Has anyone been able to define well or measure differences between vinyl and digital?

Thanks for the extensive explanations of digital audio and references @thespeakerdude

Can we now summarize (are we there yet?) and identify general principles that help shape the differences between these two formats. I’m not interested in which one is better, as judgments are too system and context as well as music and preferences dependent.

Rather, can we draw conclusions about their differences that are more or less general or specific conclusions (about dynamics, freq range, noise and noise floor, PRAT, mid or high freq airiness and so on or our hearing preferences, sensitivities and limits) that shed light on common experiences?

I just watched Paul at PS Audio say how what MOFI was doing recording using DSD was in his view the right way to record and preserve masters in digital and then transfer onto vinyl for playback. Is vinyl playback giving anything different to digital playback from the same master copy?

[MOFI Marketing representations aside. I don’t want to touch the Marcoms involved here in this discussion.]

we are wired to appreciate sound based on our memories of the sound we grew up on.

It may be what resembles it, perfects it or what the total opposite is but in either case, it's still our baseline. Most of the characteristics is in our head: what it evokes, what we think it is vs. what it does sound like.

To me vinyl is raw, unfiltered, imperfect, "authentic" which translates to dynamic, lively, bold  and  forward. The key is that I like that sound. 

Digital (unless tweaked) goes for the opposite: neutral and processed. For a lot of productions, I prefer that, e.g. when the recording was a mess, tiring after a few seconds, I need the digital fix.

Hello.

All this discussing seems for me to be based on terrifficness.

You got a couple of ears, usually.

That is the source to measure with. And if your ears prefer digital, thats ok. Same with analog.

So, in my opinion, humble or not, your ears are your guidance.

My ears are my only reference.

I also wonder when people are going to start lisening to the performance of the music, whether analog or digital.

Regards,

Zappasan

You're going to have a hard time deriving objective generalizations about these two formats in relation to each other, the whole thread is subjective based and will continue down that path. No single person can hear every single permutation of digital or analog setups, without this knowledge they are only hearing the difference in individual setups. Certainly, those with experience of having listened to many analog and digital setups can arrive at more objective conclusions, still doesn't account for all variables.

I'm with Zappasan, enjoy the music. While this discussion may be fine exercise in logic, I'm happy to let it all go and  simply enjoy the music from my vinyl and streaming setups. No longer any need to analyze the differences.

grislybutter

we are wired to appreciate sound based on our memories of the sound we grew up on ...

What makes you think that?