A good friend who is into restoring analog tape recorders such as Ampex has a clever and true watch phrase:
“before everything else, make sure the tape runs and is aligned perfectly.” all else follows; without that nothing matters. I am paraphrasing…

Analogy for this is perfect playback from the groove - the recording chain after that is trivial these days.

That said, I will listen!

<L>
Lou Judson
Intuitive Audio
415-883-2689

On Jan 23, 2019, at 11:06 PM, Tim Gillett <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

> "the best sounding recording chain" is, one assumes  one with fidelity, which neither adds to, nor takes away from the original input. That is very easy to achieve these days, at least with RIAA preamps and A/D converters. We can even bypass the RIAA stage, doing  it later digitally.
> 
> Even moderately priced A/D converters these days are more than up to this task. It should be a walk in the park, comparatively speaking.  The overwhelming weak links in the chain will be in the analog domain, namely, the inherent limitations of the analog vinyl disc itself, its condition, how well it is cleaned and how well it is played.  The other weak link is the skill of the person doing the work. A sufficiently competent person knows his tools, how to achieve the best results with them and just gets on with the job.
> 
> I dont understand the reason for this survey. My 2 cents' worth.
> 
> Tim Gillett
> 
> Perth,
> Western Australia
> 
> 
> 
> 
> ----- Original Message ----- From: "Brewster Kahle" <[log in to unmask]>
> To: <[log in to unmask]>
> Sent: Thursday, January 24, 2019 2:07 AM
> Subject: [ARSCLIST] help us select A/D and phono preamp for an upcoming LP project?
> 
> 
> ARSCers,
> 
> Building on the Great 78 Project <https://great78.archive.org>, the
> Internet Archive <https://archive.org/details/archive.org> is working
> towards a new project to digitize LPs. Dubbed “Lost Vinyl”, the project
> seeks to preserve LPs focusing on those that never made it to the
> digital world.
> 
> We are seeking community feedback to help us find the best sounding
> recording chain.
> 
> In this item ( https://archive.org/details/lostvinylsamples ) you will
> find 5 sets of LP transfers of 5 very different musical styles done with
> 4 combinations of phono-preamp and analog to digital converter. The
> components cost anywhere from a few hundred dollars to several thousand
> dollars. The demo files were prepared by the technical engineering staff
> at George Blood LP <https://www.georgeblood.com>. Performance
> specifications were verified (all RIAA preamps are within 2dB of each
> other at any frequency, most within 0.1 or 0.5 dB), levels were matched
> at each stage, and all are recorded at 96/24. The files have been
> renamed in different orders to obscure their provenance. Only one person
> has the key to which file was made with which combination of hardware.
> 
> The hardware used includes:
> RDL (Radio Design Labs) EZ-PH1 phono preamp
> TimeStep phono preamp
> Focusrite Scarlette A/D covertor
> Prism Lyra A/D convertor
> 
> The combinations are (in no particular order):
> RDL into Lyra
> RDL into Scarlette
> TimeStep into Lyra
> Lyra standalone (using instrument input terminated by 47 kOhms resistor
> with RIAA EQ preset)
> 
> Please add your comments in the reviews of the item containing the
> samples https://archive.org/details/lostvinylsamples.
> To reiterate-- the samples are made with different equipment and are not
> consistent from one work to the next.
> 
> Thank you for helping! If you would to participate in other ways,
> please let us know.
> 
> https://archive.org/details/lostvinylsamples
> 
> -brewster 
> 
> ---
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