I'm still working to love digital, are you?

Eric and Will, i agree with both of your posts and understand EXACTLY where you are coming from. I just happen to think that the defining lines between the "soulmate" and "perfect lover" have become permanently blurred for me within the confines of ONE of my systems. Detail and musicality are now "married" just as two become one when in the throes of mutual passion. When i heard the results that i was getting, i knew that it was "magic". The lack of "prat" and "soul-less-ness" that i had been experiencing with digital had been banished to another realm.

As to what i'm hearing out of the other systems that i have, they still lean towards either the "accurate" or "musical" camps. That invisible barrier that separates those two camps still shows how tough it is to break the wall down and have one unified presentation of everything involved. Sean
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Like Sean, if I understand him correctly, I have one foot in each camp and find either camp onesided and sadly incomplete. What I have always worked toward is common ground. At the moment I can tweak my system either way, depending on having the right software. With big orchestral classical music I find software suitable for this rather on vinyl, than on redbook CDs. But since I'm using an upsampler, things are looking up. I do see Will's point, but still contend, that with classical big orchestal music, an analog setup, say top of the line Spectral gear with the right wires and a first class vinyl front end meticulously set up, will put the best digital playback to shame as far as see through accuracy is concerned, because vinyl will bring out subtle details, which CDs simply do not grasp. But then I have not heard his system, nor does he have mine, so I fully share his point of view, that any argumentation along these lines is not only time and energy consuming, but also useless , because it proves nothing. Getting the fine balance within the best of both worlds is a very difficult undertaking. It takes time, an astute ear, a very (self)critical mind, quite a bit of dough and much experimenting. My "solution" for the moment is a mix of different amplification chains, pure SS and pure tube, together with a quite a complex array of speakers (mostly planars), which will be blended together according to the music at hand. It is a solution far from perfect of course,but nearer to anything else I have heard in blending both aspects together. This has evolved slowly through the years , this quest for the best of both worlds. I love it, and as Will rightly says, that's all what counts.

I have mixed emotions about digi and analog - I've been into digital for so long that I've accepted its flaws and relished it's strengths. A great digi pressing whether from AAD or DDD is excellent on a great system. A lousy transfer sounds lousy. I was at a buddy's house recently, he has a nice analog rig, tube pre and amp and I couldn't stand the noise, mainly the pops and ticks that I forgot about all those years ago. On the other hand I just bought Peter Gabriel's remastered cd's and they sound like digital shit, especially "So" - pardon my french. fatigue and quick.

when i play records i occasionally get one that sounds really great - no ticks, pops, silent backgroung, no wow/flutter etc and i'm estatic. but what a pain in the ass to get there! i really only listen to vinyl for special performances when the condition of the playback is not relevant and i just want to hear the music. i've tuned my system so that i don't hear the most objectional sounds of cd's. now when i play cd's i just listen to the music also. may not be optimum from a equipment devotee's point of view but it sure lets me get into the music, not the recording artifacts which i can never get away from with vinyl.

I'm alright, you're alright. Alright? Digital is digital. Analog is analog. LPs are the sore point. A diamond stylus gouging its way through vinyl at every turn of the table. Argh.