[vinyl anachronist]

I've been doing a little research on these USB port 'tables, the ones that can be plugged directly into your computer so that you can burn CD-Rs.  A lot of people ask me which ones to buy.  The consensus, however, seems to be that most of these units are very cheaply made, very unreliable, and they sound horrible.  They often include very very cheap cartridges.  Most people say the only way to do this right is to add a high-quality DAC, such as the Benchmark, to an already decent analog rig.

What are your experiences using these USB TTs?  Is there one model that stands out from the others?  My wife is using the TEAC one and says it's okay, but one look at this unit and I can tell it's an utter POS.  Another friend of mine bought a $40 USB port switch designed so that you can hook your laptop into the auxiliary jack of your receiver or amp, and then record off your turntable onto your PC.  He wound up taking it back because it made horrible copies.

[boead]

Numark send me one, a bit of swag. Its ok, not horrible. It comes with a cheap AT cart and I’ve not tried a better one but I’m sure it would help somewhat.

It comes down to this; the AD converter is just as important as a DA. You also have to contend with the line level so simply put there is no cheap way to do a needle drop.

I’d say the best/cheapest way would be to use a Bellari Tube PhonoPre and an M-Audio USB or Firewire DA/AD converter.

[vinyl anachronist]

That's pretty much what I thought.  Unfortunately, the general public doesn't understand the difference between doing needle drops, and making copies of CDs on their CD-R recorder.  In theory, the transfer of bits should be perfect every time, regardless of the machine.  But a needle drop reflects the quality of the initial signal.  That's what throws people.

[Toka]

Yea, I look at those USB decks as being for a completely different audience than would be on this message board (or any other audio board). More of the "hey, I have had those LPs in the basement ever since I threw out my TT 20 years ago, maybe it will be nice to listen to them on my iPod" crowd. And thats perfect for them. I'd rather get a decent line input on my PC and run the tape outs of my pre directly into that (or from the phono stage if its outboard). Still, it could be useful to find the 'best' USB deck, for those who care enough but not THAT much. 

[boead]

I have the Numark setup in my office at work.

I brought in a few LP’s and recorded The Beatles For Sale. I used Audacity to capture the album and used their built-in vinyl filter to clean it up a tad. I made a CD and then MP3’s.
I was on a Beatles kick this weekend and basically listened to all of their albums plus the 6 discs from the Anthology sets. While listening to For Sale, I heard some pops and remembered it was recorded from vinyl at work on the Numark. It sounded nice, a little top heavy and dry but not bad. Again, if you put a decent cart on the Numark I bet it would be ok. It also has a line-out with a built-in head amp.


http://www.numark.com/index.html?http://www.numark.com/products/product_view.php?v=overview&n=144