Vinyl VS Digital


After 20+ years I broke out my turn table from the 70's again.  I have been mostly listening to CD and streaming music for the last 15 years on higher end gear in a dedicated and treated home theater room.  I also have a dedicated two channel system in the same room.  

All the hype surrounding analog has prompted to me to purchase a dedicated preamp so that I could once again hook up my TT.  I also purchased an Aurlic Aries to compare.  I'm ready to upgrade my old Technics SL 1600 MK2 running a Grace Cartridge.  But I have concerns.  

I could care less about the additional hiss, crackle and Pop thats not in digital.  I think its cool to put on an album and just listen to my 30 year old small collection from when I was a teenager.    

I started doing A/B comparisons by switching between the TT and the Aries (FLAC).  I even bought new vinyl to do so.  The thing keeping me from going "All In" is the imaging.  No matter what I do with (aligning the cartridge), I cannot get the imaging to match that of digital.  Specifically, voice and instrument that stems from center stage with digital cannot be reproduced with the TT as source.  One might say the stage is wider but its too wide to point where definition is lost.  Don't get me wrong it still sounds good but is it right?  Is it my TT or is it in the recording.  Or is this the difference I am suppose to be hearing?


  
ap_wannabe

Showing 2 responses by chayro

Not having a centered image can be caused by phase reversal, which makes everything appear diffused.  Usually, this happens when the speakers are connected incorrectly, but I guess it is possible for this to occur anywhere in the chain.  Check this out again.  Even a cheap tt should provide a centered image.  
One pitfall of analog is that some people just cannot sit back and listen to it without constantly thinking about cartridge alignment, record cleaning, VTA, VTF and whatever else can be fooled with.  In that case, you're much better off with digital.  IMO, if you buy something like a $2000 Music Hall 7.3 with a pre-installed cartridge and a $300  Pro-ject phono preamp, you will be getting a good taste of analog sound.  If you don't like it then, I would give it up and not waste 6k.  6k is not a lot to spend on analog, but it's too much money to waste on something you won't like. 
Also pick up a few brand new or mint used records because playing old damaged ones won't help your experience any.  IMO.