30 Years of Perfect Sound?

Hi Stickman451,

I'm sure your vinyl sounds nice, you cannot compare your old Sony SACD which was ok in it's day. Modern computers and the development of digital equipment have come along way.

I suggest you go and try some rather than forming an opinion from 5 to 10 years ago. Get some HD recordings. Nothing is lacking unless you are addicted to noise and pleasant distortion?

"Nothing is lacking unless you are addicted to noise and pleasant distortion?"

I am currently in a state of remission.......

Digital=Better than Live

Always the same discussions about analog/digital since 30 years.

I have plenty of 96hz/24bit recordings and they sound very good through my PS Audio Dac and on my new Magnepan 20.7's, but my very best records still sound better...is the digital better is some ways? Yes! Is is generally quieter overall, check!, does it have ample slam and power in the bass and mid-bass, check!... But, overall does it convey a greater sense of realism and a 'you are there' or 'they are here'feeling, nope!... Emotionally, vinyl still wins out for raising the most goosebumps...

I have heard a fair number of 'high-end' digital demos too and many sounded very good, but none really reached the best vinyl.

The very best digital that I have ever heard was a rig at the Rocky Mountain Audio Fest that used Audio Research electronics, Wilson Sophia's, and the Light Harmonic DaVinci DAC; it sounded very good and very much like vinyl...it even raised goosebumps on a number of tracks; However, that DAC cost close to $20k now and with the same electronics and speakers you could do just as well with a $10k table.

I would agree that eventually, one day, digital will reach vinyl's performance and will even surpass it; that day just hasn't arrived quite yet...

Digital vs analog is a very interesting thing. The best illustration of the issues involved occurred when a guy I know did a demo at an audio society. What he did was take a brand new sealed record on a very good vinyl rig (well over $10K) and compared it to the same album on a computer. To his ears the computer murdered the vinyl. Guess what - it was 50-50 which people preferred. Its the same sort of thing comparing valve to SS.

Thanks
Bill

Stickman451,

the Da Vinci DAC is a very good sounding DAC, but its only claim to fame is the lack of the filter and an algorithm with a few nice parts, and its own internal separate power supplies for the board. Don't think for a second that that performance cannot be had at half the price.

That momentum with the advancement in chips for 4k video processing and HD audio and so on will only bring those costs closer for mere mortals. Look at Oppo with their latest players.

Up sample in your host computers software and fluid, rich, dynamic digital audio is here right now.

I totally get the vinyl addiction. If you still hanker for that vinyl sound just record and catalogue it digitally, and play it back from your computer with all the advantages of that system.

I know quite a few vinyl heads who have already done it. You could even correct all the noise with software.

Stickman451, I agree with you, vinyl is still superior. I enjoy digital as well, but being the best not yet.

10-09-12: Stickman451
... I would agree that eventually, one day, digital will reach vinyl's performance and will even surpass it; that day just hasn't arrived quite yet...

I agree too, that eventually digital *should* be able to equal a high quality all-analog chain, but I don't think even the best of today's consumer digital technology will get us there. I think it will take a 32-bit word length to approach the fine granularity of amplitude distinctions of good analog, and a sampling rate of 352.4 or 384Khz. I've heard state-of-the-art 24/96 and (I think) 24/192 digital recordings through awesome electronics from Ayre, ARC, D'Agostino, and VTL, powering Wilson speakers, and even compared to my comparatively very modest vinyl rig at home, that digital playback only got me about 80% of the way there when it comes to refinement and emotional response.