The value of open space

It does not need to be an extraordinary event (phenomena) when a system with a digital source is extremely fine tuned.

What you seem to be describing or hinting at is the ambient or reverberant information of the recording hall itself and the music's interaction with it. Without doubt, more than any other element this is the most critical to reproduce any sense of a live performance as this is where the magic of a live performance really lies.

This 'phenomena' can easily be reproduced with nearly every recording. Even with many of those recordings deemed to be the most inferior recordings. In fact, although vinyl can excel at this 'phenomena' I've yet to hear this same extreme level of performance with any vinyl.

Please note that when I say easily reproduced, I mean easily done over and over again with even some of the most inferior CD recordings once one knows what is required to even reproduce it at all.

Hence, when it comes to the very best playback systems I couldn't disagree more.

-IMO

Yes, try some of Michael Hoppe music.

Chashmal, Having spent a full day with Karlheinz Stockhausen in Paris in 1975 at a master class, and having later scored in a very minimilistic and pointillistic style, I know exactly what you are referring to. It is of course worth remembering that the use of 'silence' as a palpable sonic element in music is not terribly new, but goes back to the dawn of human history. I can't comment on Vinyl's ability of texturing the 'false void' with reverberating echos of decaying harmonics as analog has not been my chosen medium since 1984. On the other hand, my system currently rigged with an Esoteric X-01 limited, a Rowland Capri pre, Rowland 312 and a pair of Vienna mahlers does exactly what you are suggesting. . . It makes me profoundly aware of the difference between the untextured lack of sound between tracks and the musical magic of the venue during a pause or a slow decaying sostenuto. I venture to suggest that while it is likely that both good vinyl and some very good digital may yield the exceedingly low level information present in structural 'silences', in reality each component in the chain contributes to the effect. It is perhaps the interplay between the various components that create the magic. I have played the 2nd movement of Dvorak's Symph No. 9 under Bernstein and the Israel Phil for years. . . little I knew that at the very end, just before the solo chords of the mid strings there exists a horrid engineering splice, where the sound engineer cuts short the decay from the previous ascending arpeggio and inserts a little fragment containing a couple of seconds of dead silent hall followed by the aforementioned chords. I heard this clearly only a few weeks ago for the first time. . . had I just gotten a new CD player? Not really, rather, I had inserted the JRDG Capri and the 312 in the chain. I also was able to detect to some extent the same engineering problem using the Nuforse Ref 9 SE V2 instead of the 312, but not when I had the ARC Ref 3 in the chain, nor when I was using my trusty old Rowland 7M monoblocks, nor when my speakers were still the lovely MagnePan IIIAs. . . . all of this, in my admittedly limited experience, seems to be suggesting that analog vs digital may be -- at least in this particular area -- a red herring.

Well, I agree with Guidocorona on all points except format. Like you Chashmal, I too am a huge fan of vinyl LP's and have little or no emotional connection with music from CD's.

I have several of Stockhausen's works as well as those of Edgard Varèse. I like both artists, bought the LP's in the 1960's when new.

Hi Albert, I'd love to finally listen to your fantab system! . . . I'll be in Dallas from June 28 through July 6th . . . any chance of visiting with you?