What is the “World’s Best Cartridge”?

Dear @mikelavigne   : "" 

this stuff is not that complicated. but it does require commitment and effort.

acquire great digital and analog sources, and great original/native media, then a great room and system to listen.

listen and see what you prefer.  ""

Sure is not complicated and agree that require commitment and effort and I can't tell you that I did and still doing just that.

I don't give you other opinions but mine just from the dialogue began. My post to mijo was only to make an explanation about that " kidding " and all the other statements came from me and that's my opinion and the issue here is not about preferences because my preference is MUSIC always.

Yes, we don't have all to agree an especially on what we hear. Mike it's really hard to be un-biased with this kind of discussions and that's why I try to understand you and that's why I poste what I posted twice to mijos.

Btw, rigth now that I mentioned I will listen to those Athena LP recordings that I do not in the last 4-5 years or maybe more.

Nothing like the MUSIC enjoyment. So enjoy it.

R.

In my own world objectivity leads to the best subjective results. The problem with strict analog paths is that every step degrades the end result. But, once the music is in numbers no further degradation occurs until the last analog step. Computers do not hear distortion, they only hear ones and zeros and at a speed the human brain can not comprehend. This does not take into account the difficulties and limitations imposed by such processes as dragging a rock through a trench. 

It takes extreme objectivity to set up speakers in a room with appropriate acoustic adjustments to make a system perform near it's best. But to get all the way there requires digital signal processing or extreme luck. In my own experience that would be twice in hundreds of systems.

You can not get to the absolute sound by throwing a lot of money at a system. 

@rauliruegas , of course it is about the music. I listen to vinyl and continue to improve my vinyl playback because at least 1/2 of the music I love is planted there. Sometimes the digital transcriptions do not fair well because of poor mastering. As I think you were trying to suggest, predetermined bias contaminates the issue, the result of intentional misdirection by marketing and the unintentional misdirection by biased reviewers. 

Analog can't compete against it and I don't have and even do not read yet any real/true evidence in favor of analog/tape vs digital:

@rauliruegas @mikelavigne 

Raul, you seem to be missing something here. Clearly, analog has been competing 'against it' for a very long time.

You don't have to know anything technical to understand this statement! All you have to know is that tape is still being made for analog recorders, that used quality analog recorders command prodigious prices, that new titles are being issued on reel to reel tape and what people say about the tapes and their machines.

If analog could not compete quite simply we wouldn't be having this conversation! Instead it would simply be gone and no further talk about it other than historical context.

It really is that simple.

@atmasphere  : Just as I posted: you are here againand I can see that you dig/rummage each single word in my posts but : do you know what?

Analog can't compete with digital for one simple reason: both are way different mediums under recording and playback proccess: WAY WAY DIFFERENT. 

The only point where both coincide is that both mediums makes some kind of " sound " but that's all.  Even that digital is recorded in a tape what's in that tape is way way different: the digital signal is " immune " to all tape drawbacks where the analog is heavy degraded in that recording proccess and if we go to the playback proccess we can confirm that just can't compete: WAY WAY DIFFERENT proccess .

You have a confusion/mix-up between " oranges and bananas ".

Please do it a favor your self and stop to dig/rummage my  posts, obviously that you can following and is up to you,

R.

In my own world objectivity leads to the best subjective results. The problem with strict analog paths is that every step degrades the end result.

@mijostyn

watch the video. Bernie agrees with you about every step degrading. so best to master as direct as possible. which in no way favors digital.

But, once the music is in numbers no further degradation occurs until the last analog step.

Bernie feels every digital step also degrades things compared to the original native source format. any manipulation degrades. digital plug in tools degrade. some recordings need fixing, and some artists want particular results that might not deliver the best sound to all listeners. so digital manipulation is done for a variety of reasons.

but what might Bernie Grundman know that you don’t know? we all might have our own opinion about that.

personally, my own opinion is that i love to listen to digital, especially native great digital recordings. with great performances. not mucked with. i hear what Bernie hears. i prefer analog when done right, but feel digital can be exceptional when done simply, or a mess on some level when processed.

music is wonderful, and recordings can tell us that if we let them. or we can strangle the music too.