The character of analog and digital

Whether analog or digital, one must try to obtain the musical message first then accommodate the ears to the particular sonic quality.  Something we audiophiles find hard to do.

Not sure who you are referring to with this statement. I was attending live musical performances before I became aware of the High End audio world. Quite honestly, the only purpose and reason for obtaining a high-quality audio component is to better appreciate the music I adore. It merely works as a conduit for that purpose.

I still attend live venues pretty regularly. 10 performances so far this year. So, the music itself, first and foremost. The audio equipment makes it possible to appreciate it whenever I’d like to in my home. Nothing more or nothing less. I am pretty certain I am not the only one here who feels this way and behaves this way.

Charles

What I’m trying to say is that if you’re into the music first you’re more likely to make a good judgement as to whether the SQ is enhancing the musical experience.

I have DSD at the front end and tubes at the back end and open-baffle speakers, and I love my whole system. Not to say I won't change up when I hear better (and affordable) components, but it's the right path for me. And I keep a turntable and old records around for joy and nostalgia.

Good set of posts! I'm happy we all care so much.

Mike - good to see you weigh in with a more measured input… for those of us w fairly decent LP, Digital ( duh…CD aint it ) and high speed tape….a simple experiment of dumping a digital file on to 15 ips tape and watch the closed minded swoon….. i call it the homogenization machine…. 

There really are two camps…music lovers not stuck in 1950 - 1970 … and format religious zealots…..

and my heroes are guys like Helmut Brinkmann a master of analog…AND Digital w Nyquist II… pushing the sonic frontier forward……