@jond +1 Couldn’t have said it better. Been chasing this rabbit for years and digital has certainly come of age. Pair the performance with the ease and experience of playback, and ever increasing selection of music, it’s definitely where we are headed. I think I’m finally there with my system! Same koetsu cartridge, McIntosh system. Smooth transition in listening quality from source to source, it’s really nice!
Its not vinyl
I have read 100’s of discussions on the subject of building a streaming digital option for audiophile systems. Everything from the internet connection to the streaming source and then the dac. In my reading through the posts the argument will quickly turn to its not analog, vinyl is better, on the anti streaming side and then on the pro streaming side posters will fed the argument with its almost as good as my phono stage, sounds better than analog. This will even hold true within the dac manufactures and dac owners who will refer to their dac sound as analog sounding or just like phono. I think this is most referenced in the R2R dac category. I started a discussion on the new Gustard R26 which is a discrete R2R ladder dac. Right away I was confronted with “why do you want to spend the money to replace your phono analog end that you already have and sounds great”? I Replied with the usual “phono does sound better, even a $30,000 dac will never beat analog and all the other analog vs digital talking points”. Then it hit me that we have been arguing this wrong all this time. The argument should be that the quest in putting together a top notch streaming digital setup is not a quest to beat analog or beat phono. The quest and objective is to achieve a “ less digital sound”. We all know that sharp, bright razor blades in my bleeding ears sterile digital sound, that will bring in-listener fatigue and quickly want you turning off the music. What I am reiterating here is that the quest the cost and the journey in digital is not to beat analog it is to beat “digital”.
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@OP, I talked about that very thing before. I find it weird that many folks are so bent on wanting their digital to sound analog, hence the R2R craze. It really didn't do much for me with the Aries 2 and I much rather the sound of the delta sigma chip on the Gustard X26 PRO. Digital will always have a different signature sound than analog, so why not take the best available digital technology for it. Whatever, due to this craze, even Gustard had to join in with their new R26. Crazy. I love both my analog and digital sound and I am strangely GLAD they kind of sound different. For my age, you would think I would be stuck in my ways, but what's the fun in that. I also have fallen enamored with electronic music at 68! That will tell you all about me. I truly feel folks stuck in the old ways are missing so much, but to each his own.
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Well, I do understand loving the packaging and art of vinyl, have over 3500 lps at this point. but we're talking about sound quality here. I'm not looking at art when I'm entirely engaged with listening, and the point is digital can totally engage you.
@baylinor +++ One slight difference, I'm hearing more convergence of the two as my digital streaming chain continues to improve. Timing has major impact on digital, as jitter decreases, sense of ease, relaxing into the music takes over, closing in on my analog here, and this with delta sigma dac. |
The post have gone where I thought they would and that is what I wanted to point out. Which ever delivery system you use digital or analog it should not be about one beating or one equaling the other. Analog only needs to better analog and digital only needs to better digital. Both are excellent form of music enjoyment that need not be competing with each other at every turn. |
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