I will admit, I don’t really “get” the vinyl-to-digital “archiving” thing. I guess I’m a little old-school: if you want vinyl, play vinyl. If you want digital, play digital. If you want both (yes please!), pick. But recording LPs to digital? [Insert shrug here].
No, don’t bother to explain — I get the whole point of archiving. Trust me! I just don’t get why this is a valid way to do it. The whole process of ripping is just annoying. Where does the file begin? Where does it end?Did I leave enough space? What is the name of the file, the song, the artist, the band, the date …. blah blah blah. Okay … so maybe I’m just really lazy.
Sugarcube may have changed my mind.
Like all those not-so-great USB turntables, the Sugarcube system will let you take your turntable’s output and shove the result into a digital file. Unlike those not-so-great turntables, the Sugarcube will let you take a high-res sample (up to 24/192) right out of your favorite phono stage. Yes, Sugarcube is an ADC. Interestingly, it’s also a DAC. And that’s where things get interesting.
I saw a demo where a truly crappy LP was … transformed. The music on the LP? Fine — well, except for the pops, clicks, and scratches. Seriously. This LP was FUBAR’d. But then … with the touch of a “button” on an iPhone app … all that crap disappeared. That is, the LP was suddenly “fixed”. Wait, what????
Oh, and did I mention that it will automagically tag those files with the appropriate metadata and stream those files directly to your NAS?
Wait, what???
Oh yes. Now that is interesting.
Ta friggin’ da, b****es. Skadoosh.
Sugarcube will probably retail in the $2k range when it finally starts shipping late this year. For those of you hot for teacher, I suggest keeping an eye out for the coming Kickstarter campaign, where the prices should be considerably more attractive.
Well played, Sugarcube. Well played.
The Sugarcane is a very nice product. The ADC by itself is a bargain and the click and pop filter is nothing short of fantastic.