I wish I could hear a blind testing on a very expensive system on vinyl vs streaming. I have always thought vinyl to be noisy and it is time consuming to have to get up and change a record. It might even be more fun during a blind testing to tell them they were listening to streaming when playing vinyl to see if they could be fooled. Buying a $20,000 turntable and purchasing expensive vinyl is not what most people can afford is also another question to consider. Right now, I enjoy streaming music from a huge Tidal library and listening to hi res music.
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?
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Welcome to the 21st century. You have actually admitted to what most people already know but still do not quite want to admit. Vinyl is good. Was good. But it is primitive, limited in bandwidth and limited in dynamics. Regardless of the recent sales figures, it is a dinosaur and it is only a matter of time before it goes the same way as film cameras. I still like listening to vinyl but recently i discovered that i like actually "looking at it" more than the listening part. Mike Lavigne would disagree with you on this. He has some of the best digital equipment and still says his analog equipment sounds better. I also remember him posting that some people in the recording industry couldn't believe that his vinyl playback sounded more dynamic than his digital playback. |
You don't need to take my word for it, listen to this guy! https://ontherecord.co/2021/08/13/money-can-buy-you-happiness-you-just-have-to-spend-it-right-needs-... |
Congratulations on the upgrade. I can completely understand your surprise. While digital has been getting better, typically you have to work at it and throw a lot more money at it for it to sound similar, let alone better. For decades I have tried to get my digital end to sound as good as my vinyl. I have finally gotten to the point where I have to say both are equally satisfying, but still my analog end is still more detailed although with $10K less investment over the digital end. Personally, if this happened to me, I would also question what was wrong with my vinyl end. You have substantial investment in vinyl. Personally I would investigate the tt setup, cartridge, and if this doesn’t bring up the performance, consider upgrading if you want to get the most out of your vinyl. Vinyl is still the gold standard of any well set up synergistic system. |
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