Lemme bring my AudioEngine B-1 to the shootout and I’ll win this horse race for pennies
IMO - The dilemma for the Audiophile, is that this is not a horse race, but a marathon.
The Op has already said he has heard great digital - in short spurts.
I will say it again I blame the engineers. They were given this gift when CD came on. They just didn’t know how or were not allowed to "play with it" , especially when it comes to the popular music genres. Now, if I did not have my vinyl rig I probably would not be saying this as my digital sounds just fine - when all I do is listen to digital. But then I will introduce that archaic black plastic disc....
And, when one does come across music that has been recorded well on digital. You know it when you hear it. It has a presence. You cannot stop listening to it. Concentrating on it. With this kind of digital recording all it takes is a good CD player to bring it out - imo. I believe everyone has examples of this type of music. The problem for me, is that this music is usually an obscure recording, and not the music I grew up with. So I can only listen to it so many times. When I hear music I grew up with, it brings back good memories.
