JediTray said:
I think I'm going to save up and buy the DAK kit again. I'm also thinking that, although it might be redundant, that I would try an RCA to USB converter. My thinking is that, if my sound card was part of the problem, then the sound could be converted to digital via USB, rather than the 3/5mm input on the sound card. The only restriction I see so far is that the one I linked to is 16 bit only.
Was the majority of the surface noise you heard in the recordings, or did you also hear it when you were listening to your LPs, prior to recording?
If so, could it have been that the cartridge you were using just wasn't up to snuff? Sometimes the simplest solution is the correct one. Since the cartridge is the only thing that comes in contact with the LP other than the rubber mat, you might just want to go for a different brand of cartridge than the one you used before, or splurge and get one of a higher quality. I don't think the quality of the cartridge can be over stated. Your records are in good condition, they're clean, so I can't think of anything else in the analog realm that would account for the surface noise.
I'm sorry, I am a Luddite when it comes to music+computers. I don't even own an MP3 player. ;-)