Worth pursuing analog sound from digital?

If you can do a comparison you'll hear the difference between an analog & digital rig.  No need to take anybody's word for anything. Iftheclicks & pops don't bother you, you'll get more of everything good sonically.  DO NOT take my word for it, listen for yourself.  I have both.  In terms of digital, I've a Merdian 808. Any 800 series Meridian - go for at least a mark IV (or any later replacements)  you can find used will have the lack of harshness (& plenty of resolution) you're after.  It still won't have all the resolution & more of a decent analog rig but it''ll be plenty good (interconnect & power cables are important, however).  That is an absolute guarantee,  but again take my word for none of it. Listen for yourself & all will be more than clear.

I’ll chime in. The best early CD player which sounded analog-like was a Kyocera 410 from 1984. After that, it took me until 2006 to achieve analog-like sound (sometimes the CD is better, sometimes the LP) and that was the first version of the EAR Acute with NOS pair of 6DJ8s. I’ve since heard some great DACs and CD players which extract what’s on the CD. Historic CDs, especially acoustic 78s that have been remastered correctly are superior sounding and easier to hear than the original 78s and LP reincarnations.

Analog-like is the standard because we hear in the analog realm. To sound analog-like, many posters summon up the sound of an analog source, turntable or R2R. Digital and CDs can sound analog-like or even like an analog source given the proper recording and mastering.

One thing I do to have repeatable, great CD sound is using a Walker Talisman (pair of bonded magnets) to neutralize the CD (and LP) magnetism, especially due to spinning at high speed.  It's so quick and easy.  I've used the demag. machines but they were not as successful or easy to use as the Talisman.

geoffkait wrote " 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!”

Something is wrong with geoffkait.  My professional digital recordings and that of my friends rival R2R.  Prerecorded cassettes sound like dung compared to my beautifully remastered CDs.  I love LPs and I love CDs.  As a part-time recording engineer, I have experience with 40 years of recording equipment.  1000s of my CDs (mostly classical, jazz and early pop) are fantastic sounding and musically involving.  The mastering engineers took great care in making the CDs or were lucky that the mastertapes used for the LPs were sufficiently good to do a straight transfer.   

There must be something wrong with geoffkait.  Compressed Rock CDs do sound bad, but so did many of the LPs and cassettes made from bad mastering.

fleschler,

Totally agree with your last sentence. Just listen to some of the Rock/Pop groups of the mid seventies. Compression was in (over) abundance back then. Many recording companies were too busy trying to make those recordings sound good over your car speaker.

mr_m1 Exactly true.  Engineering for car speakers, not audiophiles (sometimes known as music lovers).