Vinyl / High qual analog tape / High-res digital -- One of these is not like the other


One common theme I read on forums here and elsewhere is the view by many that there is a pecking order in quality:

Top - High Quality Analog TapeNext - VinylBottom - Digital

I will go out on a limb and say that most, probably approaching almost all those making the claim have never heard a really good analog tape machine and high resolution digital side by side, and have certainly never heard what comes out the other end when it goes to vinyl, i.e. heard the tape/file that went to the cutter, then compared that to the resultant record?

High quality analog tape and high quality digital sound very similar. Add a bit of hiss (noise) to digital, and it would be very difficult to tell which is which. It is not digital, especially high resolution digital that is the outlier, it is vinyl. It is different from the other two.  Perhaps if more people actually experienced this, they would have a different approach to analog/vinyl?

This post has nothing to do with personal taste. If you prefer vinyl, then stick with it and enjoy it. There are reasons why the analog processing that occurs in the vinyl "process" can result in a sound that pleases someone. However, knowledge is good, and if you are set in your ways, you may be preventing the next leap.
roberttdid
Everyone seems to know what a system sounds like just by the photos. Interesting.
The resolving power of a system in a good room is only that, a microscope.... This dont means that we will like the sound....This means that it will be more easy to ears some minute differences.... :) even if we dont like his tonality or imaging or etc....

With the photo it is easy to guess that the mikelavigne system is at least more resolving that your system and mine....For the S.Q. on all count this is another story....I must go now, I wish to you and glupson the best..... My best to all....
"Everyone seems to know what a system sounds like just by the photos. Interesting."
Who is "everyone"? Nobody here claimed such knowledge.

mikelavigne did say how his system sounds, but that is not based on pictures only. I said I would be willing to bet it is good, mahgister expects it to be really good, roberttdid found a link where someone did not think it is as good.
When someone describes his system in words, they’re still just words. Words mean different things to different people. Highly resolved, transparent, Low noise floor, holographic soundstage, they’re just words. Words tend to lose their meaning, especially audiophile words. Most of them are way overused. As of you know what a system sounds like by someone’s description of it. You won’t know what a system sounds like until you are actually there. “My system sounds fabulous” seems to the war cry of the audiophile.
For what it is worth Mike, I am not terribly "welcome" on the ASR website as I far too often called out the errors in either Amir's measurements and/or conclusions based on his measurements. It was pretty brave having him over given his reputation and you can't win all hearts.  I find him pig-headed, and rare to admit his errors, but not dishonest, and his feelings about your system, while perhaps tainted by bias, may have very well been honest. We all have different likes.


The reason why, with rare exception I choose to be anonymous online, is working in an industry that crosses technical and creative boundaries in an era of cancel culture, I can't afford to "piss-off" someone who may be a revenue stream for people that count on me, simply due to a difference of opinion, not to mention I have had colleagues cyber stalked purely because of those opinions, and we are not talking political/cultural opinions, we are talking purely about technical opinions and personal preferences.

My perspective on the differences come from being very close to the creation, and being true to what is being created, or at least the ability to be accurate. My feeling is if you have accuracy, you can always tune for preference, but you can't go the other way.
It was pretty brave having him over given his reputation and you can’t win all hearts.

the time he came for the meeting related in his comments, i never invited him or knew he was coming. we had already locked horns by that time and so his viewpoints were expected. he came with an agenda. big surprise.

some years prior to that, i had invited him over. but at that time he was not a listener, he was a techie who liked writing about hifi. trying to fix what he saw was wrong with audiophiles. so he arrived to listen, stayed 15 minutes, and left. he cared nothing about listening. he cared about being the smartest guy in the room.

some things never change. and i fully admit he is a smart guy.