A DAC that can make digital sound analog?

Well I received my Ortho Spectrum AR-2000 Analog Reconstructor the mystical, mythical Japanese filter that's supposed to remove all the digital nasties from the analog signal coming out of ones DAC.  Will try it out this weekend and let you all know.

It's old voodoo, but potentially strong voodoo.

@lowrider57 

I agree with you. Most initial CD pressings are more natural sounding and spacious. I have gotten very close on occasion to getting a real tape feel from my digital setup using older Zeppelin, Hendrix, Genesis and Cream discs. 

I think tape noise might be important to space/depth/time. I think it may act as a sort of bias towards signal.

The only remaster so far (which really is a remix) that is better than every other format is the Wish You Were Here SACD. Very nice.

Brett, hearing tape hiss on albums from this analague era is a good thing. It means there is minimal compression during the mastering process. With the natural noise floor of the recording intact, we hear the ambience of the room and separation of instruments.

After upgrading my digital, I went on a tear buying early release Redbook to replace any remasters and CDs with poor SQ. The best were usually mastered in W. Germany followed by Japan. The Japanese like their digital clean and analytical. 
I'm right there with you on the flat transfers of Zeppelin, Hendrix, Cream. Discogs is the place to go to find the best pressings.

And funny you should mention the remaster of Floyd's WYWH. My Redbook sounds excellent, it may be from the same session as the SACD remix. I own a few of the remasters that were released. I also own some original Japanese PF.

Now that I have good digital playback, it sounds very much like analague, but very dependent on the source material.
 

 

I love R-R tape. I used it for years in studios, I'd love to have it in my home system. I've been told CD transfers sound terrific on tape.

@brettmcee

I am certain digital can sound as good, if not better than, vinyl and tape.

I agree with you, despite being a vinyl fan.
My digital rig, for example (see above), sounds similar to my TT, consistently.
On occasion it sounds better: for example "Money" on 24/192 supposedly copied from the MT (doubtful).
As I said, my rig, my TT, my LP. YMMV