Listening to Vinyl Through Your Computer

Griffin Technology recently redesigned their iMic product. While it doesn’t seem that the guts are any different, it sure looks better. If you want to connect your turntable to your computer, I highly recommend the iMic by Griffin. To use the iMic, simply plug your turntable (or any external sound device) into the iMic and then plug the iMic into an open USB port on your computer. It is basically an external sound card. The advantage of being external is that it is free from all the noise, vibration, and interference that exists inside your computer. That translates into better sound quality.

I should also note that you may need a cable adapter to plug your turntable into the iMic. If your turntable is like mine then it has rca outputs. The input on the iMic is for a minijack. All you need is rca to minijack cable. You can get a cheap one at Wal-Mart for a few bucks, or splurge and get a Monster iCable for $30. You may also need a pair of rca couplers that are also fairly inexpensive.

Another selling point of the iMic is that it comes with audio recording software called “Final Vinyl” (Mac only) that is perfect for converting your vinyl LPs into digital files. I had problems running the newer version of Final Vinyl (I am using Mac OSX 10.3.9 and the new versino of Final Vinyl wouldn’t open) but the older version of Final Vinyl (1.1.2) works very well. By simply clicking on “preview” I am able to listen to my record. If I want to make an mp3, I hit record. When the track is over, I hit stop and then save. This will create an “aiff” file in the folder that I specify in the preferences. Then I open the aiff file in iTunes and from there convert it to an mp3, aac, or whatever format I want. Lately I have been using the “Apple Lossless encoder.”

When reading the new iMic page I was surprised to read that “Final Vinyl can also equalize LPs without having to connect a turntable to a pre-amp.” My turntable (Sony PSLX250H) has a built in pre-amp, that I thought was a requirement for using a turntable with a computer. Apparently not. I would be curious to hear the difference between iMic with a pre-amp and without. I would assume that a pre-amp improves the sound quality, but I could be wrong. Anyway, the iMic is a great product. Check it out if you are looking for an excellent external sound card.

This entry was posted on Thursday, February 16th, 2006 at 4:26 pm and is filed under Music. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.