My conclusion: mid level $$ analog vs digital


Good morning

I purchased a mid level analog system 6 months ago 
     project classic
     Hana sl
     Musical Surroundings Phenomena II+I’ve compared the analog to my digital 
      Roon 
      Chord Qutest 
      24/192 & Streaming 

and ;

After listening to a bunch of albums and music.

A well recorded album with a well setup analog is tough to beat . The analog has a certain snap to the drums and bass that digital cannot match.  Extremely , quiet and smooth
 The mid level price point and the associated quality is surprising to me 
Do not get me wrong , digital is close , but good albums really can show a difference 

Ive listened, at homes with much better analog setups, and the difference seems to get better 

So, For you guys think to take the analog jump ?

Don’t worry 

Jeff

frozentundra
jjss49 said:
i would venture to say that digital front end will outperform analog at low (1-2k) to middle levels (2-4k) but when you get into really good analog, have it all dialed in (no trivial task) it sounds better but then you are into quite expensive territory at that point - all cases here factoring in the all important phono stage too...

I agree with you on that. At lower price points, digital can be very competitive or better.
I sold a $15k turntable setup and all my vinyl because getting a very good dac surpasses a good analog setup. I spent $7k on a dac and it sounds better than my analog setup. If you go on a budget, its going to be hard to get the best sound in either setup. I use a network interface to the dac instead of the flawed USB which improves SQ. When I was into analog, I have friends that have $100k in analog setups and in those cases, a very good vinyl album would be very close to the same album in DSD or MQA format.
Popcorn anyone? I’m with jjss49... both can be good in their own right. I prefer my vinyl overall, but my digital stuff gets it done for casual listening. Digital streaming CANNOT be beat for sheer musical exposure, and one of the primary reasons I use the medium. CD’s on the other hand? Not too impressed after listening to really good vinyl.
Lately two audiophiles I know did comparisons and both preferred 
digital over analog which surprised me. Of course this says nothing really about how fair the comparisons were.