Hewie

Progress! The UR22 arrived, and I'm having much better luck. Here's my first shot: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BwL_BvPmTrRYYXpYeXBfVGlaX00/view?usp=sharing I'm going to have to spend some time over at Hoffman's site to really understand a proper procedure and workflow. After poking around, it's clear that the line-out of the Scott can't handle the impedance of the soundcard. Others have put a buffer amp in to resolve the problem. I'm still not clear on why I had poor results with the NAD phono pre, but at least I'm making some progress now. Thanks again for everyone's help, Dave

Wow, I sure appreciate all the suggestions and file tweaking! I think esldude is right on with impedence mismatches of the Scott. I think the output comes right from the 12AX7 plates as an unbuffered signal. Unfortunately, I returned the phono pre, so cant do any more experimenting with that. As far as the Scott goes, I recapped the whole unit along with a whole mess more work. I realize I'm comparing mid-fi components, but it sounds much better than the naim nait and NAD 3120 that came before it. And what's funny, especially if you listen to the clip, is I've always felt the Scott rolls off the highs in the phono circuit compared to more modern gear. Oh well. I'll give the UR22 a shot when it gets here, and reevaluate the next step. Dave

I'm going to set this project aside until the UR22 arrives. I did some more tweaking, but the results are still well below desired. Here is a 45 sec clip from Aja if anyone's interested. This was captured as follows: Rega P3>Scott 299 phono>line out>PC onboard sound card. 16/48. No post processing. https://drive.google.com/open?id=0BwL_BvPmTrRYcFA3N2lsSjhnM00 Dave

Yep. P3>NAD Phono Pre>PC Line In. Understand regarding the Scott comments. Sorry if I sounded defensive. I also pulled on my schematic for my own edification; FWIW, the line out on the Scott is immediately after the RIAA stage, so the signal isn't passing through any further amplification or tone sections. Dave

Thanks Elvia, good info on stevehoffman's forum. I did another test with a NAD phono pre ripped at 16/48 and then listened back on my PC. Virtually no improvement as compared to the Scott. I'm convinced it's the sound card, so hopefully the UR22 will be a worthwhile purchase. PS. Yep, I use the "vintage receiver" everyday. It replaced a naim integrated amp 4 years ago, and I've never looked back. After re-tubing, re-capping, upgrading the power supply and regulation, I think it competes with modern amps well outside of my budget.

After a lot of experimenting today based on all your comments, I've decided the weakest link in my chain is my sound card, so I went ahead and ordered the UR22. I report back as I learn more.

I'll give it a try, but the phono section in the totally rebuilt Scott is pretty darn good. It walks all over the Music Hall PA I had originally. Time to do some poking around. Any recommended brands? Thanks

VinylStudio does the conversion when it burns the CD. I haven't listened to the recording on the PC, I'll grab my headphones and give it a try which might be insightful. Ok Yep, I think this is where I'm headed next. Thanks again, Dave

Thanks all. topof's experience tells me I'm moving in the right direction. The ART unit looks pretty good. Northern, can you tell me what you upgraded to and what drove the upgrade? Dave

I'm setting up to rip my vinyl collection, but am not happy with the results, and could use some advice. There are no obvious "defects" in the results, but burned CDs are rather thin sounding with a very compressed sound stage. My goal is to burn my vinyl collection (~250 lps) to CD for both portability and simplicity sake, but maintaing a high level SQ is very important. If the results aren't at least similar SQ to a standard CD, I'm not going to spend the time doing this. My system is a follows: Rega P3/Benz MC20E2H >Scott 299D line out>Gateway Core i3 with onboard sound. CDP is a Rotel RCC-1055. I have been ripping to line-in at 16/96 to FLAC. I've used both Audacity and VinylStudio. My test record and CD is Steely Dan Aja. My thoughts, and this is where I could use some feedback, I think the thin sound is due to the poor quality on board sound chip, so I'm looking for a better SC or an external ADC. In the long run, my goal is to put all of my music on a dedicated PC music server, and use that for a majority of play back. 1) Is it likely that a better SC or an external ADC will significantly improve the SQ? I'm debating between a new sound card such an ASUS Xonar DX and an external USB ADC such as Steinberg UR22 ($150) or a Behringer UMC204HD ($80). My budget 2) Any advice on the internal SC vs USB devices? Any feedback on these particular choices given a budget up to $150? Thanks ahead, Dave