Is computer audio a bust?

Audiolabyrinth, I picked up an Akai GX 625 (probbaly form the 1980's). It is 7 1/2 IPS (not 15) but still have incredible sound. I have been eyeing the new 15 IPS machines, just investing $8,000 - $16,000 for limited library (and $150 - $300 a tape) puts that behind my hopeful turntable upgrade, which I am hoping to do next year. I have purchased some tapes on Ebay but I walked into a used record store last month and walked out with 16 AWESOME tapes in great condition! ($5 each!). I love my vinyl and ...FM. Any analogue source (if done right) gives you warmth and emotion your brain needs to "make up" when listening to digital. Cheers, mate.

A-L - most differential signaling uses a ground, just to insure that the source and destination ground potentials are close, including firewire. The problem with most of these is that the common-mode noise rejection provided by the receiver chips is not stellar. Therefore, it is still an issue. Its not that USB is inferior, just that most receiver chips are not great designs. Some are worse than others. Case in point is the XMOS chipset, which uses a really poor receiver chip IMO. Very sensitive to cables.

Steve N.
Empirical Audio

Steve N.

cerrot, man, I envy you for the reel to reel player you have,you got a damn good deal from the record store,I did not know that new reel to reel tapes are the prices you specified,wow!, I also agree on your take on good analog done right, amen brother, warmth and emotion!, I finally found some one that has something I really like to have, cheers.

Db, I didn't mean to infer reel to reels were perfect; just that, in a high end system, a well recorded tape-on a properly functioning machine- "blew away" the sound from a perfectly cleaned and treated new record- on a very high end record player/cartridge combination-for the fullness/density of sound. The tapes seemed, to my ears, to simply have more information than the record provided. With the cost and exclusivity/rarity of pre-recorded tapes I remember feeling disappointed I couldn't have all my records sound as good as tapes.

How can 'computer audio' be a bust? The audio world has barely scratched the surface of what is possible with digital recording, much less storage and reproduction from computers. Upsampling dacs are in their infancy. Is it not true that the ALPHA DAC surpassed everything up to its creation (dramatically according to experienced serious reviewers) and in basically no time has been superceded- at least twice?? Why won't the same happen with computer audio? I think we're not at a 'bust' but instead a "breakout" period... (And I hope so.) Listening to dedicated classical stations, on line without advertisements, has me seriously considering an OPPO 105D that can upsample all. (I do have another post asking if the original ALPHA DAC would improve the sound from an OPPO 105D and am disappointed with the lack of response)