When is digital going to get the soul of music?

Mmakshak, I think the difference between the finest vinyl and digital has closed greatly in the last five years with better dacs and teflon output caps as well as going to read until right hard drives as a digital source. Finally, I have found the finest of isolation, Halcyonics, drives both to their highest levels yet.

I still suspect that neither will ever equal quality reel to reel tapes at close to the originals.

I also believe that neither digital nor vinyl will closely approach live with the speakers and the amplifiers being the major reason for this failure.

With every improvement I have made to pursue realism, I still hear a difference between vinyl and digital. Vinyl now has virtually no surface noise, thanks largely to the Halcyonics and the use of the Walker Audio Prelude four step cleaner. The bass has location and no boom or overhang. Digital has much the same character thanks to no errors in reading the digital information and the clarity of teflon caps. Having the dac well isolated on the Halcyonics also makes a major improvement.

Finally, my new H-Cat amp is like no other I have heard and make both live, but that is another thread.

Analog tapes have a from of distortion/compression that is very pleasing - many pros still prefer it. Perhaps the close miked approach to music recording means that analog tape is the optimum medium for taking the sting or harshness out of the music.

Tbg, I see you have a very resolving system. I am not anti-digital, as I just recently bought 180 cd's, and I feel the damage that digital did to music was mostly done in the past. The only Halcyonic isolator I could find costs $7,500(their headquarters is less than 20 miles from me.). I could imagine that the Halcyonic lowers the noise floor. My Lessloss pc's lowered the noise floor, but I still have reservations about digital. Do you hear a background to digital that isn't natural? Also, do you feel as relaxed after listening to digital as you do after listening to analog(We used to do muscle testing that showed that digital weakened your muscles.)? Shadorne, I will go into my live versus recorded sessions with an open mind, but will revisit what you said after they are over.

I did not think older CD players got the sould of music, but they are doing better lately. I think Simaudio Andromeda does (maybe not as good as TT), and some others I am sure depending on system. It also depends on what musical characteristics you like (insturments sound somewhat real, somewhat real dynamics, etc).

To me the soul of music depends a little on my mood too. Sometimes I am in the mood, other times no.

Thanks

Bill

Both digital and analog have distortion. Neither will truly compare with live music. That said, there is a big difference between the distortion caused by analog, and that caused by digital. To grossly summarize it, there is actually more distortion in analog, as digital fans are fond of pointing out. However, the distortion is almost entirely at quite low frequencies. The distortion in digital, though much less, is still MUCH more musically objectionable, as it takes place at higher frequencies, and is much more audible all of the time. As some have said, advances have been made in the quality of digital reproduction; however, this fundamental distortion of the frequencies that are the most used in music cannot be helped, and that is why despite the advances in resolution, etc., digital will never really rival analog. Close, maybe, but definitely no cigar.