Analog playback on computer.

@gdnrbob 

maybe it's just me, but at my 41 digital never played at important role in my life when it comes to music, i'm happy to play vinyl on my turntables. Cassette tapes were much more important for me than CDs back in the days, i don't care about digital files, it helps only when i want to share my music or when i want to find some new music on youtube to buy it on vinyl. Listening to vinyl is a pure pleasure.   

Analog playback on computer is a perversion if you have analog system standing near. @chakster.  Aw! come on really.

Why do people go on the defensive when someone has the audacity to say they enjoy listening to difital copies of analogue media. I too used to use cassette tapes of my vinyl records and I did them with a Nakamichi 582 and in the day it was no slouch. I came across some last year and went over to my friend's house and put some of them on his Nakamichi Dragon. Frankly the sound from them was just laughable and these were metal Maxel tapes that were individually calibrated on my Nak to give the best conditions available to record onto. When we played them on his dragon we looked at each other in sheer horror, There was very little treble to speak of and lots of tape hiss ( and that was With Dolby B in circuit ). There was also print through giving pre echo ( remember that little revelation ) and the bass was muddy and had a lack of detail. All in all it was an unmitigated disaster so you can guess where those tapes went , yes the trash. Now you may think that It was taped on an old Garrard SP 25 by what i have been saying but it was state of the art for 70's Brittain at the time. Linn Sondeck with upgraded power supplies and other mods that I don't fully recollect at the moment, a Sirynx PU 2 tonearm and a  Dynavector Ruby Karat cartridge. Of course now people will probably laugh at that level of equiptment but in my day it meant a very serious investment. All I can say now is I am glad I junked all my analogue stuff in the nineties and went down the digital road. I now do a lot of my listening by streaming now and apart from the convenience of not getting up to change siides I am now getting a dynamic range that is totally believable and treble quallity that is divine. I use a computer to do this listening with and it is brimming with software from Mark Porzilli ( he of The Memory Player fame ) . The music comming from it I wouldn't swap for even a very high end analogue rig of today. If anyone is interested in really doing a high end remake of their music computer phone Laufer Teknic and speak to Sam I am really glad I did. Oh and just to let you know also it is just as good as my Gryphon Mikado Signature CD player which now sits from one week to the next without spinning a disk.

jim204, I recall when the idea of down loading vinyl to PC was new, and all the conversation was on the PC forum. There was much discussion about computer analog interface, as well as the best DACs to retrieve the digital; I took it all in.

The biggest problem here is that the PC crowd is so much more advanced than the "horse and buggy" analog crowd.

There was a well heeled extreme audiophile who belonged to a club that met once a month, and when he hosted the meeting, he had to rush and get his analog gear together because he had gone digital; the convenience alone is worth the change. While it's too complicated to explain, "Geeks" are available to take care of the hardware for you.

I'm glad you're enjoying the pleasures of digital.

" ...enjoying the pleasures of digital " - It's funny when you're posting this in ANALOG section of the forum. 

"Analog playback on computer" - do you hear yourself ? 

No, I hear the vinyl records I down loaded into the hard drive; they went from analog, through a converter to digital, and then back to "analog" after going through a DAC.

Do you remember "Star Trek";  "Beam me up Scotty"!   Now anytime someone was beamed up, they were transformed to particles and returned back to their normal selves through the converter.

When digital goes through the DAC, it is returned to "Analog".