Capturing a needle drop from the tape out on my McIntosh preamp and then playing back the needle drop made me realize just how must extra bass the McIntosh DAC was adding compared to my Ayre and then my Resonessence DACs.
The later 2 sounded much closer to the original vinyl. The McIntosh was a bloated bass mess in comparison.
Slightly off topic: From my perspective this is an important piece of software because VinylStudio provides a feature of converting DoP file to DSF. Our native playback system supported playback of DoP file, but Roon does not support DoP file (Roon only supports DoP output to DAC), so when migrating to a Roon setup, this feature becomes essential. And I’ve not been able to find any other software that provides the same feature (yet).
Thanks Peter. Great point.
Recently (last 4 years) I’ve massively upgraded my vinyl playback capability. The difference of my new gear vs. the old - that I used to rip my vinyl library - is so profound, that I know I MUST re-rip my vinyl. And because that process means hundreds and hundreds of hours labor, output file format is a CRITICAL question.
Vinyl Studio’s ability to support DSF, along with PS Audio’s NuWave Phono Converter’s support of it AND PSA forum feedback from Paul McGowan about its sonic superiority to PCM, it’s going to be the way to go for me when I get the hundreds of free hours necessary to rip my vinyl library again.
That said, one idea that has been floated on this thread is that ripped vinyl’s digital files can sound superior to the original analogue signal. I personally think that’s absurd, but that does not mean that a ripped analog signal cannot be MODIFIED to sound better that the source. That’s a BFO - a Blinding Flash of the Obvious.
Interestingly, Vinyl Studio’s support of DSF is implemted in such a way that if you rip to it as the destination format, no post-processing is pop/click filtering - or whatever - is possible. You get what you get.
Or, at least, that’s how I understand it. 
But honestly, that’s how I prefer it.
I’ve been ripping vinyl to DSD128 with a Tascam DA-3000. The Tascam records to an SD card. The DSF files are then transferred to a Windows laptop for processing by Tascam’s free hi-res editing software. Performance was much improved after modifying the Tascam with Belleson regulators and synchronizing its clock to a more accurate Antelope LiveClock. These vinyl recordings get reasonably close to the source LP in the analog domain. More important to me, I prefer the vinyl recordings to high-res digital downloads. This has put to rest the impulse to purchase digital downloads that duplicate my record collection.
OK, now I’m jealous. I guess that’s how you do it if you are getting really serious about your rips. 
hanks for sharing that.
I take a few things from that.
First - though you are clearly getting dead serious about your rips, I note that you’re still not saying that they are as good as the original vinyl, but instead “reasonably close”. That aligns with my expectation… that if one can’t hear the difference, it’s likely because the system in question cannot resolve the difference, not that there is no difference.
Second - this is another point to indicated that the ADC matters a lot. You heard big differences with a new clock and regulators. That is not dissimilar to the DAR article I referenced earlier, where half of the listeners preferred the vinyl rip from the $8000 Devialet ADC to either the rip from the much less expensive PS Audio ADC or the CD rip. Not surprisingly of the half that did not prefer the Devialet ADC rip, they were split between the PS Audio ADC rip and the CD rip. Which - to my mind - seems to indicate that at the PS Audio ADC level, you can get a vinyl rip that sounds as good as a CD. But if you want something that sounds better than a CD rip, you’re going to need a better ADC.
I rip vinyl to DSD using a Korg DS-DAC-10R. The Korg comes with its own software for ripping. It is very simple to use. I think it sounds terrific.
Going to quote myself to make an additional point…
If your vinyl does not already sound better than a CD on your system (takes a pretty nice setup to achieve that), then there’s no point buying a crazy expensive ADC, as you’ll likely not be able to resolve the difference anyway.
When researching ADCs that record to DSD at “archival” quality, based on forum reads my short list was Tascam DA-3000($1K), Merging Technologies Hapi($5.5K), and Playback designs Pinot($10K+). The Hapi is a top quality recording studio piece. The Pinot reportedly has confounded audiophiles to tell the difference between digital recordings of vinyl and the LP source. Given the price difference I figured the Tascam was worth a try.
When my early vinyl recordings didn’t quite measure up to the vinyl source(AT ART7>Kuzma 4PT>Luxman PD444>Pass Labs XP-25) I did what I could to modify and externally clock the Tascam. That got closer but still not quite there. But before trying another recorder I began to suspect that my digital playback wasn’t what all that it could be(QNAP TVS-882 NAS w/Roon>MicroRendu>Esoteric K-01X timed by SRS rubidium clock, with the mR and SRS clock powered by Hynes SR7). I switched out the mR for the latest SOtM end points and externally timed Ethernet hub, all synchronized to the SRS clock and powered by SR7. That raised things a notch or two, to the point that all digital files are now satisfying-- DSD vinyl recordings the more so.
I conclude from all this that in a very good system, vinyl rules as the reference, closely followed by a recording of vinyl to hi-res digital.
I use a Channel D Seta+ Model L (for gain) into a Merging Hapi with the AD8DP option card (for A/D) into a Mac Mini with Logic Pro X (for recording). I’ve been recording to 192/24 because that is what Logic supports, but I’m interested in trying out something like Vinyl Studio to record to DSD since the Hapi can handle DSD256.
There is a nice benefit to recording in PCM in that you can do post-recording cleanup (I use iZotope RX5 for that) but I think far more important and far more effective is having a good cleaning process for your vinyl.
Thanks for that! 
Well that’s a whole new can of worms opened here… Clearly an important step in the process. In fact, it’s a part of why I got the new ADC to re-rip all my vinyl. A major part of what I referred to as new vinyl “gear” is a Nitty Gritty Mini-Pro. I’m sure the ultrasonics do a better job (if LOUD), and two liquid cleaners (and possibly reversing cleaners?) might do a marginally better job. But it is light years ahead of the cleaning level I got using a Spin-Clean Record Washer the last time I ripped my vinyl! That change in analog gear alone merits re-ripping everything now.
Great point. Thank you.
What are your DSD settings? do you use the Phono within the Korg DS-DAC-10R? or an external Phono stage via line in? also, what are your input levels? -6db? or 0db?