Madman! Digital vs Vinyl

@ghdprentice - it’s a question of availability. Black Ice on ECM (Wolfert Brederode) is only available on redbook CD, no vinyl, though I rely on vinyl for a lot of obscure records that were never reissued legitimately, let alone on digital formats. Thus, I do digital of necessity, though if someone were starting out today, I would not recommend vinyl unless they have deep pockets; not just to get what the format is truly capable of, but the cost of some of these records is absolutely prohibitive.

To me, the key is whatever gives you more access to high quality music. The compositions, performances and recordings themselves can be scrutinized on each level. But the listener may choose "blow me away" as a show piece rather than something more off the beaten path. It’s a pretty personal choice. Not everything is digitized, let alone at high quality. Ironically, the best performance of The Cream remains a "bootleg."

I listen to obscure jazz that is borderline cacophony and for the most part obscure. That stuff can be found sometimes on digital (in CD, not necessarily on streaming facilities) but it is largely needle drops (some of the early CD reissues were pulled from tape; as to streaming I have no idea- my experience, limited to Qobuz, was that it was shallow in catalog depth). The original discs, made during the ’70s, are not the best representation of the vinyl art, but they actually sound good if you get a clean copy, though this stuff has gotten tres cher in the last couple years.

@2dougthebiker - to answer your question, with €7k invested in your analogue front end, it is definitely worth investing in a quality phono stage - pricewise/quality, up to something like the Parasound JC3+, I would say.

But will €10k of analogue gear trounce €10k of digital playback -  no.

As regards comparisons of specific recording on vinyl and digital, there are massive variations at both ends.  A friend of mine used to blind tests using me a the subject with him playing various copies of LPs from different mastering houses and pressing plants, and sometimes albums from the same pressing plants where the variable was the age of the stamper. There were significant differences in sound quality. Then throw in the differences in mastering /  A to D transfers of digital files for CD and streaming and the number of possible permutations are enormous.

However, I will try your comparison as soon as I get my digital streamer back up and running. It's down while I install a hardwired connection to it.

I appreciate everyone’s thoughts on this.  This leads to a related question.  Given that the age of the vinyl stamper impacts the SQ of a given copy of an LP significantly, wouldn’t it be true that if you stick with a single digital source, e.g., Qobuz through Roon, you’ll on average get better SQ than the LP copies you happen to have in your collection?

OP: “Given that the age of the vinyl stamper impacts the SQ of a given copy of an LP significantly, wouldn’t it be true that if you stick with a single digital source, e.g., Qobuz…. ”

That is just one variable. Old albums can be remastered a number of times, or not mastered but produced from a secondary transfer as master. It is extremely complicated as to what you get.

On the other hand, in general if you double the cost of your system all the recording sound MUCH better making typical recording variance less important. So, it is a matter of proportional differences.

Also, when your only source of music had to be purchased… at a high cost per unit (I remember only being able to purchase one album every few months, or none) you tend to be really careful what you buy. Also, exposure only came from radio and friends. This tends to force drilling to find the very best music and recording and listen to it over and over. But in the digital world, you can sample tons of stuff… and follow interests. Don’t like the album you found, for whatever reason… move on.

Also, the catalogues are only going to get more robust. I am sure different mastering are in the future of streaming and more and more obscure stuff. So, to me, this still points to digital as the future. Although I have enjoyed the hundreds of spectacular vinyl recodings I have, some original and many audiophile.