Difference in sound using different carts when digitizing vinyl record?
@confuse_upgraditi The Sugarcube will digitise and reproduce the analogue sound as best represented via the vinyl. The better the signal played through the cartridge to the 'Cube the better the sound out of the 'Cube. It only processes the abnormalities represented as the pops and clicks and negates them, as you know. What a lot of responders have not realised is that your question does not involve storage to disk and its subsequent reproduction. You are using the 'Cube, a sound processor, to remove abnormalities on a vinyl record such as a scratch may give. However, as stated before, the better the input to the 'Cube, the better the reproduction. Ps. Love the Koala (I'm also from the land downunder) |
To the OP: As you apparently realized mid way through the barrage of responses, your question is not about whether digital recordings of one cartridge vs another would reveal differences between them. Your question is really specific to the Sugarcube and any other component that does what it does. (I am not aware of any other.) As I now understand it, your question is whether inserting the Sugarcube in between your phono and linestages would obscure the differences between two different phono cartridges. Since no audio device is perfect, and since even very modern state of the art D2A and A2D is only near to perfect, I would guess that the Sugarcube MUST not be perfect. It must alter the signal in some small ways. Whether you can hear the difference, only you and other owners of the Sugarcube can say. Incidentally, I own about 2500 LPs. Nearly half of them were purchased "used", but I have very stringent criteria for purchasing used LPs when it comes to the condition of the playing surface. I also clean my newly purchased used LPs on a VPI HW17 RCM. (I have not advanced to Ultrasonic yet.) I just clean them once, after purchase, and maybe never again. Having taken those precautions, it is very rare for me to hear a tick or a pop during playback. Some older LPs do have a faint "white noise" background, but that is either tape hiss from the original process or surface noise from prior use or imbedded dirt that just won't go away. I can tune that out. So, I'm wondering how bad could be your LPs that you feel you need the Sugarcube? I am guessing that their customers would be mostly younger newbies to vinyl who were nurtured on digital and have therefore become highly sensitized to the occasional (or rare) tick or pop. That's no slur on you; I only wish I were still young enough to fall into that category. |
Ok, as promised, here are the files: https://www.dropbox.com/s/opg3udisptsys73/Dire%20Straits%20Koetsu.flac?dl=0 and: https://www.dropbox.com/s/cj8asa4xolyvxd8/Dire%20Straits%20Decca.flac?dl=0 The first file is Dire Straits´ Walk of Life played through a Koetsu Coralstone/SAEC WE 308 L combo, the second one is the same song through a Decca London Reference/SME V . Phono preamp is a Manley Steelhead. Both files have been normalised to -1 dB to nullify volume differences because of differences in output voltage of the two cartridges. The files were digitised at 16 bits 44.1 kHz. ADC is a Metric Halo ULN8. |
