Article: "Spin Me Round: Why Vinyl is Better Than Digital"

Dear audio2design,
unfortunately I do not understand the theory as deep as you. And my knowledge of the english language does not help in this respect:-) So I could not follow in detail about the "pre-ringing". I thought it does or did exist. And I thought it is bad, as it does not occur in natural.
But again what additional I can extract from your very profound answer is my idea that digital music by many in the industry is too much understood as belonging to a computer domain as you wrote:

Unless you know exactly the signal chain that arrived at that signal, you can’t reverse it.

It is so easy to do manipulation, 0s and 1s are exactly build for this, but so hard to understand what this implies. Therefore like in the analog domain there are so many differnent ideas what is best. So many people who defend one idea against the others. Well I keep talking now the same thing over and over :-)

@wuwulf ,

"Even within the digital domain there is a cut and thrust between people. The same goes on within the analoge community."


Yes, and ultimately it usually comes down to a question of economics.

Virtually every expert agreed that SACD and DVD Audio were theoretically superior to Redbook CD but the market didn't.

Ditto for Betamax over VHS.


"Best to enjoy what one likes in whatever format it comes."

Yes, even if that comes with a certain amount of uncertainty of wondering whether there's other better options out there.

Unfortunately our time is finite.

@wuwulf , To answer your question, going in and out a digital at 24/192 is invisible. But, after my music starts out in the digital domain on my computers hard drive. So, there is only one step for half my collection. All modern music with few exceptions is recorded and processed digitally. Then the question becomes does music that is recorded digitally but provided analog in PVC still sound as good as music that remains digitized until the very end of the chain. I personally think that is a silly argument to have.
The difference in imaging when I bypass the processor is obvious to everybody. The difference in going back and forth between analog and 24/192 is not noticeable by anyone. I would think that answers your question. It is unfortunate that more audiophile will not share in this experience. They are just digital phobic and anything I can say about the subject apparently means nothing. Their loss.
Another interesting subject is that because I know what the sound of a perfectly flat system is I can listen to other systems and know right away where they are off.  I know of only one system that was close. In most cases they will be too bright with boosted mid bass and no real low end below 100 Hz. 

@cd318, It was not a matter of superior sound by expense. The vast market was unwilling to spend the extra money on SACD and DVDA.
Now we have Blu Ray audio.
As you suggest, I will take the music in what ever format it is available in. I do have my preferences, high-res digital first, vinyl second and CAD last. With music before 1985 I try to get final.

As I have said on other posts here, a big part of music, especially classical music, is dynamics.  A composer writes markings in the score to play a passage either loud or soft or in between in varying degrees.  The dynamics are a very important part of written music.  This is not a big issue in rock or jazz, since most tunes are played with the same level of dynamics. 

In a classical piano or symphonic recording, however, dynamics are VERY important.  Remember that the Italian word "piano" stands for "forte piano con piano et forte"...rough translation "loud and soft, with soft and loud."  A piano teacher I knew in college (I took many music classes) once told me that there are 15 different ways to hit a piano key, producing different levels of loudness and softness.
  
I don't see how the process of cutting a recording onto a vinyl disk can capture the whole range of dynamics from the original master the way that digital can.  If I am wrong about this, please tell me how.