Vinyl vs high def audio i.e. 24bit / 96 or 192khz

I have an emotionally satisfying digital player. It is satisfying in every way - except that within an hour I always turn it off.

Not so with my analogue system.

@schubert , you write: 

Tha'ts how a conductor in his 90's who can't hear 5k on a machine testcan correct a player at 12K . I have seen them do it .

With greatest respect, could you elaborate? The highest fundamental analogue note that I know of is about 5 KHz, so ... ? I don't understand.

From all the response so far, it seems like turntables are really for people who have a predisposition to love records, either because you guys already have a large collection, or because you could relate to it. While there might be some level of sonic differences, a larger part appears to be personal preference and the emotional aspect of it.

@angelgz2

In most cases a turntable will sound better than anything streamed. This is because streamed files, even though 192KHz, may not have any more information than the 16 bit CDs because the master file was not used.

LPs are far more likely to have used a file closer to the original than even a commercially released CD! This is because CDs and other digital formats have the expectation of being played in a car and so are compressed as a result.

LPs don't have that expectation. I run an LP mastering operation, and when working with a digital master, we always make sure its not the file mastered for digital release. We get the one that is unprocessed- it sounds better.

LPs have a number of advantages over digital formats even to this day. Since the late 1950s, the record side has always had bandwidth out to well past 40KHz. That helps improve the perception of the soundstage due to reduced phase shift.


LPs have less or no aliasing at all. This is important- aliasing is a form of distortion which the ear/brain system perceives as a brightness - 'crisp' is of then term when its really bad. This is a major reason why LPs are so much more relaxed.


So these things are not taste issues. Digital just isn't there - yet.

BTW- one of the better deals in turntables these days is the new Technics SL-1200G, which looks like the SL1200s on Craigslist but is actually a whole new design from the ground up and is one of the most speed stable turntables made anywhere.

+1  Technics SL-1200G

Thanks @atmasphere for pointing out that (some) vinyl may actually be a superior format after all. Despite the dissenters who've never heard higher-end vinyl reproduction, it's an affirmation that there is something tangibly and qualitatively better with vinyl.