When is digital going to get the soul of music?

Newbee, Mapman, sorry to -in a sense- to disagree with both of you. If you are crazy enough to try and drive both formats to the limit of what is possibly today, not even in terms of money, but that also, however certainly in terms of tweaking, you will find that both formats have advantages over one another. Old vinyl still reigns supreme in terms of classic orchestra, digital in other fields. None is "better", both are different and you can count yourself lucky, if you can get the best of both worlds. Wished you could come over to the Alps so I could show you what I mean.

Det,

I'd agree the best large scale orchestral recordings are still on vinyl.

However, results do vary significantly from title to title in both formats. Sometimes vinyl sounds better, sometimes digital.

My goal is still to tune both formats to my same personal reference standard for how I want things to sound overall.

Results will still surely vary from format to format and title to title though.

As a second thought, to get both formats right in one and the same system is a hellish task. I've tried it for years. You can get somewhere, yes, and learn a lot along the way, but you will never know what both formats are really capable of unless you treat both sources as complete separate entities with entirely different tweaks and AC-management. In my system the preamp is happy with both, as well as the amps and the speakers.

" but you will never know what both formats are really capable of unless you treat both sources as complete separate entities with entirely different tweaks"

Exactly!

Guidocorona makes an extremely salient argument for the re-orientation of most audiophiles. In the end, whatever brings one closer to the music is the right technology:O)