Can this be used as an improved DAC over laptop's to send music to my receiver from my hard drive.

For this device, the direction of signal flow is from the low signal level analogue domain (vinyl/LP/phono) to the digital domain (USB/Optical). Thus, this ART unit is not a Digital-to-Analog(ue) Converter (the "DAC" sort of unit which you specify) but its "opposite" an "ADC" (Analogue-to-Digital Converter). This unit is also a phono preamplifier which boosts the low voltage signal from the moving magnet or moving coil phonograph pickup to higher "line level" in order to drive a subsequent (in the signal path) separate amplifier--or to supplement a hi-fi receiver or preamp lacking (as is often the case) a phono input. In other words, this ART is primarily a phono preamplifier--something to supply gain (amplification) to drive headphones or the just mentioned follow-on analog(ue) audio switching, processing, or amplifying units. You might think of this ART USB Phono Plus as a tidy little combination of two functions: (1) Phono Preamp/Headphone Monitoring Amplifier and (2) ADC (Analog to Digital USB or Optical). By the way, this unit is at least the equal of anything else in its price range with respect to preserving the audio signal quality. It is capable of passing the usable dynamic range of which LPs are capable without the compression mentioned by another person answering your question... and without adding distortion you are likely to be able to hear considering the masking effects of the much larger combined distortions which are inherent to the recording and playback medium that is vinyl (e.g., the "LP" phonograph record). (There are many who disagree with this last point, however.)Finally, the quality or fidelity of the music or other sound which you play "off" your computer's hard drive can be no better than the quality of the original signal encoded in digital format to your hard drive. If you have high bit-rate, high definition source material (CD quality or better) on your hard drive, the sound processor chip on your laptop's motherboard is almost certainly going to degrade that signal by contaminating it with noise and compromising its dynamic range (or degrade other aspects of the signal as well). If high quality sound output from high quality source material is your goal, then you'd do better to use a high quality "soundcard" (installed in desktop computer OR use an "outboard" soundcard (i.e., a so-called "audio interface"). ASUS makes a fine soundcard for the consumer market (http://www.amazon.com/PCI-Express-XONAR-ESSENCE-STX-90-YAA0C0-0UAN00Z/dp/B001OV789U/ref=sr_1_2?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1422964422&sr=1-2&keywords=asus+sound+card+xonar) but be sure to read the review comments to get the installation right from the get-go on Windows machines. If you are an audiophile, you can find computer soundcards costing almost 10 times what the ASUS does... but not sounding appreciably better. As far as the external audio interfaces go, there are many excellent, quite affordable (from $100-$500... or more, of course) devices aimed at musicians and recordists for use in their semi-pro (or pro) home studios. These days, in a given price range, the digital signal processing chips used in these devices are either the same or very close cousins of one another (sourcing from just a few chip makers). You can see that in how close the specs are between brands and models in a given range. Thus, the differences in price often have more to do with features and flexibility (e.g., numbers and types of inputs and outputs), build quality and best engineering practices, and, of course, "brand reputation"--than the fundamental parameters.

is this the ART USB 2.0 Phono Plus Project Series (which is the current model)??

Mine is Project series and manual clearly says it is BOTH USB 1.1 and 2. However, no A/C power came with it (one reviewer said his did). Mine also came with USB cable (one reviewer said his didn't). Mine does have a volume on the Monitor Output, so (according to one reviewer) that makes it the v2 (new) version. Order mine late May, 2014.

Recently SoundSaver Express app started to hang with the (Not Responding) window pop up. Removed/reinstalled and same thing happened. Any advice?

I wasn't able to install Soundsaver on my iMac, plus there is no support available anywhere. Get Audacity, it's free and works just fine.

Will this accommodate moving coil or moving magnet phone inputs?

No. Typically, a moving coil cartridge puts out a much lower level signal (albeit a more accurate one), and usually requires a preamp with some switching capability between a standard level and the MMC level. This unit does not have that feature

ART USB Phono Plus

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