CD has laid back and uninvolving sound

12-14-08: Oregon writes:

It baffles me that so many people spend thousands of dollars trying to get an analog sound out of their digital machines. Why spend thousands on DACs ...

Why? Because we have thousands of CDs. If one has spent $50k on the little silver buggers, then one is going to spend some money to get the most out of them. Obvious, no?

Regards,

Hi Oregon, I already have a decent vinyl playback system. That's why I'm starting this topic at Audiogon.

Chris

Chris, you and I have the same digital front end. Yet, I find this combo to be wonderfully musical with great microdynamics and full extension on the top and bottom. Very "emotionally" involving, not laid back and distant at all.

I do use the MBL reference clamp instead of the one that comes with the 1621 transport, the tubes in the AA DAC are Amperex long plate D-getters, and finally I use a Stealth Sextet cable. Would you please share if you have ever experiemented with the upgraded clamp and what tubes and cable you use in your system. Maybe, its these other factors that are taking away the dynamics/emotional aspects that you say you are missing in your rig. I have heard most of the very high end digital gear and still have not heard anything that makes me want to replace either the MBL transport or Accoustic Arts Tube Hybrid DAC in my system.

Shadorne: that is interesting to have both the audiophile vinyl and CD in one package. I listened to Händels Messiah this afternoon (René Jacobs, Harmonia Mundi CD) and I found the midrange not so fleshed out and overall sound also less warm than vinyl. To me it is not only a matter of "bad" mastering but this type of sound is inherent to CD reproduction. Of course you can warm the sound up with tubes but then you would only change the cosmetics

If you are comparing two different recordings then there are so many variables that I am not sure one can draw a conclusion. Even with allegedly the "same" recording or from the same master tapes - differences will exist unless a special effort is made to ensure the CD is the same as the Vinyl master (as in Mudcrutch).

A fair comparison would be to run your Vinyl through a fairly good quality ADC and DAC from the same manufacturer (say Benchmark) and to see if you could tell the difference in a blind test (is it live Vinyl or is it memorex?). If you cannot then it is safe to assume that a CD made from the digital audio file from the ADC would as good.

Shadorne,

As is often the case, I think you are on to something.

I've found that when I record vinyl albums to CD, the the CD sounds almost identical to the original album and nothing like the commercial CD copies I compare with.

I do not think I can tell that my albums recorded to CD when played back are in fact CDs and not the original vinyl.

How is that possible if CD format is so inferior to vinyl? I think the answer is that it is not. More likely the musical ingredients that go into the CD mastering is different from that that went into the vinyl.