analog vs. digital better ? or just different

I've gone down the road of digital, listening to various digital rigs over the years and working on my own. I even went so far as to A/B digital clocks to quantify if I *could* hear a difference between 2 different digital clocks. At the time I had a Zanden 5000 mk3 for a dac and a 47 Labs Flatfish transport.

In the August issue of TAS (it's a dedicated digital audio issue) there is a review of the Benchmark DAC/pre, and the reviewer made the comment that most issues around digital audio have been resolved, and with current chipsets out today, digital audio actually sounds good now. I would have to agree, the lower end players/dacs do sound quite good.

But getting back to this thread, it does not take much in terms of $$$ to surpass a digital setup. I am just now getting into analog in a significant way. And from what I've learned so far, Plato and French_fries both have valid points above.

My system was expanding too much, I had too many 'boxes' of gear that was taking over my room, so I made a choice. For me, digital is quite boring, I like to tweak and I find vinyl playback to be far more enjoyable due to the physical nature of the media. I'm discovering that vinyl playback is a true art, especially when it comes to cartridges. Vinyl playback does not require big $$$ for good sound, in fact that is not the heritage of vinyl playback.

Sure you can spend a fortune on a complete vinyl playback system if you have the $$$, like most things in life. But you have to be very careful on where you put your $$$, there are products out there that really do not justify their asking prices (not all high end is like this, but a lot of it is).

So for me, I've found that vinyl playback offers more variety and challenges vs digital. In the end, I do my critical listening on my big rig with vinyl. Digital audio is more convenience for when I want background music.

whether you like a particular album on cd or vinyl better is very subjective!

Generally, the cds that I have never particularly enjoyed listening to before I got a tt are the albums that tend to really benefit in analog.

Other times, there are cds that sound good but suprisingly the analog sound richer and more real.

Some times, the analog sounds dull or the bass is not tight enough and so the cd is better.

If you are not finding analog to be better to you than it could be you just don't like the sound, could be your tt, could be your cartridge, could be your tt setup, could be your phono preamp, could be your other equipment!

There are so many variables.....I would not give up on vinyl but try to tweak it and think of it as a compliment to your digital collection and not a pitched battle for supremacy!

I say just mention the brand names. I guarantee that none of them will care (or even see this post). That way we might be able to learn a little something about your post which is, in my opinion, what this forum is all about.

my question was raised mostly because ill read a guy like mike fremmer who will say his listening to a 500.00 analog set-up blows away just about anything digital out there. and im shure thats mostly bias talking , i just dont find it to be the case. like most who have answered i enjoy both, and like the tinkering aspect of the turntable. from what i can gather it seems digital has improved to the point of preference for one or the other, rather than the outright superiority of vinyl. ill continue to follow both, and see what the future brings. thanks for the time

Jrw40, my Stereophile subscription ended and I was happy about it. I think what pushed me over the edge with Stereophile was the recent issue where they spent pages and pages defending M.F. and his invitation to the million dollar contest of speaker cable comparison. I do not recall the details to the 'big event' but it turned out to be a publicity fiasco for Fremer. From what I gather, it is not his first.

When I saw the amount of page space taken up in that issue on that specific fiasco it sure felt like Stereophile jumped the shark. That issue went through my hands in under 5 minutes and straight into the recycle bin. From that point on, Stereophile lost all credibility in my book.

What was even funnier, was my subscription expired, and they kept on sending me 3 more issues stating that this was my last issue and I should re-subscribe.