sacd,vinyl, and rebook....

Of all the posts, I find Gaudio_eek's quote of Ivor Humphreys the most salient; why do so many of us in this hobby chase tweaking the noise? Really, Albert's referenced article is dealing with a worse case scenario of -40db in the upper register. Please! There's 10,000 times more other stuff going on with these recordings!

At a certain level (just for a guess, I'd say a $5,000 system) the details we're hearing are mostly the decisions of the recording engineer and mixing artist (yes, artist). And while I love 'air' and 'etched details' and 'palpable' and all that other stuff, there's some lower order terms we tend to miss in all this minutia: things like rhythm, melody, harmony, and tonal communication.

In other words: music!

I'm not attacking those who can hear the differences between formats (for they do exist, and yes, I have heard them). Instead, I am asking why do we feed this machine? Why do we buy this equipment when there are satisfactory formats (CD for simplicity, Vinyl for high res playback, MP3 for portability)? And this is hardly a Luddite anthem, but it is an appeal to reflect on the rationality of our purchasing behavior with respect to the primary goal: the joy of music.

Sincerely,

Hope you guys understand that the article was pointed out only for discussion.

I don't have conclusive proof of which digital format is best or what the engineering limits are in the various digital formats.

I am strictly an analog guy and the sum of my investment in digital is a Sony 9000es. It is capable of playing SACD, but I have so few titles I would hesitate to compare.

No doubt the new generation machines such as the EMM Labs would crush my stock Sony, the problem comes (for me) paying the price for the EMM Labs and having it crushed by my analog rig.

Still it's an interesting debate and I thought the link I provided was worth sharing since it was precisely on topic.

The subtle differences between SACD and DVDA, and perhaps CD may require a high end system to be distinguished. On the other hand, even the most lowly LP system reveals, and is limited by, clicks, pops, warps and skips due to dirt balls on the stylus and/or the slightest damage to the grooves.

Eldartford, your LP rig might be limited but mine is not. Perhaps it's not prudent for everyone to buy a Walker or Rockport, but for those of us that want the ultimate and have an existing library of analog music, it is well worth the investment.

Albert,

Please know I my comments were not a veiled attack on your contribution. Instead, I found it an interesting articulation - in absolute terms - of how small the objective difference is, that leads one to say a $25k turntable would "crush" a $15k digital rig.

The non-linearity of that observation is staggering!

The ironic thing is I have no doubt I would come to the same conclusion if I listened to each source on your rig (which is amazing, btw). But then I would ask: does this $10k difference truly get in the way of my experiencing the inspirational meaning of the music? In other words: what are we listening to - music or engineering (format)?

Best,