digital front end to rival best vinyl?


i am interested in adding a 2 channel digital front end but no cd's. looking for storage/source, clock,dac and what ever else required, that can compete or better vinyl. is this possible? am i to early? i am a novice when it comes to digital front ends and am trying to learn as much as possible. all knowledgeable info will be greatly apriciated. i did hear a system at goodwins highend that sounded great but seemed to have very limited softwear. thanks
koegz

Showing 1 response by mikelavigne

Nope.

a few months ago i did add a server, with 176/24 and 192/24 hirez files. they sound wonderful. much better than redbook.

but i likley prefer the best SACD's to the hirez PCM i've yet heard, let alone 'the best vinyl'.....which i have in my system. then there is 'the best reel to reel master tape, which beats the best vinyl.

i will qualify this by saying that my musical and sonic sensibilities highly value those aspects of music reproduction which are preserved by analog recording. i think live music sounds more like analog than digital (especially PCM). so if one values the added leading edge energy of PCM and don't have a problem with the reduced space and body with PCM.....then possibly digital could rival the best vinyl.

this is a subjective question; and i have friends i respect who prefer a digital hirez master to a RTR tape master. my ears tell me something different. and i know how the best of analog recordings make me feel compared to the best digital.

i do know what happens when i have friends over and we switch from listening to anything digital to Lps or RTR tape. we rarely if ever return to digital.

btw; i love digital and have top level digital gear.