2. digital
  3. 153103-1635

Another Analog v. Digital Thread? Not Really

I’ll try to keep this as short as possible. The premise is this: If the highest compliment that can be given to digital is that it sounds analog, why bother with digital? I would never have posted this question, but the other week something happened. After owning my Oppo 205 for about a year and a half, I decided to sell it given the fact I wasn’t that crazy about it and the selling prices were quite good, although I posted mine for significantly less than many others are asking. BTW - In the last month I owned the Oppo, I found it tremendously improved by placing a Vibrapod 3 under each foot.

So a nice young man comes by for an audition and he likes the Oppo very much and purchases it. He is into 4k and all that stuff, but also wants some better audio quality. So that’s that.

Before he leaves, he asks to hear a vinyl record played on my Basis turntable. It’s a nice table - 2001 with Vector arm and Transfiguration Orpheus. I would rate it as the low end of the high end. Well the guy’s jaw just dropped. After sitting for an hour listening to the Oppo, he says that everything is so much more "alive" was the word he used and he couldn’t get his mind around the fact that he was listening to the exact same system with everything the same except the source.

I was considering replacing the Oppo with something like a Cambridge transport and Orchid dac because I have to play my CDs, right? But then I starting thinking why I had to play CDs anymore at all. It’s not so crazy when you think about it. Many of us gave up vinyl when CDs started getting decent, so what’s so strange about going back in the other direction?

So I asked myself - if analog is so much better, why would I even bother listening to CDs anymore?
Convenience? Well, sure, but I don’t really consider putting on a record very inconvenient, so that’s not really it.
Many titles on CD that are not on vinyl? I think that argument may be largely dissipated nowdays. It seems that virtually anything I would remotely want to listen to is available on vinyl, either new or used. You have thousands of CDs? OK, but if they don’t sound as good as a record, why would you want to listen to them just because you have them. I know it seems like a waste, but it happens sometimes.

Let me just finish with this, so there’s no confusion. If you have some insane high-end digital rig that you believe outdoes analog, this is not directed to you. But, for anyone who believes the best compliment you can give to digital is that it sounds analog, why bother? Also, to you streamers out there, the freedom from having a large quantity of physical media in your home is definitely a good argument. We all collect too much stuff and it’s nice to get rid of some.

Hopefully, this will be taken in the spirit it’s given, but I doubt it.
Merry Christmas, really.
chayro
audiozenology
362 posts
 
Ignorance of a technology throws away 100% of the right answers.

Digital, sampling at fixed intervals, throws away 90% of the timing information. It always sounds completely unlike anything in nature!.

audiozenology
362 posts
 
Same master recording, does not mean the same thing was cut to vinyl and CD. They have barely produced CD's since the 90's, only SACD and Vinyl.

For over twenty years, Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab has continually searched for the ultimate audio experience. During this search MFSL engineers and associates created The GAIN™ System, a proprietary mastering technology which brought warmth and ambience to the compact disc format.

millercarbon2,233 posts12-17-2019 11:13amYes, that perfectly explains why I play the Mobile Fidelity CD and LP both made from the exact same master by the exact same Mobile Fidelity and everyone hears and no one can believe how much better the record sounds. Because the digital source material is poor. Even though its not digital. Nor poor. Nor even different. Right. Got it.

millercarbon's avatar
millercarbon
12,531 posts
 
Moving targets. Straw men.
Its not just a river in Egypt.
johntoye's avatar
johntoye
11 posts
 

@chayro great way to start off this discussion. Everyone has their preference and stories.

 

As a music lover who just turned 60, I have gone the complete spectrum when it comes to music. While serving in the Navy in late 70’s I invested in a high end audio system (Sansui G8700DB Receiver, Technics Turntable, Bose 601 Series 1 Speakers, Sansui Graphic Equalizer/Reverb, and Teac Cassette Deck). Sounded amazing and invested around $2,800 in 1979 dollars (with the service member overseas discount). Along came the 80’s, copying LP’s to cassettes, CD’s taking over and the halting of LP sales. Then the millennium  with MP3’s and other digital music files, and of course out with the CD’s and CD Player and in with more modern equipment to stream....

 

Two years ago I came across a vintage Sansui G-8700DB Receiver and decided to go back in time. I always regretted selling my old unit  and loved that massive silver face piece of art. Since I still had my albums, I then found a mint Denon DP-62L Direct Drive Turntable https://www.tonepublications.com/old-school/denon-dp-62l-direct-drive-turntable/ and returned to my old records and what a sound it was. 


I still stream with a DAC and play CD’s connected through the old Sansui Aux input, but what a treat to listed to the vinyl records.  Everyone that listens to my system agrees the sound is unique and better. I am now back to collecting records once again. Although I prefer listening to records, I still stream music (Amazon HD and Spotify) and play CD’s depending on the mood. One thing for sure, my current equipment (Sansui G8700DB, Denon DP-62L, Kenwood GE-1100 Equalizer, Klipsch Forte I’s) playing vinyl sounds amazing and will stay this way until time makes me replace pieces. Incorporating a decent small PC and CD Player running thru a DAC is an added bonus! (Not to mention using Klipsch Gate Play-Fi Wireless Multi–Room Hubs to complete the package)

 

Long live Vintage hi-fi!


davidgwillett
63 posts
 
A group of SoCal guys, I'm one of them, get together pretty often and compare stuff.  We compare amps, tub, SS.  Some guys have some really nice stuff.  I normally use my Chord Qutest DAC as a source for amps.  We recently started comparing DACs and TTs.  The best of the best is a 45 RPM record - Vanessa Fernandez I Want You, or RoadHouses and Automobiles - that track by Chris Jones for $67.30 Vinyl on Amazon.  

But in the $15-$30 Vinyl range many of us prefer the DAC.  IT depends.  REMs Automatic for the People is awful on my pressing.   It is brighter.  My Diana Krall albums sound better on my TT.  The rest, I prefer my DACs (Qutest, Fiio M11Pro) - pumped through a Cary 300B SET amp or a a restored HH Scott.  I think the tubes and speakers make the larger difference.  
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