Digital as good or better than YOUR analog?

I did it! My analog is sounding like digital. YES!

Sorry to hear that, Psychic. My condolences... Keep trying, you may still be able to get it right! :-)

Do you guys have duplicate collections or something? If you don't, what does it matter if one format is better than the other, you have to use the format the music is on. On the few records that I have which have been remastered on cd's I have found the LP's sound richer thru the midrange - that could be because of my cartridge or it could be the remastering process. Its not because in any pure sense one format is better than the other, they both have large warts on their noses. I have CD's which sound far better than many of my LP's and the obverse. Previous posters commenting on the differences being created in the studio and/or your selection of components are right on target. I think if many complaining vinylphiles paid as much attention to their CD system and CD selection as they do their LP's and its playback components they might be pleasantly surprised with the result. I saw a post on this subject on AA by a dedicated audiophile who was denegrating digital - he had a 10K analog rig and a Sony CDP - he thought digital sucked becase IT (not his CDP) was bright and harsh! Oh well, back to the music........

On a more serious note than I indicated to Psychicanimal, but on the same point, I have noticed that as I have improved my analog front end, and as I have listened to more and more of the reissues of classical recordings from the 50s and 60s on vinyl (particularly from Classic Records), the differences between my digital rig and my analog rig have diminished somewhat. The quiet background of digital is being approached by vinyl, as is the bass, but the remastered recordings are beginning to indicate to me that not all the faults of the digital medium are the medium's fault, a good deal of it lies in what's on those tapes. In tonal balance and many other respects, the reissues sound quite similar to their CD counterparts, just a little warmer and with better retrieval of the "tail" and decay of musical notes (something which SACD does even better than vinyl, in my experience, which is one of the rerasons why I'm a fan of SACD). Just an observation; as I said before, I still tend to enjoy vinyl playback a little more, it's my preference for truly relaxing listening.

Yesterday I phoned Jahaira (José García) after finishing prepping my sytem with Silclear silver paste and I was playing a classic 1978 LP recording of La Sonora Ponceña--a top notch, hardcore salsa band that's been around for thirty years or so. It was sounding so good and crisp that José asked me if I was playing the CD version. I replied that I had found a NM, but warped copy in eBay but that my KAB modded Groovemaster was negociating them warps successfully.

The sound coming out is very low in noise, crisp, with a fast attack speed and well outlined voices & instruments plus excellent dynamics and strong, tight bass and percussion--just like with CDs. Later on I was playing Pat Benatar's Heartbreaker album and then it was very evident how close that sound was to digital.

I did it.

Let's see what Dan Wright does to my belt drive transport. He promised to wow me in every way...

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