2. digital
  3. 153103-1635

Another Analog v. Digital Thread? Not Really

I’ll try to keep this as short as possible. The premise is this: If the highest compliment that can be given to digital is that it sounds analog, why bother with digital? I would never have posted this question, but the other week something happened. After owning my Oppo 205 for about a year and a half, I decided to sell it given the fact I wasn’t that crazy about it and the selling prices were quite good, although I posted mine for significantly less than many others are asking. BTW - In the last month I owned the Oppo, I found it tremendously improved by placing a Vibrapod 3 under each foot.

So a nice young man comes by for an audition and he likes the Oppo very much and purchases it. He is into 4k and all that stuff, but also wants some better audio quality. So that’s that.

Before he leaves, he asks to hear a vinyl record played on my Basis turntable. It’s a nice table - 2001 with Vector arm and Transfiguration Orpheus. I would rate it as the low end of the high end. Well the guy’s jaw just dropped. After sitting for an hour listening to the Oppo, he says that everything is so much more "alive" was the word he used and he couldn’t get his mind around the fact that he was listening to the exact same system with everything the same except the source.

I was considering replacing the Oppo with something like a Cambridge transport and Orchid dac because I have to play my CDs, right? But then I starting thinking why I had to play CDs anymore at all. It’s not so crazy when you think about it. Many of us gave up vinyl when CDs started getting decent, so what’s so strange about going back in the other direction?

So I asked myself - if analog is so much better, why would I even bother listening to CDs anymore?
Convenience? Well, sure, but I don’t really consider putting on a record very inconvenient, so that’s not really it.
Many titles on CD that are not on vinyl? I think that argument may be largely dissipated nowdays. It seems that virtually anything I would remotely want to listen to is available on vinyl, either new or used. You have thousands of CDs? OK, but if they don’t sound as good as a record, why would you want to listen to them just because you have them. I know it seems like a waste, but it happens sometimes.

Let me just finish with this, so there’s no confusion. If you have some insane high-end digital rig that you believe outdoes analog, this is not directed to you. But, for anyone who believes the best compliment you can give to digital is that it sounds analog, why bother? Also, to you streamers out there, the freedom from having a large quantity of physical media in your home is definitely a good argument. We all collect too much stuff and it’s nice to get rid of some.

Hopefully, this will be taken in the spirit it’s given, but I doubt it.
Merry Christmas, really.
chayro
dentdog's avatar
dentdog
498 posts
 
Early eighties with a pair of MCIntosh 275s, JBL 250 Pyramids and a Theta tube pre, Win Strain Guage cart. CDs came out and I went for the format. No noise, how cool!   When my interest waned just figured I had outgrown sitting around listening to music. Semi permanent listener fatigue. Got rid of all the equipment, kept the albums.
2013 started reading on this forum and realized I had been TRICKED! Not going to be tricked again. OP, you got it right.
rbstehno
1,429 posts
 
IMO, If you want vinyl to sound better than a good digital setup (say comparing to a $7-$8k dac), you need to spend many times that in a vinyl setup to get better sound. The Oppo is not a good digital player so it doesn’t surprise me somebody preferred vinyl over the Oppo.
For almost 20 years, you had SACD that competed favorably against vinyl. Then you have DSD and now MQA, which to me sounds better than vinyl most of the time.
I’ve been into vinyl for over 40 years and most of the new music I listen to now (jazz like Fourplay, rock like dream theater, new age, and others) doesn’t come on vinyl and I really got tired listening to old music.

 I sold my $14,000 vinyl setup a couple of months ago because my digital setup with a very good dac surpassed vinyl for < 1/3 the cost if you also include the phono preamp, cleaning gear, etc.. Now I’m concentrating on selling all of my vinyl albums
orlando76
10 posts
 
In much of classical and jazz original or early LPs, all analogue, can be overwhelmingly present. It may be historically arcane, but original London/Decca, RCA Living Stereo, Mercury Living Presence, Blue Notes, etc. Also the best HMV/EMI can be amazing.

I have a modestly good system and every time I compare Beethoven quartets my wife always prefers the LP sound. (Here Quartetto Italiano on 60s and 70s Dutch pressed Philips.)

A couple of long stories. For me some CDs can be quite good, but a fine early LP in good shape always amazes. Klemperer’s Mahler 2 on an early EMI pressing or Dorati’s Firebird on Mercury or Ansermet’s Falla Three cornered Hat or Kertsz’s Hary Janos on London/Decca or Miles Davis’ Kind of Blue on Columbia are classic in performance and sound.

But as many have said enjoy the music as fully as you can. 


uberwaltz's avatar
uberwaltz
13,381 posts
 
I always think my streaming from Qobuz sounds very good.
Then I will throw a disc in the old C.E.C belt drive transport and I think streaming was maybe not so hot after all.
Then I will spin an album on one of my tables and ok right, maybe CD playback not too great either.
Then I will thread up a tape in my Pioneer reel to reel and ... WOW.

Not sure what any of that means as no format makes me want to ditch it.

Oh then there are all my cassette tapes courtesy of three different Nakamichi decks but don't mention them as Miller gets frothy at the mouth over cassette format......
michaelgreenaudio's avatar
michaelgreenaudio
1,019 posts
 
I haven’t done a multi-source system since probably the early 80’s. I have several sources but they have their own dedicated systems. I don't buy into doing comparisons with multiple sources plugged into the same preamp.
More to discover