Does Anyone Think CD is Better Than Vinyl/Analog?
I cannot comment on CD sound, but since you included all digital I can share how my records compare to hi-res streaming. I abandoned CDs 15 years ago when a friend did some A-B comparisons of a few albums on his system. We both had decent systems...solid state separates with floor standers(total system ~$10k MSRP). I had no records at all and bought a turntable and began my journey down the groove. Now, 15 years later, my system has grown along with my collection. I recently took a chance on an integrated and was surprised how much I liked it in comparison to my separates. It is a hybrid with tube amplification along with a well regarded DAC. I got a Node2i a couple weeks ago and have been listening via Tidal and Amazon Music HD. Tidal would always drop with hi-res files and only play consistently with CD files. I am now on Amazon and it is a superior user experience and the sound seems the same. I like how millercarbon described it....background. When I am upstairs hanging out with my 8yo daughter, it is nice to have the digital and not going up and down the stairs to flip records. Without exception, whenever I am in my seat and experiencing the soundstage, records win. It is kind of like soda. I quit buying soda at the grocery over a decade ago. I would occasionally get one when indulging on fast food. The past few years I almost have to spit out the first drink so I never get them anymore. My ears have not had digital music through my speakers in years and oh my gosh....whenever I switch over it is sooo bright and tinny!! The fatigue is immediate. I plan to keep my Node2i as it opens up the door to listen to music I don't yet own and it also makes things simpler when cooking or upstairs. If the playing field is somewhat level between the two sources, then I cannot imagine digital ever sounding better. I think some people have a mental block for the time and care it takes to own and enjoy vinyl. If digital makes you happy then you are lucky, but I think you owe it to yourself to give vinyl a chance. After all...we do tweaks and upgrades just to hear the faintest audible justification. Well, digital to vinyl is by far the best tweak I ever made to my system. |
Oh boy... I have about a dozen recordings in both vinyl and digital. There things about each medium I like better than the other, so I would say that neither is superior. They are different. The big downside to vinyl is that it is expensive to get done right and digital costs a tiny fraction of that. It's not the CD player that is important. It's the DAC you're running through that counts. CD players all buy their transports from the same very few vendors, so obsessing about transports is foolish. The difference in cost between one CD player and another is in the DAC and the appearance of the cabinet. I've been running a Peachtree DAC-iT for years now and I'm very happy with it. I got a chance one day to do some serious comparisons between it, a Schitt Yggy and a PS Audio DirectStream. Half the listeners that day actually liked the Peachtree best. I preferred the PS Audio DirectStream a bit, but not $6000 more. The Schitt sounded like... Sorry Schitt lovers. I run a pro grade Tascam CD-200 player and take an optical feed from it to my Peachtree. I also have ripped all of my CDs to flac format and play them off of a laptop PC into the Peachtree. Sounds identical, as it should. Exotic digital cabling is totally BS. The benefit of digital is that it's just data and is either transmitted or it's not. My recommendation is to do as I do and run a pro grade CD player with optical output to the DAC of your choice, which can switch to USB from a laptop PC. You can either rip your CDs to wav or flac format and play off the PC, or just stream directly off the Internet from a service like Tidal. As for vinyl, I recommend getting into it unless you're already deep into it, in which case you're already doomed. I bought my first record back when Lyndon Johnson was president and have far too many records to pitch 'em all out, aside from the many I love which are not available on digital, so I have to have a good turntable. Good luck! |
dhite, I would have to say your choice of digital equipment might be...not great. I have plenty of Hi Res digital files that are as good or even better than anything you will get out of vinyl and I use very particular electrostatic speakers. I love records, but totally dissing digital program sources is incorrect. You are cutting yourself off from a great way to collect music particularly modern digitally recorded music. I prefer to keep older analog recorded music analog and newer digitally recorded music digital but I do have some amazing 24/96 downloads of older analog stuff that is wonderful. There is so much stuff out there presented in so many different ways that making generalizations is a big mistake. |
Dear Mkgus: The Real Reason Some People Prefer Analog To Digital There’s a problem that has been ignored by the entire music industry which I believe is really important for music-lovers that I think you my want to investigate, the greater pitch accuracy, higher signal to noise ratio, and higher dynamic range of digital notwithstanding. Approximately 35 years ago when digital media was introduced to the music consuming public as a media with “Perfect Sound Forever” the music industry made a huge screw up when it got the playback polarity of digital music on CDs and later DVDs, etc. in reversed (inverted polarity). On a purely random basis that means that digital media and files are heard in the wrong polarity approximately 85% of the time and either 92% wrong or correct when audio systems are set to a fixed playback polarity. The result is that the music played in inverted polarity sounds harsh and two-dimensional. And that’s probably the major reason that some music-lovers still believe (without knowing the real reason) that analog sounds better than digital. Analog media plays in the correct polarity over 99.9% of the time but also sounds bad if played in inverted polarity. It’s difficult if not impossible to make meaningful comparisons of the fidelity and musicality of media and audio components when they aren’t playing in absolute polarity. The better the playback system the easier it is to hear the differences in polarity. Confusion over polarity may cause music-lovers to expend needless time and money trying to smooth out the irritating and flat sound of digital media when the real problem is music played in inverted polarity. This should be an object lesson on how an entire industry with its experts and electrical engineers can get it wrong and not do anything about if for over 35 years and counting! So it should be an object lesson that the entire industry that creates recorded music and is based upon scientific principles continues to mostly get polarity wrong. I've written two monographs that go into great detail about the problem at: http://www.AbsolutePolarity.com and http://www.PolarityGeorge.com. If you or anyone you know might be interested in developing The Perfect Polarizer™ that will detect and correct polarity in real-time, then please forward this email to them/encourage them to contact me, because I believe it could be accomplished with AI/App. Now, do you want to be part of the problem or part of the solution?” Respectfully submitted, George S. Louis, Esq., CEO Digital Systems & Solutions President San Diego Audio Society (SDAS) Website: www.AudioGeorge.com Phone: 619-401-9876 1573 Kimberly Woods Dr., El Cajon, CA 92020-7261 P.S. MQA has repeatedly failed to respond to email questions from myself and other audiophiles about how they treat the polarity of the original recordings, i.e., whether or not they correct the polarity when the original CD/media plays in inverted polarity on approximately 92% of CD players/playback devices. Their lack of any reply whatsoever doesn’t inspire confidence that they correct it. And I know audiophiles who’ve played MQA music and found its polarity to vary. Shame on them! |
