Worth pursuing analog sound from digital?

Sorry, not buyin’ it. Digital is a pale facsimile of what it should be. I don’t even have to compare it to analog. Unless you’re extremely motivated and pugnacious you simply can’t extract all of the data on the CD. No way, Jose! And if you don’t do anything at all the best you can expect is about 50% of what’s actually on the CD. And that’s if you’re lucky. Heck, the humble cassette on a Sony Walkman has more life, sweetness and air than a CD ever thought of having. So give me a break! Yes, I know what you’re thinking, “but my CDs sound fabulous!”

A turntable is mechanically very vulnerable to vibrations of his own makings and constant fluctuations of the courant from the wall for his continuous rotations, not speaking about the needle deficiencies and limitations and other things that are problematic... Sorry nothing is perfect not a dac neither a turntable... Pick your problem but dont speak about a panacea...No grudge against you Master Geoffkait … : )


A walkman is not like speakers, and most headphones are not speakerslike at all...I dont know what you listen to but me I want more than clarity and air, I want 3-d musical holography and more than that naturalness of timbre in music...You owns a very good walkman indeed... A very good headphone too it seems...


By the way I own some vinyl of Moondog 45 years ago that I listen to with my turntable and if I listen to it now in files format it is like night and days for the perceived details... It is too easy to say that 50 % of the sound is not perceived with a cd... This is only caricatural sayings about a much complex issues indeed implicating more factors than only the opposition turntable versus dac...

I concede tough that for the human nervous system anolog sound is better for health than digital.... Nothing is simple and nothing is so simplistic to be on the same side of the equation...


Dont take it personal Geoff I like you very much....:)

Anyone who’s spent time in a good digital studio knows a first generation multi track digital mix can sound very transparent and engaging. 

Commercial digital releases are sampled and resampled at least 4 times so they just can’t sound as liquid as analog or the original tracks. 

Too bad record companies don’t release multi track releases with sub mixes to be listened to on a program like Reaper or Pro Tools. That would be a whole new ballgame. Until then, although my digital system is more expensive I usually listen to vinyl. 

Yes it’s possible - EAR Acute Classic, Audio Note DAC and Lampizator Big 7 willl serve your needs. 

My system sounds amazing. No harshness. I have detail, an expansive sound stage, and the voices sound like they are in the room with me. Digital streaming and class d amplifiers. Worth it!