Vinyl sounds better (shots fired)

@mambacfa 

I agree with you in as far as that vinyl usually sounds better than digital formats or at least I prefer it.

However, it’s not true that digital is an approximation. It can exactly reproduce the original waveform of the music on reconstruction. In any case, having digital in the chain doesn’t appear to adversely affect the sound of vinyl.

The reason for our vinyl preference must lie elsewhere.

I would like to throw Direct Metal Mastering (DMM) into the discussion. Harsher or more accurate than cutting lacquers? Was wondering as I was listening to a John Hiatt album last night (Bring the Family) that was cut with DMM (actually, I was streaming it so the DMM is irrelevant, but I was still thinking about it).

@mambacfa Vinyl  is not a "true" analogue" to the extent that this connotes superiority. A vinyl record goes through a number of subtractive steps before it gets to the end consumer and, consequently, is a long way from the "true" sound of the master tape. To use your own words, it is an approximation of it.

It can sound good, especially if the multitrack - if there is one - and the two track master were also analogue, but either way, it is not more inherently accurate than digital.

Speaking as the owner of high end vinyl, cd and streaming playback systems, so not biased either way.

There are things I like about each better than the other. 

High quality reproduction from vinyl is vastly more expensive than digital.  Not an issue for those of you with more money than you know what to do with, but certainly an issue for many.  Itʻs not hard to drop $10,000 and more on a table, cartridge, mods, cabling, separate phono preamp, etc.  Of course youʻre going to claim massive benefits on your $10,000 vinyl rig over a $300 PC playing back through a competent $300 DAC.

In careful listening, I find that a good vinyl setup does sound more "organic" (for want of a better word) than digital.  I have a number of good recordings in both media and do hear the differences, but they arenʻt worth the many thousands of dollars it takes to get there.

Sʻmatter of fact, Iʻm selling off my jazz vinyl collection right now with ads on US Audiomart and Craigslist.  Most of the hard bop is gone, but I still have a good amount of Latin jazz, big band, West Coast jazz and vocals.  $10 each including shipping.  Sold about half the records so far.

Itʻs just so very much easier to play digital and at my age of 73, I donʻt want to be one of those guys with a gigantic pile of stuff to wade through.  Done with it.  Got some good records though if anyone wants some recommendations.

Vinyl has a sound signature and so does digital.  I like the ritual of vinyl and the convenience of digital- especially when it’s hi-res.