Analog or Digital and why?


Computers don't make very good guitars. Back in the 90's the debate raged with digital people saying one day digital will get so good, records will become obsolete. Well it's 25 years later and, well the digital thing never happened and analog never sounded better. However you got to remorgage your house. And buy records. 
128x128chrismini
What’s this either/or crapola?
Too much like religion or politics.
Bloody useless except for power mad sociopaths.

Besides it’s not the components as much as the recordings.
It's the sum total of program possible to acquire or have access to any time.
And the ease of playback.

If I SHOULD spend a proper ratio of $$ on analog vs digital, I've already spent too much for the volume of recordings available.
And that ratio is diminishing daily.

Okie dokie, this is only one comparison. DSOTM on SACD versus DSOTM on vinyl doesn't compare. Have a decent system to give each a fair shake. In non-technical lingo, analog just sounds more real.
I don't own a high end sound system. It's mostly restored vintage equipment that would probably be considered very good mid-fi. Nevertheless, the most natural, best sounding recordings I have are vinyl LP's from jazz recordings mastered in the 1950's and 1960's. 

That doesn't mean I do not listen to digital. I listen to more digital than analog and I appreciate many digital recordings, especially those either recorded in the last 15 years, or remastered in the last 15 years from analog tapes.

But I have to tell you that there are some digital recordings, especially ones from the 1980's and early 1990's, that sound so unmusical, so "grainy" and harsh, that I have to turn them off. They were probably made when digital technology was in its infancy or near infancy, and I prefer almost any modern analog recocording to them. I can hear their "graininess" most clearly in recorded string sections. At least that is where I hear sounds that I feel are not at all "musical".


No, I’m not offended that my nearly magical streamer/DAC was just compared to a frigging iPod. I find tremendous pleasure in both my digital and my analog rigs.  I just love listening to music - to me that’s what it’s all about. YMMV. 
I still occaisionally spin vinyl out of nostalga. I like the liturgy of record cleaning, stylus cleaning, azmuth and overhand adjustments and all that really cool analog tweeking that goes on. But ultimately, I think vinyl is a pain in the ass. In reality, I stream music about 90% of the time. I don't even have high res premium services. My audiophilia is waning along with my hearing and disposable income.