simply not commercially available on digital mediums. There are many other where the edits are slightly different.

2. You might not end up with a crummier version. I have numerous recordings that sound terrible on CD and quite nice on vinyl. Often times there was no care taken to transfer them to digital, so it's not that uncommon to have older recordings sound much better on vinyl. Also, the age and availability of the master tapes used to produce the CDs play a factor.
 
USB TT is not needed
Audacity is free
Spend about £5.00 or under on some Y connection leads plug it in to Tape out of amp & your sound card & record

My Sound card is whatever Dell included btw & the results are excellent
 
Yeah, I'm guessing the cartridges on those USB all-in-one types of devices aren't all that great, so, while your records may have a lot of information on them, it probably won't make it through the USB TT's cartridge or its ADC.
 
The Music Hall USB1 has an AT3600 cartridge. It is not a bad cartridge, but I would not play my best vinyl on it. I have had a hard time selling this turntable, so I might see if I can make a record cleaning machine out of it.
 
So I could

Record OUT to my Pioneer reel to reel and move THAT to the computer to import. However now you have two levels of audio loss instead of 1...hmm...
 
You might be able to find a reasonably priced stand alone CD Recorder. This way you could record your vinyl to CD and then rip the CD if you wanted to edit it.
 
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