Is Digital actually better than Analog?

Raul,

Why don't you tell us what exactly is needed to make a system sound live.

Give us the information that will allow us to experience what you experience.

I need to know which cartridge on which arm and which turntable you can assure me this experience will happen for me.

Live sound is the reference so it should be quite easy to design a system to do this. What are important speaker characteristics that you feel is essential to reproducing live music in the home.

Which record labels produce viable recordings.

Explain to me what makes and amplifier more musical for the REAl music lover like myself?

Raul where I come from the source is the reference and I hear enough live music and real instruments to be an expert like you so my piano lesson and season tickets to the Baltimore Chanber Orchestra etc. have served me well. As you know now that its 2006 its hard to find performances that are not amplified and or do not use electronic instruments. Please from now on don not assume I am deficient, I am an audio professional, not a hobbyist.

Here's my current two channel system tell me where I need to change components and why please; Cause its not better than my surround system based around the same speakers.

ATC Anniverary 50
ATC Concept 4 subwoofer
Lake Contour crossover
ATC SCA2 or Motif MC7 with black gate ps upgrade and modified input impedance circuit
EAR834P resistors trimmed to match tubes .1%
Roksan Xerxes X, with Benz Micro M2
Custom made cables
Cartridge aligned with oscillascope

Raul - Due to reasons beyond my control, in order to discuss the topic at hand further, shoot me an email.

Thanks

...what exactly is needed to make a system sound live

A reasonable simulation would be very low noise floor & very high dynamics...
...but, OTOH, I don't expect a system to sound like live music. Live music would not be my reference (as it isn't yours). Rather, reproducing the medium would be a better /more reliable and palpable reference point.

In the rare cases where a reproduction is such that it creates spontaneous involvement, there is some magic. Sometimes, when the Gods are smiling, there is a lot of energy coming out of my spkrs (relatively speaking, of course) and the effect of a live recording (even average recordings) is lovely.

Cheers to Gregm, a voice of reason.

To those debating multi-channel and 2-channel, would it not depend entirely on the recording anyway? If I have a piano and a cello playing in a small room similar to the one I sit in, the instruments resemble the point sources of my speakers, in which case, if the recording is close-miked, my listening point in my room will resemble the place I might sit in the room with live music. In which case the reflections of the performance room match those in my room, which means I have duplicated the live experience quite faithfully using a two-channel set-up. And if my room is bad, then I have listened to a stellar live performance in a really bad venue, I won't necessarily do much better with the same thing in my room.

By the same token, I like the concept of multi-channel for the idea that reproduction of the ambient reflections offers spatial cues to give you a "you are there" feeling. That said, it would obviously work best on recordings where there is non-negligible ambient/reflective sound, and is probably best reproduced listening nearfield in an anechoic chamber. As I am neither convinced that most 2-channel recordings contain equal ambient cues, nor do I happen to have an anechoic chamber at home, I will stick with my humble 2-channel digital and analog system which pleases me just fine... though I am sure I could use some bass traps... :^)

Hey Matt54321: Thanks for that. I have to put the hobby on hold for awhile because I moved into a new place, of course good old Security Deposit and first months rent has crippled the finanaces for this month. I was talking to one guy who told me not to go to Vinyl because he asked me how many new releases are being released onto vinyl and he also told me that with records, every time you play a song, it puts wear on the record which affects the sound quality. I guess he meant that the needle wears out the record a little everytime you play it? , dont think I have heard of this before? Has anybody else?