Analog vs. digital

I cannot answered definitively ...it is only my opinion for sure...

But on "relatively ordinary" analog system at relatively low cost, with low embeddings controls in the mechanical, electrical and acoustical working dimensions, the relatively low cost digital system in the same embeddings conditions  will sound often more detailed or more "cut up" which is not a pure positive fact, ( timbre is not a simple matter) but this digital system if the dac is well chosen can be made with improved  embeddings controls very organic sounding tubelike more and will beat the relatively low cost analog system...

It takes high value analog system to beat digital actual one in the same embeddings conditions.... Too much money to contemplate...( i trust Mike deLavigne impressions about that )

But anyway these discussions analog/digital are way less important than the three embeddings control but this seems impossible to be understood by many ... 😁😊

I tested this difference between analog/digital sound with one of my friend analog and digital  system.... Then i could imagine the huge difference, way over this difference between some analog/digital separate systems, made by the three embeddings control method...

But a method is not an easy upgrade solution ...And somebody not owning a good acoustic room and no vibrations control, and no house electrical control cannot imagine the difference at all...He then contemplate upgrade between analog or digital to be a very important upgrading solution ...It will be a costly one in most case...

It was more difficult to figure out embeddings controls , not in money in my case, but with my time...But the end results is so huge than upgrading make me afrais and smile at the same time...

Audiophile experience is not an engineering choices dependant fact mostly nowadays, with all these equivalent good design available, it is mostly acoustic and psycho-acoustic  knowledge ( vibrations controls and electrical controls are almost  as much as important )...

I’ve recently upgraded both my digital and analog front ends to what I’d consider my “end game” status. The analog rig (excluding ‘accessories’ like phono stage, cover, RCM, etc) is about 2-2.5x the digital $ to achieve comparable SQ level.

I am not convinced that certain elements such as macro dynamics or detail retrieval are equivalent, but at this level I do enjoy the analog side more. Just more ‘musical’ to my ears.

Speakers are next up, so perhaps will change.

It is completely dependent on your components. While in the past analog provided a definite advantage that could not be duplicated… so there was an “analog” and “digital” sound, and resolution wise analog just blew away digital.

All that is different now. Depending on you price range and components ala,go and digital can sound exactly the same of one can exceed the other.

I currently own the best system I have ever owned. I carefully crafted it in light of my decades of experience pursuing the high end. Both the analog and digital ends have exactly the same sound quality (see my UserID). This is by having the same brand and level of Audio Research amp, preamp, Phonostage, and DAC. Also, I carefully chose my cartridge to reflect my preferences as far as sound quality.

Both the analog and digital have very very similar levels of detail. The recording would determine if one sounded better than the other. Recently I upgraded the tone area and sub chassis on my turntable. This allowed the turntable to pull ahead on many recordings. But if I am not paying attention I can perk up and be amazed at the level of detail, thinking it is the turntable, and find it is streaming. This allows continued happy surprises from both sides.

If I was downing this again… this would be my goal… well, if I was starting now I would skip analog. Although at inexpensive levels… say systems <$10K, analog is a real bargain. And if you have absolutely no budget restraints in system >$250 K you need to spend quite a bit more on digital to equal the performance of analog. But in between these you can choose the same performance or adjust one better than the other.

It seems with the best audiophile records there is much less of a difference between analog and digital.  They’re almost identical.  But that’s not true with the majority of records on my system.