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Old 2016-07-19, 12:34 AM
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Join Date: Nov 2006
Location: Victoria, BC, Canada
Re: Transfer to Reel to Reel

Quote:
Originally Posted by pdgmedia View Post
Thanks guys! So I guess what I was curious about was whether one of these units was either a) essential or b) there was another obvious way that I might be missing, in terms of transferring the FLAC files to the Line In on the Akai.
http://usa.yamaha.com/products/music...03/?mode=model

In terms of sound quality - I am totally okay with whatever loss (or gain) is going to take place during the conversion process. Mostly for two reasons; I'm 52 and my ears aren't what they used to be. I might miss the odd drop of Buddy Rich's foot tapping away on the floor in the background, but then I miss the odd point my better half tries to make, so I figure it's a wash :-)
To be honest, having one of these playing in the living room with friends, well sometimes that's all that matters. To me anyways :-)

In terms of wanting to transfer digital to tape, for fun and pleasure without judgement (haha), to enjoy vintage gear and tape, is awesome in my book!

I'd say to do the best job of recording you need a good digital playback so a good sound card to do the best quality digital to analog conversion that you can afford. Although that unit you linked to plays and records up to 24 bit 192 khz sample rates, but I don't really know how good the DA / AD converters are inside that thing. What do you currently play flac files through?

Speaking as someone who usually goes in the opposite direction, by digitizing my old tape bootleg library going from analog to digital, I would say the best results come from the shortest signal path as possible. Instead of capturing an analog signal and digitizing it, you have a digital "signal" you need to un-digitize and capture in analog, LOL!!!! As long as you've got a good line out from a good quality soundcard or playback device, go straight into the tape machine line inputs. Good interconnects (wires, lol) between the DA converter and the tape machine are important, too. I wouldn't needlessly elongate your signal path by going through a preamp or receiver or a mixer - shortest cleanest chain works best to record (in either direction). From there, I hope you know how to set your record levels and operate your reel to reel... From there, listen to it on whatever you want... At your nice houseparty to entertain your friends, or through your Beats headphones! hahaha! Have fun!

Quote:
Originally Posted by pmonk View Post
flac is just lossless compressed audio file.

Flac files don't play themselves. You need a play back system, and mine is a MX-110Z going into a MC-240 power amp powering a pair of Klipsch Forte II with Crites crossovers.

So if you are going to compare that with Acer lap top using Foobar or iTunes thru a cheap ass chinese made sound card going into a Beats head phone, good luck with that!
What you listen to your music with isn't the question here, it is how to best transfer digital music to tape. Your preamps and speakers and whatever are great, but what's driving them? Monitoring a tape recording might be useful, but not essential. In this case, all that's needed is a good soundcard to get to tape and a flac player that he trusts. What is your analog to digital converter? I bet it's better than a Chinese made Acer laptop line out, too, right?
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