Vinyl / High qual analog tape / High-res digital -- One of these is not like the other


One common theme I read on forums here and elsewhere is the view by many that there is a pecking order in quality:

Top - High Quality Analog TapeNext - VinylBottom - Digital

I will go out on a limb and say that most, probably approaching almost all those making the claim have never heard a really good analog tape machine and high resolution digital side by side, and have certainly never heard what comes out the other end when it goes to vinyl, i.e. heard the tape/file that went to the cutter, then compared that to the resultant record?

High quality analog tape and high quality digital sound very similar. Add a bit of hiss (noise) to digital, and it would be very difficult to tell which is which. It is not digital, especially high resolution digital that is the outlier, it is vinyl. It is different from the other two.  Perhaps if more people actually experienced this, they would have a different approach to analog/vinyl?

This post has nothing to do with personal taste. If you prefer vinyl, then stick with it and enjoy it. There are reasons why the analog processing that occurs in the vinyl "process" can result in a sound that pleases someone. However, knowledge is good, and if you are set in your ways, you may be preventing the next leap.
roberttdid
But I can only compare digital A2D then storage then D2A against 15 ips half track. Level matching is difficult because as Mike said the energy density is different and we KNOW the human ear/ brain like louder ( especially the short run ) granted I only have a modified Revox and a Wadia 17 but to me, my ears my system the virtues are mixed. I thought about a lathe, and sanity... returned briefly... ha
Nothing to do with this thread, but following mikelavigne's link about his amplifiers brought me to someone's comment...

"The build quality looks incredible, but if there was an award for tackiest gaming PC, these would win it."

What a comparison.

https://www.stereophile.com/content/dartzeel-nhb-468-monoblock-power-amplifier-specifications

(I do not think they are ugly although I have never seen them in person. I doubt they do not sound better than great.)
Kren0006, my experience with SACD vs Redbook is far from eye-opening. However, vinyl compared to CD seems to be on most occasions better. I have little to no experience with streaming as don't want to give up the physical and mental pleasure of manipulating the created end product. Thus, can't offer a reasonable argument here but I would suspect that quality vinyl would out do all other musical sources in a random poll of Audiogoners (short of Geoffkait voting for tape)!
So now we just sponsor/underwrite an artist’s vinyl ... and yes the vinyl master is NOT the same as the CD or download release.

fun

enjoy the music :-)))
Most of Springsteen - Nebraska was done on a cassette TEAC portastudio.... give it a listen, it has some jump factor spots...