Digital Recording and playback through my Naim

Alan,

Thanks for the reply. You are right in that I am trying to combine two things into one. My no. 1 priority is to get my vinyl into a format that gives me the best I can from digital for convenience through my Hifi. From your suggestion it seems that CD-R may be the best way to go here. I have a high-end PC which could do the job but I am a complete novice when it comes to selecting and installing a suitable card. Is your suggestion the best on the market for sampling? Would I be better off purchasing a CD-R intended to connect to the hifi? I had a look at the Archos Jukebox and was very impressed but maybe I would be better off buying a portable CD player. Any suggestions on what the pick of the bunch is here? I am also assuming that once I've got a CD-R I can use my CDS-II for playback?

Regards,

Nigel

Nigel

I use a pioneer pdr509 cd recorder and get pretty good results from cds1 and lp12. This unit has been replaced by pioneer with the pdr609 which I believe has improved D/A circuits. I cannot comment on quality compared to a computer based system but for the money these machines offer a convenient and effective result.

In truth my nakamichi cassette deck is capable of superior results from the best quality analogue but these days just gathers dust as I use CD in the car/walkman etc etc.

I also have a Pioneer PDR509, which I can definitely recommend.The PDR609 is out now; Richer Sounds has it for £199. This is the best machine for analogue recording at anywhere near this price point.

Note- there are no digital outs on Naim CD players, so a good analogue recorder is your best bet. The quality of the pre-amp makes a different here as well....

Steve C 01

Simon/Steve,

Thanks for the feedback. It looks like the Pioneer then. Last question is does this machine allow you to specify track nos? i.e. can I simulate a manufactured CD or does it just record one track? I'm not bothered about recording from my CD player so digital out or not is not an issue. I use a NAC52 so I guess the Pioneer will be getting a pretty good analogue signal. I am assuming that, like my CD player, the Pioneer machine would appreciate a good power supply?

Cheers,

Nigel

quote:

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Originally posted by NigelP:
I use a NAC52 so I guess the Pioneer will be getting a pretty good analogue signal.

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Nigel,

my dealer has found that he gets a much better signal into the CD-R by running LP->Stageline->Supercap->CD-R. This powers the Stage via a Super for max performance, and eliminates the 52 which introduces some losses.

Would be a bugger if you wanted to do this occaisionally, but might be worthwhile if you you wanted to to a whole run of discs.

BTW, he uses a HHB (or HBB?) CD-R, which is apparently much better than the domestic players (and will use the cheaper computer blanks instead of special audio ones).

cheers, Martin

IMHO I have had some bad experiences with cheap blanks. They tend to fade over time and then refuse to play. Also they tend to have more audible errors on them during playback.

If you're using such high-quality kit, I reckon it pays dividends to invest in high quality media.

Just a thought!

Gav

As I followed this thread I was wondering if someone would mention HHB - I've heard great things about this baby, but haven't had a chance to hear what it can do, either in terms of CDRs burnt from analogue sources, or just straight CD playback.

Anyway I've been toying with the idea of buying one for ages. I certainly wouldn't mind being able to archive some of my precious now-unobtainable vinyl to CDR, plus I figure if ordinary playback is halfway decent I'd use it for parties etc (saving my Naim for audiophile listening)

Has anyone any experience with an 830?

And what are the chances that Naim will release a CRD machine themselves?

Ta
Jim

I use a 1st generation Pioneer CDR and it gives really good results with LP and the Tuner

Okay, I admit I'm a bit ignorant on this subject, but would a CD recorder allow you to record individual tracks from vinyl and CD to create a compilation?

And to re-iterate a question from above, if a whole album is recorded from vinyl, does the Cd copy have distinct tracks, or just one whole thing?

Thanks guys. This is really useful information for me. I would like to echo Gavin's question. When recording a CDR can you press something on the machine to tell it to write a marker so that on playback I can skip tracks. I think that this is possible with MD. Secondly I took a trip to my local Curry's and saw a nicely made machine by LG. Anyone got any experience with this? It seemed to have an analogue input as well as a CD to CD function built in to the machine. Lastly why does HHB appear not to have a distributor in the UK and how much do these machines cost?

Cheers,

Nigel

what about the machines from Sony and Tascam? Anyone got any experience with these? Also to echo Gavin's question can you press a button on the machine to mark a new track so that you can skip tracks on playback?

Nigel

Someone will correct me, but I though that at least one Tascam model was a rebadged HHB?

cheers, Martin