The character of analog and digital


Having just obtained some high quality analogue components, I want make some comments on the character of both analog and digital.
First of all it’s very difficult to speak of analog in general. Records vary widely (indeed wildly) in sonic character and quality. Digital recordings are much more uniform. When you play a digital file you more or less know what your getting. Of course some sound better than others, but there is a consistency of character. With records, it’s the Wild West. Variation in SQ and character are rampant.


Therefore it becomes very difficult to make generalizations on which categorically sounds better.

128x128Ag insider logo xs@2xrvpiano

your postulate of asymptotical closing of the gap between vinyl and digital seems counterfactual: vinyl suffers from distortions simply not present in digital, e.g. tracking angle on conventional tone arms, warp and flutter depending on pressing quality, imperfect reconstruction of the RIAA curve in the analogue domain, tonearm, step-up and analogue cable distortions to name but a few. Admittedly harmonic distortions on vinyl are euphonic and therefore often preferred to the ‘cold glare’ of digital, that however doesn’t mean they aren’t distortions. I fully agree with @lalitk that digital needs lots of work and am well aware of your state of the art setup on both vinyl and digital.

@antigrunge2

i guess i’m cursed with this whole listening thing. i find the best possible digital and vinyl sources, develop my system to tell me the truth without compromise, then listen to both every day. and draw my conclusions.

all the rest is noise, obfuscation, and rhetoric.

you are welcome to join me anytime for listening and point out where i’m wrong. seems obvious. 

certainly there are good, better, best recordings too. so each digital and vinyl event has variables. the media is 'more' variable with vinyl. 

I enjoy listening to music because it evokes emotions. In my experience using my system the sound between analog and digital is very close and I can listen to either for hours. 
 

There are certain recordings I’ve compared analog to digital and when they are the same file it’s hard for me to distinguish the difference; however, I have noticed some recordings where I prefer the version and sometimes the version I have is LP and other times there’s a digital version that I prefer. 
 

Finally I often wound if my preference is based on the emotion evoked or remembered as a result of listening to the music. 

@mikelavigne 

far away from wanting to prove you wrong! I am just pointing out that digital would have to have a fundamental problem yet to be identified to be eternally inferior to vinyl.

Enjoy the music.

far away from wanting to prove you wrong! I am just pointing out that digital would have to have a fundamental problem yet to be identified to be eternally inferior to vinyl.

@antigrunge2

let’s just say, digital won’t quite equal vinyl in my lifetime and i’ll go with that.

just follow the dollars, there is no economic driver causing digital to be improved right now enough to bridge that gap. god knows i've pushed my digital to the very outer reaches of performance.

i’m no techie knowing the future, i just listen and observe trends and cause and effect.

“I tend to play my CDs when I’m in the kitchen cooking or entertaining friends because they are definitely more convenient, quicker and easier. I play my LPs when I can actually sit down in the living room and fully enjoy the music I want to hear.”

@oldaudiophile

I respect your preference/sentiments for Vinyl and for keeping an open mind. However, I can’t imagine anyone rushing back to pick up the stylus in the middle of cooking or a conversation so by design one must babysit Vinyl playback to enjoy 20 min or less playing time.

If you have vested the same amount of energy and efforts in Vinyl and Digital (CD or Streaming), both can be equally enjoyable. They may sound different but far from being inferior in comparison.