I'd never be able to tell if analog or digital sounds better. But I know they are different. And unless a company develops a "vinyl sound" switch on their amp (I am sure they have), they will always be different.
Its not vinyl
I have read 100’s of discussions on the subject of building a streaming digital option for audiophile systems. Everything from the internet connection to the streaming source and then the dac. In my reading through the posts the argument will quickly turn to its not analog, vinyl is better, on the anti streaming side and then on the pro streaming side posters will fed the argument with its almost as good as my phono stage, sounds better than analog. This will even hold true within the dac manufactures and dac owners who will refer to their dac sound as analog sounding or just like phono. I think this is most referenced in the R2R dac category. I started a discussion on the new Gustard R26 which is a discrete R2R ladder dac. Right away I was confronted with “why do you want to spend the money to replace your phono analog end that you already have and sounds great”? I Replied with the usual “phono does sound better, even a $30,000 dac will never beat analog and all the other analog vs digital talking points”. Then it hit me that we have been arguing this wrong all this time. The argument should be that the quest in putting together a top notch streaming digital setup is not a quest to beat analog or beat phono. The quest and objective is to achieve a “ less digital sound”. We all know that sharp, bright razor blades in my bleeding ears sterile digital sound, that will bring in-listener fatigue and quickly want you turning off the music. What I am reiterating here is that the quest the cost and the journey in digital is not to beat analog it is to beat “digital”.
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+2, @jond That’s exactly what I have been trying to accomplish for past couple of years. And I am loving what I have been able to put together! |
Analog and digital sound slightly different. With the right setups they sound equally good so you can just listened to the music rather than analyzing it. I agree with MikeLavigne. He got there with outstanding room setup and equipment, I got there with the same approach, but for a lesser cost more align with my budget.
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This is my opinion so take it for what it is worth. I have a refurbished Technics SL-1200-G MK II with a Hana EL MC cartridge into a Rogue Audio RP-1 preamp. It sounds great. But I recently bought a Denafrips Pontus II DAC with a ultra Rendu streamer with a LPS and it is phenomenal. I think it is dependent on the vinyl pressing (180 or 200gram) or quality of digital. They both sound great in the right conditions. |
The digital sound and the analog sound are different, period. I believe that more of the music gets into a digital recording, but many people prefer the analog sound despite its limitations. It costs more in terms of equipment to get the peak analog sound than to get the peak digital sound, but on this forum price is no object. A point to be made here is that not all vinyl records give you the peak analog sound, which is a matter of art and craft. Analog partisans will keep on acting as though their preference is an absolute, and nothing is going to stop them. I believe there is something to prefer there, and that their preference is genuine. The best digital sound is still digital sound, with digital characteristics. A caveat here is that while I personally have a system that’s good enough to hear the qualities of a good analog record, I don’t think I have the type of equipment that gets peak analog performance out of LPs. |
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