entry and startup questions

[dublinmusic]

Hello and a little help...

Just installed the trial version of VS.
Plan to buy the pro version.
Not a tech geek.
Not an audiophile.
But music lover and do have some questions before I start.

Here is how I am configured:

Win7 Professional running on an HP.
I have JRiver23 installed and have
ripped my CD's to JRiver. Plan to use
VS to record WAV files from records/tapes;
process in VS; then import them
into JRiver; convert to FLAC; and then
play from the JRiver Library...

I have a Music Hall DAC 25.3 connected to
my computer with USB A - B cable. The DAC Audio
Out then goes by RCA cables to my stereo hifi
YAMAHA 596 Amplifier AUX IN. This feeds my
JRiver library to my system and lets me play thru
the YAMAHA to hard wired speakers in several rooms.

The YAMAHA Amp also has turntable, tuner, CD Player,
cassette deck, and 2 reel to reel decks hooked to it.
The 3 tape decks are wired to a Niles Audio TSB3
three tape deck switch which then goes to the YAMAHA.
Selecting the AUX on the YAMAHA lets me play
all the JRiver library.

Turntable is a Technics SL Q2 with Ortofon 2M
Red Phono Cartridge. All my equipment is older
and kinda lower-middle if you're an audiophile.

Q1.
When I play the tunrtable and send to record;
I can play analog from my amp to Klipsch Heresy
speakers in my computer room. I have no speakers
hooked to my computer sound card. Thats why I bought
the DAC - - to avoid that. Is there something
different that I need to hear while recording thru
the sound card? Can you really hear level problems with
cheap computer speakers? Or can I listen to the
heresies thru the hifi? Can one adequately
set the levels visually only?

Q2.
In VS I get responsive metering using: Line In on Realtek
High Definition Audio; thats my sound card. It never really
dawned on me til now that the same quality issue would happen
bringing in analog as sending out digital. So - - do I need
an ADC? I thought I was ready. Am I? Is there a lower
middle affordable ADC that would make a significant
improvement? If I record on Line IN am I consistent with
the rest of my quality?

Its been a lotta dues to even get this far.
Thank You!
:-)

[Paul Sanders (AlpineSoft)]

Hi,

Re Q1, you might like to plug a pair of headphones into the output of your PC's sound card.  You certainly need some kind of audio monitoring to use VinylStudio effectively.

Re Q2, mist PC sound cards deliver good results but watch out for background noise from the electronics inside the PC.  Test for this before proceeding,