Why I buy this one ?
- The USB PhonoPlus V2 is an ideal low cost interface solution for transferring any analog or digital audio source via USB.

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What our customer's say!

"Easy To Use, But...", My goal: to convert vinyl records into CDs.

After looking at the available USB turntables, I realized my old Technics linear tracking turntable is way better than any of them. So the solution for me was to buy a USB interface, which, it turns out, means a USB phono preamp.

I did some comparison shopping before buying the ART Phono Plus 2. There are a couple of similar products. One in particular has good specs. It claims USB 2.0, whereas the Phono Plus 2 only claims USB 1.1.

However, that unit made no claim to having a monitor output, whereas the Phono Plus has quite a nice monitor interface. In particular, it lets you monitor the sound coming right off the preamp. This is necessary if you want to do any manual fading when recording, because the sound coming out the computer speakers has at least a 2 second delay from what's coming off the needle.

The Phono Plus has a screw connection for the phono ground. Neither of the other units mentioned having this. On my turntable, leaving the ground wire floating creates a large amount of 60Hz hum in the output.

Finally, although the ART is the most expensive of the three, almost twice the cost of the second, and three times that of the third, I found absolutely no reviews of any kind of the other two, whereas the ART has been reviewed extensively, both by customers and magazines. And everyone, including me, loves it.

This is a well-built unit, from a durability standpoint, definitely not a cheap piece of junk. Ergonomically, it has some down points, as well as some good ones.

Plusses:
. Monitor allows routing from the preamp, from the USB, or both. (The rationale for the "both" setting is that you will never be playing a record and a digital sound file at the same time, so it allows you to hear either without having to change the switch setting.)
. There is a block diagram of the internal signal routing on the bottom of the unit, which could prove valuable if it is used portably.
. The unit will run off USB power when hooked to a desktop computer. For portable laptop operation, plugging in the A/C power adapter (included) overrides USB power, preventing drain on laptop batteries.

Minuses:
. Gain control has too small a diameter to be easily moved small amounts, like you need to do in the Level Setting Wizard in Spin-It-Again.
. Jacks and ports on the back are labeled either in pine green or purple. All are virtually illegible. I had to use a magnifying glass and a flashlight to see where to hook up my turntable to it.

It's hard to read the Phono/Line and Rumble Filter In/Out labels. But each has a light that lights up when the button is pressed, so at least you can easily tell what state the button is in, even if you can't tell what it means.

I was very surprised that in a unit this expensive, no USB cable was included. It requires the "printer" type, with a square connector on the preamp end and a flat rectangular connector on the computer end.

With my computer powered on, I plugged in the USB cable from the Phono Plus. Lights on the preamp lit up! In a couple of minutes, everything was magically configured. I didn't have to do or install anything.

However, as I discovered later, this process "broke" my computer speakers. No sound would come out of them any more at all, from any source! I had to go into
Settings -> Control Panel -> Sounds and Audio Devices, Audio tab, and change the Default Device back to my on-board sound. Hooking up the Phono Plus had changed this so all sound was routed through the USB back to the preamp! This includes the Windows startup music, and the "beep" that occurs when you hit a wrong key. (I am using Windows XP, the most basic Home Edition.)

When I was comparison shopping, I was unable to find the specs for this unit, even on the manufacturer's web site, so I thought I'd post them here.

Frequency Response: 10Hz - 50kHz, +/- 0.5dB
THD: .01% Typical @ 1kHz
Hum and Noise: >90dB below clipping
Input Impedance: 47k Ohms/100pF (phono); 270k Ohms (line)
Maximum Input Level: 40mVrms @ 1kHz (phono); +19dBu (line)
Maximum Gain: 45dB @1kHz (phono); +6dB (line)
Analog Output Connections: RCA (preamp line output); 1/8" (monitor/headphone output)
Maximum Output Level: +6dBu (1.4Vrms)
Filter Type/Response: Switchable, High Pass, -3dB @ 22Hz
A/D & D/A: 16 bit, 44.1kHz or 48kHz, USB selectable
Digital Audio Interface: TOSLINK in and out; S/PDIF coax (RCA) in
Computer Interface: USB 1.2 compliant, Windows 98SE or newer, Mac OS9.1 or newer
Power Requirements: 7-12VDC or 9-12VAC @ 150mA, or USB bus powered
Dimensions: 1.75"H x 4.2"W x 3.5"D (44.5mm x 107mm x 89mm)
Weight: 1.35 lbs. (0.61kg)
(Note: 0dBu = 0.775Vrms)

Additional spec-type information:
. Uses USB adaptive mode for playback and USB asynchronous mode for record.
. Preamp equalization is RIAA (although no spec or version number is given).
. Although I bought it to use with my turntable, it is also quite possible to digitize cassette tapes with it, using the Line inputs.

It comes with Audacity software on a CD-ROM.

Using the Phono Plus is extremely simple. Basically, hook up the two phono outputs and the phono ground wire. Hook up the USB cable to the computer.

At this point, fire up Spin-It-Again, hit Record A Vinyl LP, put a record on the turntable, and you're converting a record into a CD!


"ART USB Phono Plus incompatible with my iMac (Aluminum)", I tried using the ART USB Phono Plus with a new iMac (Aluminum case), but was unsuccessful. Roughly a third of the way into recording an LP and a terrible hum would develop. It would then be necessary to shut down the iMac in order to get rid of the hum. ART shipped me another unit under warranty, but I continued to have the same problem. I tried various cables, each of the three USB ports on the back of the computer, etc. No luck. I've since purchased the (much higher priced) RME Fireface 400 and have been extremely satisfied by the quality 96kHz/24bit recordings I've made of my better LPs. I've been using Amadeus Pro on the Mac as recording software after finding Audio Hijack Pro extremely buggy at higher sampling rates. For me the Audacity software had a rather cumbersome interface.

"Great Product", I have a large collection of LP's from the 60's-70's-80's and have wanted to be able to convert them to digital for quite some time. I have tried other solutions with poor results. The ART USB Phono plus was easy to use and does a great job of retaining the fidelity of my old LP's. I used it with the Rega planar three turntable that I have had for more than twenty years. I highly recommend this product.

"Not bad, but did not work for me", My search for a way to digitize my albums began about a month ago when I saw an ad for a product for $16. I was intrigued, but knew that it could not be very good for that price. Some research resulted in a purchase through Amazon of the ART USB Phono Plus. The box that I received had a defect (the head-phone jack had a short and I had to wiggle the plug to allow me to hear without buzz, hum and feedback). I was able to get past this and transfer some music. (It also appeared that the package had been opened so there may have been more problems).

My first recording had some very fast musical riffs and was a challenging piece to record. The ART unit was easy to set up as was Audacity, the recording software that comes with it. The initial quality of the recording was good, certainly acceptable. However, I experienced a slurring problem. That is, the tempo of the music slowed then sped up, as though it was catching up with itself. I rerecorded the song several times and continued to experience this problem.

This could be hardware problem with my desktop (Dell Pentium 4 - 2.4 with 512mb of memory). I was concerned that I may not have enough memory to keep up with the recording. I decided to upgrade my memory, but I needed to return the product due to the defective head-phone jack. I found out that because this shipped not from Amazon but from a 3rd party firm, I could only return the ART box, not get a replacement. I would need to purchase another. This led me to look to other products (e.g. a digital turntable or other digitizing products).

There are not many high-end alternatives to the ART box, but I did not want to buy a new turntable since I had a pretty good one already. As an alternative, I found the PRO-JECT Phono Box II USB. This was significantly more expensive ($170 vs. $70 for the ART box) but seemed to be focused at the higher end audiophile. I took a chance and bought the PRO-JECT box.

I added one gig of memory to my Dell. So the results of using the PRO-JECT box cannot be directly compared to the results of using the ART box. The PRO-JECT box is much studier than the ART box (metal vs. plastic). It is heavier and feels industrial strength (but it should for an additional $100. The ART box has volume control - I'm not sure if this affects recording levels or just the headphones; the PRO-JECT box did not have this feature. Also, the PRO-JECT box did not have a head-phone jack. I had to use the phono-out RCA jacks with a couple of adapters (which fortunately I had laying around) to get my headphones to work with PRO-JECT box.

Bottom line: the recordings from the PRO-JECT box are great, which in the end, is what I was looking for. No slurring (which may be due to the increased memory, or because it is a better box than the ART - I can't tell). If you have the ART box and experience the slurring problem, try upgrading the memory in your PC. If you are a true audiophile, go for the PRO-JECT box because it is a nice piece of equipment. Otherwise, the ART box is a good solution (exclusive of the slurring problem - has any else had this problem?).

On a final note, another reviewer noted that their desktop speakers could not be used while the ART box was plugged into the USB port. I had the same problem but did not take the time to find a solution. Not surprisingly, I found the same situation with the PRO-JECT box. The solution is in the configuration of sound and audio processing on the PC. Go to control panel, select "Sounds and Audio Devices", then click on the `Audio" tab. In the sound playback section, select your sound card, in the sound recording section, select the USB (ART or PRO-JECT) input device. When you are recording, Audacity will pump the sound to your speakers. (Note - in the Audacity set up, you need to select that you want the recording to be simultaneously played-back). When not recording, Audacity will not play the input from the turntable. So if you just want to play an album on the turntable and hear it on your PC's speakers, you should just buy a digital turntable.




"Excellent for vinyl transferring", If you're shopping for a device to help transfer your vinyl collection to mp3 or other digital format, look no further. I've been wanting to transfer my collection of 300+ albums to mp3, but didn't want to move my AV receiver to my PC or vice versa for this prolonged project. I've shopped for a good, small phono preamp but none of them had the ideal features for this type of work. This one does:

1) Headphone jack with volume control to monitor LP playback

2) Output level control with signal and clip indicator (vital!)

3) Analog to digital conversion with USB output (other digital outputs available too).

4) High quality phono preamp

5) Phono grounding post

Combine this affordable device with the excellent Spin It Again software and you've got a conversion setup that's hard to beat. One thing to be aware of... when this device is connected to a Vista machine, Vista will certainly recognize it as a USB audio input device, but will likely classify it as a microphone! If Vista does this, it will end up in MONO mode. You'll need to go into the settings for the device via the Sound control panel and change it to stereo, 16-bit, 44kHz.

Read this reviews before You buy...

"Great Little Preamp", I wanted to put my 45 year old - 200 plus LP's on cd's. I had a 10 yr old - in good shape Technics turntable plus a $25.00 preamp, this preamp was ok when it was hooked up to the AUX input of one of my other receivers but was clipping the audio output of the turntable when I used it with my newly installed software; Spin it Again & Audacity.

I read the other reviews on the ART Phono Plus v2 and purchased the preamp to my satisfaction - its inexpensive and does the job right, its adjustable and matches the software. This is great for beginners like me and once it is set up per the directions and you practice with your software -(Spin it Again) for me , you have some good old sounds coming out of your home or car CD players.



"Solid Product For Restoration of LP's", This unit is what I have been looking for!!!!

Simple with ease of use..

Four stars due to the fact that they designed it without an On/Off switch???

Works great!!!

Gain control is very sensitive with smooth movement..
Monitor output very nice, can be cranked with no distortion..

My archive of LP's has been saved from the big bad dust bunny's..

This unit works nicely with Adobe Audition and (Diamond Cut)Restoration software from Tracer Technologies .

For those on a budget,Cost was a bit of a budget buster, but this fun little box is worth it..







"Love it!", This was a very good purchase. I have plenty of other ways to get my audio into the computer from the turntable, but this one improved the flow... fewer stages means much lower noise floor. The pre-amp is better than the pre-amps in my $1600 DJ mixer. I'm so happy with my vinyl transfers now. Also, connection is a breeze, the sound is good, and controlling the level with one quick knob and a clip light is easy. It comes bundled with Audacity (which is freeware anyway) which is a great choice for a straight-ahead recorder/editor.

"Spin that vinyl again!", Immensely satisfied with this gadget which connects easily to my turntable and tape player - no tuner required - and then to my PC albeit with a somewhat pricey USB cable. Best to have a set of earphones (not earbuds) to synchronize and edit recordings. Software upload is straightforward and with a few tries recording and editing are intuitive. The recorded files need a player, of course, but the files can be downloaded to mp3 format so I am able to burn a CD or transfer to my iPod. I was concerned that my cassette tapes would have deteriorated but by and large the quality is unaffected by the passage of time. A little crackle and pop from the vinyl, most of which is 40 years old is just fine.

"Terrific Solution to Digitizing", I've tried digitizing LP's using Sound Cards, external sound cards, and this. No question, this thing produces the most warm, natural, noise-free sound - and it's rediculously easy to use. The gain control is a big benefit - better than any control on any sound card I've tried - but it's the warm, full, natural sound that sold me on this thing.

Important to note that ART now sells USB Phone Plus v2 (V2 adds one very important feature - volume control for your headphone monitor), and that is what was delivered to me when I ordered from the vendor listed here (Shoreline Music) even though what is pictured here is not the V2 product The differences are small - basically it's the same housing, just an additional switch and volume control for your headphones - but you'll want to be sure you're getting the latest product.