Analog and digital.

I am wondering how much of the love for either is affected by the quality of the system playing material from the two basic mediums? Maybe a really good CD player would trump an average vinyl setup? - thus influencing the responses from people who have both.

Or is the best vinyl setup always better than the best CD setup for example?

Difficult questions... probably not possible to provide a definitive answer.
Well, I have a modern TT setup, worth new about $4700 and a vintage CD + exernal ~$500 DAC. All interconnects are about $100 per meter and equal quality on both systems.

I cannot say which one is better. Both sound great to my ear. :scratch2:

Maybe I am in a happy position and miraculously managed to put together two sources etc. gear which sound great to me. Or maybe my ears are just made of wood. ;) Then again my wife is a pro musician/composer, an opera singer and a LMus and often praises my stereos :banana: Maybe I am just lucky...period... ;)
 
I am wondering how much of the love for either is affected by the quality of the system playing material from the two basic mediums? Maybe a really good CD player would trump an average vinyl setup? - thus influencing the responses from people who have both.

Or is the best vinyl setup always better than the best CD setup for example?

Difficult questions... probably not possible to provide a definitive answer.

The problem I see with the comparisons going on here is that it is analogue against CD's (rebook).
Not really the best against the best.....

CD's can sound pretty good, but if you are talking about the best analogue setup, then we need to compare it to HD Audio tracks.....

I used to be hardcore analogue until my digital playback system became more advanced than just playing CD's...

I have a lot of High Definition albums, some 24bit/96khz, and some are 24bit/192khz.....
I have my C48 Mcintosh preamp which can convert up to 32bit floating, and 192khz.....I also have a Benchmark DAC1 which does 24bit/192....
When this is converting at such high rates, the image, depth, and realism in my opinion equals, and in some cases, surpasses analogue.....
The better the digital is, the more real it sounds........

I was not going to be able to be dragged away from my analogue, NO WAY Jose!! prise my records from my cold dead hands!!!
But then I started listening to HD audio.........

It must be a few months since I have spun an album on the Thorens now....
 
I find it interesting after I have listened to analog music long enough that I begin to "forget" what digital music sounds like, the brain acclimates to the analog spectrum, and I don't at all miss the extended range, to me the sound is full and natural and not lacking anything. The sound is totally satisfying. It's only after I listen to the digital music again and my hearing reacclimatizes to that broader harsher spectrum that I notice the difference. To my ears it is a supernatural sound, but not as pleasing as my analog.

The situation seems to indicate the brain doesn't really need the extended range of digital to fully enjoy the music. More like it adjusts itself to the extended digital range.
 
I grew up with LPs and when I was young and building my own systems that was all there was, apart from reel to reel tape. I had a good collection of LPs that I only played on quality turntables, so they were all in mint condition. When we went to live in Italy in the mid 2000s I passed the turntable and LPs on to my brother and have not returned to them since. I occasionally listen to some of them at his place on his valve gear that he designed and built himself. I don't miss the noises you always get with LPs no matter how good the equipment is.

I prefer digital recordings played through classic Sansui amps, connected to good quality modern speakers. That is the ideal sound to me. I currently copy my CDs onto my iPhone in AAC format. I could do it uncompressed but I think the difference is pretty much indistinguishable to most ears. Uncompressed music takes up a lot more space and if I want that I can use the CD player.

Nobody has mentioned the convenience of digital music. LPs take up a lot more shelf space and you have to keep changing them and flipping them over. With digital music you don't have to worry about loose floorboards knocking the tone arm off track, which was always a problem in the old days. I can play digital music at parties if I want with little fear of it being damaged by tipsy or less careful guests and I can leave it playing all night. I can also very quickly select which tracks I want to hear, skip the ones I don't want to listen to and build playlists of genres and artists to suit the occasion or my tastes at the time. I hardly ever played my LPs at parties and if I did I had to watch the equipment all night and only operate it myself.

If people are into LPs that is fine. They are just not for me any more.
 
I find it interesting after I have listened to analog music long enough that I begin to "forget" what digital music sounds like, the brain acclimates to the analog spectrum, and I don't at all miss the extended range, to me the sound is full and natural and not lacking anything. The sound is totally satisfying. It's only after I listen to the digital music again and my hearing reacclimatizes to that broader harsher spectrum that I notice the difference. To my ears it is a supernatural sound, but not as pleasing as my analog.

The situation seems to indicate the brain doesn't really need the extended range of digital to fully enjoy the music. More like it adjusts itself to the extended digital range.


What "digital" are we talking about? A CD played in an average to good CD player?
Or Hi Res digital played though a high end media player and converted though a high end DAC?
There is nothing even close to "harsh" in my digital setup......It sounds very "correct, pleasing, natural...."
My "brain" most certainly appreciates the extended dynamic range and frequency response along with the quiet background......I find it hard to go back to playing LP's after listening to my current digital setup...

Even redbook (44.1/16) sounds immeasurably better when you use a decent converter, and media player......

I feel there's a culture that exists that has a preconceived notion about digital based on just listening to CD's or playing rebook in J River, iTunes, and other media players, and using the onboard sound cards on computers and iPods, iPads etc rather than getting the best out a digital setup....
Like I said in my earlier post, I was hardcore analogue until I got myself sorted with a more high end digital solution....
You are only going to get so far with a CD player and using an 1/8th inch Jack to RCA cable out of your computer......

Its just like turntables, you can only get so far with average gear, and I see time and time again, people comparing apples to oranges.....

I can't see myself buying any more vinyl to be honest, sometimes I buy something if its a new release or a special edition, but its more from a collectors position rather than a sound quality perspective...
 
Kev you have a strong point there on high resolution files, no doubt but on the other hand a excellent vinyl setup can acclaim the same , or almost the same depending on the media. I'm not talking about the ease of use, that is sold. What is sometimes truly unreal is the correct undistorted straight through vinyl playback . That solves me . Not that a hi res dig file doesn't.
Just my two cents.
 
Kev you have a strong point there on high resolution files, no doubt but on the other hand a excellent vinyl setup can acclaim the same , or almost the same depending on the media. I'm not talking about the ease of use, that is sold. What is sometimes truly unreal is the correct undistorted straight through vinyl playback . That solves me . Not that a hi res dig file doesn't.
Just my two cents.

I feel all things being equal between the two formats, there probably isn't a lot in it, I know my turntable setup is pretty good, but its not the highest of the highest quality....in fact I would go so far as to say my level of digital playback exceeds my turntable setup....
I believe at the top end, its just a matter of personal preference....

I would still be listening to vinyl if I thought it was better for me than digital.....
 
I feel all things being equal between the two formats, there probably isn't a lot in it,
I believe at the top end, its just a matter of personal preference....

Yes, that's what it all boils down to in the end. There can also be a big difference in quality between one recording and another within the same medium. I borrowed a CD of a well known rock band a while ago and the engineering was terrible. It was just a cacophony of noise with one instrument virtually indistinguishable from another. Nothing could have made that sound good.
 
I find it interesting after I have listened to analog music long enough that I begin to "forget" what digital music sounds like, the brain acclimates to the analog spectrum, and I don't at all miss the extended range, to me the sound is full and natural and not lacking anything. The sound is totally satisfying. It's only after I listen to the digital music again and my hearing reacclimatizes to that broader harsher spectrum that I notice the difference. To my ears it is a supernatural sound, but not as pleasing as my analog.

The situation seems to indicate the brain doesn't really need the extended range of digital to fully enjoy the music. More like it adjusts itself to the extended digital range.

exactly.:thmbsp:
 
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