2. misc-audio
  3. 153711-122613

Does Digital Try Too Hard?

Digital glare. A plague of digital sound playback systems. It seems the best comment a CD player or digital source can get is to sound “analog-like.” I’ve gone to great lengths to battle this in my CD-based 2-channel system but it’s never ending. My father, upon hearing my system for the first time (and at loud volumes), said this: “The treble isn’t offensive to my ears.” What a great compliment.

So what does digital do wrong? The tech specs tell us it’s far superior to vinyl or reel to reel. Does it try too hard? Where digital is trying to capture the micro details of complex passages, analog just “rounds it off” and says “good enough,” and it sounds good enough. Or does digital have some other issue in the chain - noise in the DAC chip, high frequency harmonics, or issues with the anti-aliasing filter? Does it have to do with the power supply?

There are studies that show people prefer the sound of vinyl, even if only by a small margin. That doesn’t quite add up when we consider digital’s dominant technical specifications. On paper, digital should win.

So what’s really going on here? Why doesn’t digital knock the socks off vinyl and why does there appear to be some issue with “digital glare” in digital systems.
128x128mkgus
adameos
66 posts
 
Geoff Kait said “Digital can’t get out of its own way. It might be difficult to set up an experiment but if it can be done a direct comparison of a very good vinyl system to a very good CD system should reveal a few things about digital. To whit, digital exhibits:

1. loss of bass information and dynamics
2. unnatural midrange and high frequencies
3. unnaturalness of soundstage
4. two-dimensional sound
5. congealing of the sound across the board
6. Lack of sweetness and air”

This is exactly the way I hear it too.

“I’ll be the judge of that. If only you could hear what I’ve heard with my ears.”
👍 for the Rutger Hauer BladeRunner reference. 

 Thanks Geoff.
millercarbon's avatar
millercarbon
12,531 posts
 
I've heard things you people wouldn't believe. Attack notes on fire off the shoulder of Mozart. I've heard C-notes glitter in the dark with the PPT Gate. All that music will be lost in time, like tears in rain. Time to die.
djones51
4,947 posts
 
Other than the quote is out of context,  it should read 'If only you could hear what I hear with YOUR ears.' But I notice a lot of this guys quotes are out of context or completely wrong, anyway digital any more sounds fine I hear no glare no matter whose ears are employed, that's  been the case now for a number of years not like back in the early years of digital.
sfseay's avatar
sfseay
496 posts
 
“I’ve heard things you people wouldn’t believe. Attack notes on fire off the shoulder of Mozart. I’ve heard C-notes glitter in the dark with the PPT Gate. All that music will be lost in time, like tears in rain. Time to die.”

😂 I remember when I had my first beer
sfseay's avatar
sfseay
496 posts
 
@geoffkait you stated:
”To whit, digital exhibits:

1. loss of bass information and dynamics
2. unnatural midrange and high frequencies
3. unnaturalness of soundstage
4. two-dimensional sound
5. congealing of the sound across the board
6. Lack of sweetness and air”

I have to assume your digital chain (if you have one) is not setup properly, isn’t highly resolving, or you have damaged or inferior digital equipment in your system.

I don’t hear any of the things you mention, but I don’t say they don’t exist for you. With digital like analog everything matters but making blanket statements of what digital exhibits is just silly.
More to discover