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Classical music listening... what is a better source High Rez or Vinyl?

For many of us who really enjoy classical music, for me it is Baroque and opera, what is the better and more consistent for source high fidelity listening?

I am a mid hifi guy and have a Pro-ject Classic SB turntable with a high output MC Sumiko Blue Point No. 2 cartridge.. I am using a Jolida JD 9II Tube phone stage, with a vintage Telefunkin tube upgrade.

I have a Rogue Sphinx 3 integrated amplifier, with a vintage Mozada tube upgrade. My digital source DAC/SACD/CD is a Yamaha CD-2100 player.

I have refurbished Ohm H's loud speakers.

I have been picking up many vintage classical albums recently, mainly 1980’s releases in excellent condition too, at my local transfer station, and it has been mixed bag in comparison to my high resolution music files and SACD collection.

I was expecting much more when it came to vinyl and classical but I have not been as won over, as I have been with rock and jazz on vinyl.

My experience with SACD and high resolution, 96/24 or higher, has been very rewarding with a wide variety of classical music. Opera really shines in digital IMHO. Strong and full on classical piece are quite stunning on many a SACD releases I own. Rachel Podger’s Vivaldi: L’estro armonico - 12 concerti, Op. 3 on SACD is an excellent example of the audio quality I demand, as this recording is exceptional! Plus there are are very few new remastered vinyl releases for classical, particularly for opera, these days. A perfect example of this is Shubert’s Winterreise featuring Joyce DiDanato and pianist Yannick Nezet-Sequin, which I saw performed at Carnegie Hall for this recording and which sounds phenomenal in 96/24, and was release recently.

That would seem counter intuitive but that is clearly what the market is showing.

On one of these threads I recall someone posting how strings of violins, and the intensity that they are played at, can lead to degraded sound quality depending on the type of cartridge used.

I want to hear back from the classical music posse here to help me get to that higher level of listening with classical vinyl.

Is it the cartridge?

Or should I just stay with my digital sources?


idigmusic64
edcyn
1,876 posts
 
simonmoon -- I have lots and lots of Nonesuch LPs in my collection.  Pressings can be iffy and not every release sounds good (most do, though!), but all in all it is it is one of my favorite labels.  Always interesting. Always just a bit offbeat. A true labor of love by its creators.
ebm
9,311 posts
 
Vinyl will always be king.
mike_in_nc
1,152 posts
 
+1 @melm . Do digital right, and it sounds great. But don't spend $5000 on a cartridge alone and compare it to an Oppo player and expect digital perfection.

Also -- again -- for a serious music lover, there is essentially NO new recording on LP. If you want to revel in glories of past performances -- and many are glorious -- then LP is for you. If you want to keep up to any degree with what is happening NOW, you need a good digital source.
Finally: the wavering piano tone on many, if not most, LPs doesn't bother vinyl aficionados? (It sure bothers me.) Or do you all have Nakamichi Dragon CT turntables? The very first CD I heard presented a more convincing reproduction of a piano than most of the LPs I'd heard at the time.
chicagoblue1977's avatar
chicagoblue1977
224 posts
 
They are all wonderful but I prefer Vinyl for sure.
larryi
3,992 posts
 
I hardly ever listen to my classical vinyl collection; I listen mostly to CDs ripped to a music server (about 3500 classical CDs).  As far as sound quality is concerned, the extreme dynamic range of classical music means that soft passages have to be recorded at quite low levels which mean that ticks and pops become more prominent.  I also find that mass voices also seem to become muddled when the volume level rises on records.  

There is also the major annoyance of having to flip records, breaks that might have to be in the middle of a movement (e.g., second movement of Mahler's Symphony No. 8), and difficulty in finding one's place in an opera libretto.  

The main reason for going digital is that the library of performance is vastly larger.  I can find most of the performances I have on records available on a digital format, but, a good 50% of what I have on digital sources were never issued on vinyl.  
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