HD Down Load compared to Analog.

Orpheus10,

I like and agree with a lot of what you are saying, but not everything.

"As audiophiles, we are required to learn system compatibility, but that will not replace component quality, and you can not get class "A" sound with Class "B" components, although you can consider whatever sound you're listening to Class "A"."

"but to get into the vaunted realm of Class "A" sonics will require a trip to the bottom of one's pockets, especially since every single solitary component in the chain must be at that same sonic level."

I understand what you are talking about, and that may be the case in some situations, but not always. I've found that in many cases, using B rated or lower components, can yield class A sound. You do say this, and that the reason is good system matching. I agree. My argument is that I think Stereophile just gets it wrong sometimes. Why do they? I really don't know. It could be any number of reasons.

I've had several pieces over the years that were B and C components. Doing my best to get everything sounding as best I could, I compared these components with A rated components. Of course this is all subjective, but in many cases I was able to get A sound out of lesser rated components. Not only that, they often cost far less than their A competition.

The only 2 issues I have with all of this is: 1. Stereophile sometimes miss-rates components. (Definitely not your fault in any way. I only bring it up to suggest not following the ratings too closely. They make mistakes just like any one else.)

2. This is where we may disagree. When you say that you can take a B or C component an do a really good job matching the system so that the overall sound is A, I believe that makes an A rated component. Why wouldn't it? You are absolutely correct in that system matching is the key to everything. I just don't see how you can separate the 2 ideas (system matching and rating). If you can get A sound from a B component using careful matching and setup methods, why wouldn't you rate the component A?

I hope I did a good job explaining my point. If I'm not clear on anything, just post and I'll try to explain it a little better.

Dear Benjie: +++++ " With vinyl, all of the information is in that groove. You are not missing anything. " +++++

well that's IMHO is only in theory. Please analize the LP playback proccess and let us know if " you are not missing anything ".

Nothing is perfect and analog is not and those imperfections preclude that you can hear what's in the recorded grooves. Think about.

Regards and enjoy the music,
R.

Whoever dies with the best sounding stereo wins...

i have 5 terabytes of hirez digital and enjoy it daily. i mostly listen to dsd files, but also lots of hirez PCM. i'm listening to it now. i agree that it sounds very very good, and sometimes great. it does have a consistently low noise floor and is clean sounding and noise free.

i have what likely would be considered top level vinyl in my system, as well as maybe B+ too. i've had plenty of B range vinyl in my system recently enough to have a feel for it and how it compares to hirez.

you can make a case for hirez competeing directly with B level vinyl, but it's not a case that works for me. there is a level of musically significant information in vinyl which is simply missing with hirez digital. there is dynamics and articulation in the bass which is not there in high rez. the areas where hirez does have some advantages are not musically significant to me (such as lack of ticks and slight noise). i'll take the deeper musical message of vinyl any day if we are stating preferences.

it's not important that we prefer hirez to vinyl; it's only important that we like it and enjoy it.

i listen to hirez digital mostly for convenience sake or when that is the only form for that particular music. when i'm reading, web-surfing, or too lazy/not in the mood to do vinyl. which for me is about 30%-40% of the time. so it's an important part of my musical menu.

hirez digital sounds great, and it does offer benefits. it is just fine and needs no apologies.

Zd542, if for a moment we can just drop "Stereophile" out of this equation, and designate a particular level of "sonic" quality as class "A", all will become clear. This is something I've only heard at high end emporiums. Once was with all top of the line ARC electronics, and top of the line Thiel speakers, plus room treatment. The sound was visible in the air, you could point to many different spaces where sound emanated from. That was Class "A" sound, and any way you can get it sounds good to me. Class "B" or "B+" is very, very good, if someone thinks it's Class "A", who am I to argue. I have "holographic" sound in my listening "spot", I won't say "room", but from where I sit there's "holographic sound", the speakers are nonexistent. I assume most hardworking audiophile's have the same thing.

When you enjoy your music playing on your system, what difference does Class make?

Enjoy the music.