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An interesting Digital vs. Analog experience

On Friday I visited my local hi fi store where Garth Leer of Musical Surroundings was showing off the new Clear Audio Master Innovation turntable and Jim White of Aesthetix was on hand with a lot of his gear. The speakers were Focal Stella with dual JL Audio Gothom subs. Obviously, the point of the event was the turntable, but I'll have to admit that when the music was temporarily switched from the turntable to a labtop both my friend and I thought the digital sounded better.

I've heard A/B comparisons in the store before using identical recordings and in that case preferred the vinyl, but this time with the recordings being different I would have left with a very different impression.

I mentioned it to Jim White (I didn't discuss it with Garth Leer since because I didn't want to rain on his parade) and his comment was that the system was tailored for analog so I'd probably really enjoy a system that was intended for digital. I think the computer was using an Aesthetix CD player for the DAC.

It was the first time in a long time that I was blown away with the sound of a system in that room, it made my system sound very humble (as it is in comparison) in a way that I had not heard before. It was the first time that I've heard Aesthetix amplification making the Focal Utopia's shine.

I guess what I'm saying is that both vinyl and digital can be amazing, but the difference in convienience is astounding.

I could see myself owning a pair of Stella speakers, but I don't think I have enough organs to sell to pay the bill. I doubt my wife would be willing to chip in...
mceljo
rockadanny
1,224 posts
 
simply switching sources could case a change in the way the system sounds. If this change were negative when switching from a digital to analog source then some people might place the blame completely on the source media rather than realizing that a similar negative effect could also happen by switching to a different digital source.

Precisely. I have built and tweaked my system for over five years to sound good with my one and only source, a CD player. Now that I've achieved the sound I prefer, adding a TT to my system ... it may not sound as good as it could were I instead to have built my system using only the TT as a source. Had I done that, after five years of swapping gear and tweaking, striving for the perfect sound (to my eras), I might have ended up with a completely different system. One where adding a CDP as a source might not sound as good as it could.
rockadanny
1,224 posts
 
So my point is, is it possible that some folks who prefer vinyl over CD have listened to CDs either on systems which were, in general, not optimal, or on systems whose character is biased towards playing vinyl? Just a thought.
nonoise's avatar
nonoise
10,836 posts
 
We only know what we hear and until we hear something better, all bets are off to any claims of what sounds better. All the tweaking done to one's system tends to give one a myopic view since a predetermined goal is in mind.
Changing the source changes the nature of the system (hopefully for the better) since the source is the most important part of the reproduction chain (IMO). I have no doubts of this since going the PC route for my source. What an eye (ear) opener.
daverz
487 posts
 
I don't think the problem is that digital detractors have not heard good digital playback. They just *prefer* the sound of Lp playback. The only problem is when the bogus arguments start to fly about why Lp playback is technically superior ("infinite resolution!"), not just a perfectly justifiable *preference*.
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