Is it possible? A good solution?


Is it a good idea to have the following setup?

Turntable -> Phono -> A/D converter -> DAC with preamp -> power amp

In that case, I can invest in a high quality DAC with preamp function (like Weiss Dac202) and got lots of options in digital area.

The only thing I am worry about is the Analog side...will that DAC somehow change the sound character from the turntable/cartridge?

Or it is simply a stupid idea at all???

Cheers,
RCYH
rcyh
It's not stupid, but it does raise the question "WHY?"

If you're going to go this route, then go all the way. Dump the traditional phono preamp and have your RIAA EQ done in the digital domain. I know Pure Vinyl offers setups like that, but maybe others do too.

Personally, I think you would get better results by getting a Manley Steelhead (a phono preamp w/ analog preamp functions) and running a high quality DAC thru that. Alternatively, a traditional phono preamp and the new NAD integrated DAC/power amp would work.
I would bet that keeping the signal all analogue will sound much better than anything else.
You can get a DAC/Pre-amp with analogue inputs. That would be best, Peachtree?
The reason is I am aiming to get a high quality dac like weiss dac202 and it contains pre amp function. Everyone is saying CAS is the way to go! :-) With the dac202, I am thinking maybe I can get rid of my existing pre-amp (nagra p-lp). But I have a turntable and I am not gonna get rid of it. So i needa do something about it and thinking a phono and an ADC might be the solution in this scenario.

Based on the suggestions from Onhwy61 and Elevick, it sounds like this idea will only make the whole setup more complicated..and possibly not have a satisfactory result.
The idea sounds interesting enough that it just might work under proper circumstances. I'm just wondering, though, if you might get the worst of both worlds (ie, record noise + digital glare).

Michael
I do something like this to digitize my record collection. Tape out from preamp to a/d to computer. Iisten back and hear excellent tunes. No worst of both worlds IMHO.
But why do analog at all? You are chopping up an analog signal to convert to digital. Then, you are hoping to reconstruct that signal, for the most part. What can the benefit possibly be?
Audio is one of those things that really responds well to keeping things simple. Adding additional building blocks in the signal path is rarely a good thing. If you really want to hear analog done right, you keep any additional processing, especially digital processing, as far away from it as you can.
I really enjoy the setup I have for analog right now. I think I can't cheat to go into the digital world (dac, computer as source) by scarifying my analog setup.

I was thinking converting analog to 192kHz digital shouldn't affect too much...
I say keep the analog analog, and the digital digital. The more pieces you add, the more the signal gets changed. Rarely does changing the original signal work out for the better. There's always exceptions though.

People debate vinyl vs digital ad nausium. I say why choose when you can have both.
Oh well...after quite a while...really quite a long period of time...my setup now is...

Analog is keeping analog. With my turntable with an ASR phono.

For digital path, I go with EMM Labs DCC2 SE which can serve as a DAC and a pre-amp with analog input.

CD player is the EMM combo CDSD SE.

The best of both worlds!

In addition, for the CAS, I am playing with the M2Tech hiFace EVO from a Mac Mini and outputting AES to the EMM.

I would say the CAS part is pretty good but nothing compare with the CDSD.