Vinyl vs. Hi Resolution Computer Audio

Check out this thread which links to a round table of industry pro's and Michael Froemer...(of the mega vinyl system fame and Stereophile contributor) at the Philotechnic Society in NYC.

Oh my. I could clearly hear the difference between the Redbook CD and the vinyl LP via my laptop's speakers. I wish I had the money to invest in a good analog rig. I grew up with vinyl, but I never really owned a great analog system.

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If I had my druthers, I'd go for the computer digital setup every time without hesitation. Instant access, change artists on the fly, more time listening to music rather than searching through hundreds or thousands discs, no pr-vinyl-playing ritual of cleaning the disc, no need for a record cleaning machine.....I'm saving my bread to get myself a killer computer based system, like Modwright ultra-modded Transporter....my vinyl will then be relegated to maybe 5%-10% of my 2-channel listening.

Greetings,

Your questions is interesting in that you imply one should choose a digital playback system or an Analog system.

For Maximum pleasure you should have both. I designed the Music Vault Music Servers and if you plug a Music Vault 24-192 or the Music Vault Diamond into a first rate Dac like the the MSB power DAC or better you will be in for a real treat.

Certainly the best vinyl setup and the Music Vault with a high end DAC will sound different but that is just the way it is. The Music Vault and DAC will be more accurate and you may not prefer that sound as much.

I have over 2000 records so I will never get rid of my turntable but it is not better.

Music Servers done correctly can easily outperform CD Players that cost thousands of dollars and are much more user friendly.

Source matters! If you have good vinyl collection, you don't want to switch to digital source. I have 30 years of LP collection and a Linn LP12. Sometimes I ripped the LP to PC with 24bits/96khz wav and convert into CD. The copied CD definetly sounds better from my YBA Integre CD player compare with CD version of the same recording. I couldn't tell the difference when compare the copied CD to the LP which is the source of the copied CD. I believe that the SACD is a competetive format to LP but you really don't find a lots of good recording in SACD.

yep, Khsu is correct. source is key. If you copy LPs into digital at 24 176.4 its tough to tell which is which.

There are a greater number of hi res downloads that are available, so time will tell how hi res digital pans out.

hi end LP play back is still tough to beat.