Digital is far better than vinyl
I have invested a decent sum of money into my digital setup, including a decent streamer (Innuos Zenith MK3), a very good dac (Denafrips Terminator 2), Eno filter, and good cabling. But after being told by many here that vinyl is vastly superior to digital, I thought let’s build an analog system and see what all the fuss is about. So this is what I did ...
I picked up an Audio Technica TT from Amazon for around $299. I then used one of the older integrated amps with a built-in phono, which I believe I paid around $500 a few years ago. And, finally, just to even out the playing field I bought the cheapest possible cables from alibaba. Since I didn’t have extra rack space to put the TT on, I got a couple of bricks and built a DIY platform for it.
So after listening to the analog setup for a few days, I can proclaim without a shadow of doubt that digital is far, far superior than vinyl on any given day, and twice a day on Sunday.
What has been your experience? And please, don’t mention your gear or any special. cartridges, isolation, etc. Not interested in your system details. I just want to make sure you guys understand that digital is far, far superior than vinyl.
If I did not have all my legacy analog stuff, I would not give it a second look. I would put every cent into digital… digital streaming.
I am currently listening to Count Basie album recorded in 1957 Chairman of the Board) on streaming. If I did not know better I would guess it was vinyl. If I had twice the budget in digital… it would be even better, no question that is where to put your money today. |
@ghdprentice, when I was a kid my parents had Basie’s Chairman of The Board LP that we played on our RCA Victrola home stereo console that had pride of place in our living room. I guarantee that if they were still alive today, and could play The Count just by touching his picture on a smartphone instead of going through the hassle of finding the record, dusting it and the needle off, and looking past all of the pops, hisses, and unavoidable skips and rumbling at loud volumes, they definitely would prefer digital. |
I agree with @ghdprentice. Once you implement a digital streaming system with same level of dedication as your analog, you are in for a royal treat. And I cannot stress enough the importance of a good streamer (source) and DAC much like a TT and phonostage. Again, this is not to say digital is better than analog, they are fundamentally different in their presentation but nonetheless equally enjoyable. |
@ghdprentice and @lalitk -- thank you for sharing your opinions. This is indeed excellent advice for folks who might just be getting into vinyl. I think it's best to own both formats, but if one is just starting out and has limited funds, your advice to stay single-mindedly focused on digital is very prudent. |
leaving aside @arafiq’s opening hilarity, i would agree with @ghdprentice ’s sentiment above 100% ... for those of us who have been at this for decades, record players, phono stages, amassing lp’s, and all that comes with it, was the very essence of the audiophile experience... cd’s in their early days were simply awful, abjectly unmusical... so we all got really good at making analog setups really work well, developing our chops so to speak, tweaking tables, arms, carts, vtf, vta/sra, azimuth, antiskate, resistive/capacitive loading, learning about proper mechanical isolation, damping, so on and on -- it was all a necessary part of a lifetime journey dedicated to loving music and its reproduction for our private enjoyment at the highest level all that said, unless one is simply in love with cool old things, with what digital music and streaming offers today, in its convenience, breadth of musical selection, cost and performance, there is simply no need, zero case, for getting into analog, collecting lp’s and so on, if one is starting from a clean sheet |
