Wow... I don’t know why I keep reading their articles. It’s like slowing to look at a car wreck, you can’t help it.

Why would anyone combine a turntable with USB, a DAC, and a computer? Why?

[Link: cepro.com]

Well.. the setup as described would allow for getting the best resolution from your LPs while saving them to your computer as audio files.

Nothing I would ever sell to a client because I have never had one ask for it though..

Because converting vinyl to compressed digital audio is what every audiophile wants

Ever have the joy of a tube amp and turntable?

That's why this isn't a good thing.

I have a ton of LPs that I would love to transfer to audio files so that I can listen to them somewhere other than on a record player.

There is nothing more satisfying than enjoying the pure digital fidelity of scratches, pops, and clicks. It’s like dying and going to heaven.

I agree --- What's the point? Likely he would be better off using the line level or USB output from the turntable, go directly into the computer, and save a lot of money.

Must be some sort of New Age Audiophile. Someone convinced him that "DAC" is the key to good sound.

And, all of this fuss for an OM10!

The only possible benefit is if the DAC filters limit the bandwidth to something that the computer's analog inputs can better deal with.

I can't really bring myself to comment on any details here because of my outrage at the article.

I have to hope that this article encourages people to find a way to play their LPs and digitize them. So many many things are just wrong about this article, though! I basically don't have the time to write up all that's wrong here. Best of luck, everyone.

I am really confused - can one of you help me?

This turntable comes in many flavors (with different outputs). The one in the review (RecordMaster) has an RCA Line Output (L & R) and a selector switch where you can choose between a Phono Output (to plug into a Phono Pre-amp or AVR with a Phono input) or a Line Output which uses a phono pre-amp built into the turntable. This model also sports a USB output indicating (to me at least) that this model of turntable has a built-in DAC.

The DAC in the review has a RCA Analog OUTPUT as well as USB and SP/DIF Coax and Toslink INPUTS.

In the review he states that he used a USB-to-RCA cable to connect the turntable to the DAC. Did he connect the USB end of the cable to the USB OUTPUT of the turntable? That would mean he plugged the RCA end into the DACs OUTPUT. How would that work?

Or did he plug the RCA end into the turntable's OUTPUT and plugged the USB end into the DACs INPUT? He couldn't have because he says he connected the USB INPUT on the DAC to his PC.

My head hurts.

In my mind the DAC in his review can be used to play audio files on his PC being output on the PCs USB port with the RCA jacks on the DAC going into an AVR. Or it could take a SP/DIF output from a CD player or any other source with a digital output and convert it to analog out of the RCA jacks.

I just can't see how he's going from Turntable to DAC to PC. What am I missing?

Maybe this is a Ghost written article -- by "Ghost" I mean that it was written from viewing a few spec sheets, not after a physical encounter with the equipment. With actual physical experience with the models specified, it would be obvious that there is no way to make an RCA input connection to the DAC, nor is there a direct way to connect the "DAC" box specified to a USB port on the computer.

There's enough miss-information in that article to get him elected.

Consumers trying to navigate these waters get lost so quickly.
Be the lighthouse, show them the way.

This was a lot longer but quite incomplete and I've decided to shorten it.

davidcasemore, buzz has a pretty good reason for what's wrong. It might not be that, but for sure it's an idiot who doesn't know how to describe how it's hooked up, or is describing something that he has never seen. He's definitely describing something he has not done himself.

For this he is worthy of hate, because people who want to try out records for the first time will be misled and confused by this stupid article.


All you need to know about the veracity of this article is that the writer describes taking the digital output of the turntable, on a USB to RCA cable, and connecting it to a four hundred dollar digital to analog converter; he then takes the USB output of the DAC and connects it to his computer.

Well, okay, you need to know a couple more things: just how wrong all of that is.

The turntable has an analog output but he uses the built-in analog to digital converter to make a digital signal, then converts that signal to analog. The turntable's analog outputs are the same signal that the turntable turns into digital. Why not use those analog outputs?

He then uses a USB to RCA cable to connect to the input of the DAC. Those cables do not exist.

The DAC's inputs are digital, being USB, optical, and coaxial. The RCAs on the DAC are labeled OUTPUT, because they are.

He says he takes the output from the USB of the DAC, though the DAC's USB connector is labeled Input. Because it is.

This article needs to be apologized for and completely rewritten.

I'm leaving it at that.

So, you're one of those guys that never kept the LP's in the cover stock, dropped the tone arm just any old place instead of using the provided damping lift, and always managed to place your grubby hands all over the surface?

Yeah, YOUR LP's will exhibit all that nastiness.

+100! LOL, the song of those that have never heard proper analog.

P.S. I think they took it down, its 404.

In the early days of CD’s I would chaffe the audiophiles by setting up an A/B “showdown” of LP vs CD. This had to be done very carefully and one had to use a “tricky” (expensive) turntable and pick the right media. I usually used MFSL media. The audiophiles relished the thought of their champion easily winning this contest. Alas, it turned out not to be so easy. I would synchronize the start and we would go through A-B-A-B .... WHOOPS ... just about when they were ready to declare victory, the CD would pop or click and they realized that they had it backwards. At that point they would stomp out claiming that I had tricked them. Perhaps so, but they missed the point that at the top of the game there was not much difference. 

I wouldn’t bother attempting this stunt with a Project class turntable outfitted with an OM-10.