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What is the reason for this? (Digital vs Vinyl Question)

I recently bought new speakers - GoldenEar Triton One.R towers - to pair with my Naim Uniti Star. My set-up for digital is the Naim with Ethernet, Qobuz & Tidal HiRes organized and played through Roon. With all of my other systems until now I preferred the sound of vinyl over digital. I have a Rega Planar 3 tt with Rega Fono preamp. I spin the highest quality records you can get - Mofi 1 Step, Analogue Productions, Classic Records, etc. etc. I've been listening for days trying to convince myself otherwise because of the $$ I've spent on records but the digital chain just sounds better to my ears. The question is: Is this because my new speakers are revealing the disparity between digital and analog better than lesser speakers I've used in the past (Monitor Silver, PSB Platinum, etc.) or is it because some speakers just match better with digital vs vinyl or is it because with the Naim streamer / DAC I've just put together a better digital front end and need to upgrade my tt and / or phono preamp?  
jdm11
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jallan
254 posts
 
Gotta agree with Cakyol. I made the same discovery when I upped my game on streaming. And, high res streaming is better than the equivalent red book cd. 
jdm11 OP
47 posts
 
jallan I agree about red book vs high res. I have about 7500 cds I've collected over 30 years and don't want to believe it but it's pretty clear. I've been A B comparing for days. What gear are you using to stream?
pengun
79 posts
 
This is the game I play. My digital recently became obviously better than my analog. So my Rega P3's AT MC cartridge now feeds a Bob's Device's SUT, which feeds my Musical Fidelity V90, and the analog caught up right there. I have in progress the build of a Sunvalley SV-EQ1616D phono section that will very probably take the whole thing to an even better place. Then an expensive cartridge, well moderately, and my poor digital should be crushed.
Then I have a problem. My analog is obviously better than my digital and I'm back to square one. Its a fun game, anyone can play. ;)
charles1dad's avatar
charles1dad
10,227 posts
 
"Simply enjoy both and upgrade as needed, I don't get the angst over which format is best. Both are capable of artist in room amazement"

@sns,  so true!  Concise and excellent summation.
Charles 
headphonedreams
522 posts
 
@sns
"Simply enjoy both and upgrade as needed, I don’t get the angst over which format is best. Both are capable of artist in room amazement"

I agree with the genral thought that both are good but I don’t really think "needed" is the right word. "Upgrade as *wanted*" may be better. We generally don’t need better sound but boy do we want it. And that want includes taking budget into consideration.

My advice for op is to think about how much more money you are willing to spend. If it is not very much than keeping everything as is is a very good choice. Maybe buy a new cartridge to try to improve the analog side. You may of course then end up wanting to also upgrade the digital again. My thinking is that the future investment in digital will serve you better since you have a lot of cd’s and can start to stream also. That is a lot of music that already sounds good and might sound even better. But back to budget, a better dac may cost $1k - $3k and maybe that is too much, at least for now. Then just enjoy what you have.
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