Audio file Query

[Philpense]

I write seeking an informed opinion on a project to record vinyl albums directly to an Android 5.1 HTC phone. Having read a Brando Widden article found on digitaltrends I write to inquire about what issues might develop in porting the music, through RCA cables into the phone which has a 200GB SD card.

What would be the risks to audio "fidelity"

How can one calculate and estimate recorded filesize per "cut"

Can there be a "hit" to the fidelity of the album when such a recording is made

This is a Technics turntable from the 80's

Much thanks as I await a reply

 

[mikedt]

Sure the problem is, how you can even connect a 1980s turntable with RCA connectors to a smart-phone. You can do it with a computer easily enough, because there are amplifiers made with USB, for connecting to a computer, and can even get USB turntables, which are intended for transcribing vinyl into a digital format. And they often come with Audacity.

You can keep the highest audio fidelity by using a lossless audio format, like FLAC, which phones will play no problem.

 

[Slug]

The fidelity depends on the quality of the input, and the sampling rate/file format chosen. If your turntable has a good 'clean' phono pre-amp (low noise/distortion), you convert to high bit-rate MP3, and you take care to adjust recording levels in the software to avoid clipping, then the audio quality can be very good.

My entire CD collection has been ripped to MP3 (sampled at 192kHz) and the average file size of a single track is ~8MB. I'm toying with moving on to preserving my prized vinyl rarities but will need to upgrade my network storage; a 4min track in a lossless format can occupy upwards of 40MB!

 

[svim]

I've digitized several albums but it has always involved a PC with a sizable monitor. Can't imagine doing any such task on any smartphone, just my opinion but they're just not suitable for something like this. If you're really concerned about fidelity a smartphone just isn't capable at converting, creating, and editing even hobbyist level audio -- a PC with adequate RAM and a good sound card are basic requirements, a set of headphones and/or quality speakers too.