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vinyl versus digital redux

Has anyone compared the sound of vinyl with the sound of digital converted from a vinyl intermediary ?

I am referring to 'rips' of vinyl made with high end, high quality vinyl playback systems, with
conversion to high resolution digital.
I find it nearly impossible to distinguish the two results.
The digital rip of a vinyl record sounds identical...or very nearly so...to direct playback of the vinyl.

If one has 'experienced' the foregoing, one might question why digital made without the intermediary of vinyl sounds so different from vinyl.   A detective story ?

We are talking about vinyl made by ADC (analog to digital conversion) of an amplified microphone signal and re-conversion to analog for output to the record cutting lathe, or from analog tape recording of an amplified microphone signal, and then....as above...via ADCl and back to analog for output to the cutting lathe.

Of course vinyl can be and is 'cut' (pressings made from 'stamper' copies the 'master' cut in lacquer) without digital intermediary.  Such practice is apparently uncommon, and ?? identified as such by the 'label' (production)

Has anyone compared vinyl and high resolution digital (downloads) albums offered by the same 'label' of the same performance ?  Granted, digital versus vinyl difference should diminish with higher digital resolution.   Sound waves are sine waves....air waves do not 'travel' in digital bits.    A digital signal cannot be more than an approximation of a sine wave, but a closer approximation as potential digital resolution (equating to bit depth times sampling frequency) increases.

If vinyl and digital well made from vinyl intermediary sound almost identical, and If vinyl and digital not made via vinyl intermediary sound quite different, what is the source of this difference ? 

Could it reside....I'll skip the sound processing stages (including RIAA equalization)...in the electro-mechanical process imparting the signal to the vinyl groove ?

Is there analogy with speaker cone material and the need for a degree of self-damping ?
Were self-damping not to some extent desirable, would not all speaker cones, from tweeter to sub-woofer, be made of materials where stiffness to weight ratio was of sole importance ?

Thanks for any comments.
seventies
oldhvymec
5,101 posts
 
Ok 

No
No
Don't know and
Yes, different materials sound different, The best has no sound at all, I haven't found that material yet, CLOSE but not perfect...

That's the reason for small planars and ribbons..

Regards
mijostyn's avatar
mijostyn
8,570 posts
 
Seventies, I do this every day. My phono stage runs through an ADC into 24/192 digital to digital processor along with all other sources. You can run back and forth between the output of the phono stage and the output of the DAC and you would never know which one you were listening to. 
You can check my system out on it's page. Conversion back and forth into and out of 24/192 digital is invisible (inaudible)
seventies OP
67 posts
 
Mijostyn,
Aha !, and thanks.
I assume we are 'on the same page', that transcription of an audio signal to vinyl imparts unique sonic quality, one that your high end system
duplicates by conversion of the vinyl 'signal' to high resolution digital.
So what in your opinion is the source of that quality ?

Ag insider logo xs@2x
cleeds
6,026 posts
 
seventies
Sound waves are sine waves....air waves do not ’travel’ in digital bits. A digital signal cannot be more than an approximation of a sine wave, but a closer approximation as potential digital resolution (equating to bit depth times sampling frequency) increases.
This is a widely shared belief but it is a misnomer. Provided the signal is within bandwidth to satisfy Nyquist Theorem, the sine wave can be reproduced exactly.
Remember that Nyquist isn’t a theory - it’s a theorem.

If you can’t get your head around the math, this guy offers a pretty good visual demonstration.
mijostyn
My phono stage runs through an ADC into 24/192 digital to digital processor ... Conversion back and forth into and out of 24/192 digital is invisible (inaudible).
Like @mijostyn, I can make outstanding quality digital files from LP that I think are indistinguishable from the LP source. It requires good equipment and it’s a tedious process, but it’s do-able.


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