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My conclusion: mid level $$ analog vs digital

Good morning

I purchased a mid level analog system 6 months ago 
     project classic
     Hana sl
     Musical Surroundings Phenomena II+I’ve compared the analog to my digital 
      Roon 
      Chord Qutest 
      24/192 & Streaming 

and ;

After listening to a bunch of albums and music.

A well recorded album with a well setup analog is tough to beat . The analog has a certain snap to the drums and bass that digital cannot match.  Extremely , quiet and smooth
 The mid level price point and the associated quality is surprising to me 
Do not get me wrong , digital is close , but good albums really can show a difference 

Ive listened, at homes with much better analog setups, and the difference seems to get better 

So, For you guys think to take the analog jump ?

Don’t worry 

Jeff

frozentundra
jjss49's avatar
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jjss49
6,612 posts
 
@ghdprentice

In general spend an equal amount on well chosen compatible analog end and digital end... the analog will edge out the digital in detail, naturalness, and musicality at the $2K, $10K, $100K, and higher... all levels.


not so clear cut in my opinion and experience... there are several recent threads where this issue is broadly discussed

i would venture to say that digital front end will outperform analog at low (1-2k) to middle levels (2-4k) but when you get into really good analog, have it all dialed in (no trivial task) it sounds better but then you are into quite expensive territory at that point - all cases here factoring in the all important phono stage too...
seta45
4 posts
 
Just compared my Thorens TD 124 (rebuilt, slate plinth, Kuzma reference arm, Hanze springs, ART-7 cartridge, retro tone upper platter, +) vs my new Lumin X1. With 75 hours breaking for the Lumin the TD124 has a slight edge in detail, space and PRAT; close but I was surprised...playing through Pass Labs 30.8 and Magico A3. Time will tell as the Lumin needs 250hrs to settle in...or so I am told.
chicagoblue1977's avatar
chicagoblue1977
224 posts
 
Like what you like.

It is all good.
roxy54's avatar
roxy54
7,994 posts
 
jjss49 said:
i would venture to say that digital front end will outperform analog at low (1-2k) to middle levels (2-4k) but when you get into really good analog, have it all dialed in (no trivial task) it sounds better but then you are into quite expensive territory at that point - all cases here factoring in the all important phono stage too...

I agree with you on that. At lower price points, digital can be very competitive or better.
rbstehno
1,441 posts
 
I sold a $15k turntable setup and all my vinyl because getting a very good dac surpasses a good analog setup. I spent $7k on a dac and it sounds better than my analog setup. If you go on a budget, its going to be hard to get the best sound in either setup. I use a network interface to the dac instead of the flawed USB which improves SQ. When I was into analog, I have friends that have $100k in analog setups and in those cases, a very good vinyl album would be very close to the same album in DSD or MQA format.
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