I could not hear a difference between Analog and digital...... what gives ?

@joeycastillo 

Thanks for posting your experience.  Gives me something to think about.   Regarding Preamp, I am running a McIntosh C2300 with a pair of vintage 12ax7 Telefunken Smooth Plate tubes in both the MC phono stage and the Line stage.  This means that both the Phonograph and DAC are getting the "benefit" of the smooth plate Telefunkens.  I guess this may be helping match the tone of the two mediums.  I consider my components already matched since they are all McIntosh from the same era.  For cables, I am using a Voodoo Stradivarius cremona between the turntable and preamp, and a Neotech NEI-3001-III XLR Interconnects between the DAC and Preamp.  I am using Audience Ohno XLR interconnects between the Preamp and the two MC275 amps set in monoblock mode....  All connections at least OCC copper. 

In general I have noticed differences between Analog and Digital, and have normally preferred the Analog - if it is a mint first pressing.  I am just surprised the two versions of Aqualung I mentioned in this post sound exactly the same, and what it may mean in my system. 

@skads_187 

Thanks for your reply and posting your experience.  GNR lies was recorded in 1988, I believe it is an analog master tape and therefore an analog recored.  So, I would expect the Analog to sound different from the Digital.  For some reason, there is something exactly similar about these DCC versions of Aqualung that were created at the same time.  

@yoyoyaya 

Thanks for the quote of that review.  I re-listened again last night switching back and forth, I hear a lot of flutes, which may include a descant recorder, but, I am not sure.  I asked a 35 year old to listen with me, and she said she could hear that the Analog and Digital sounded a little different, but, could not pick them out in a blind A/B session.  She did say she preferred the Analog.  After she said that, I thought I also could hear some differences, but, I also could not pick out which was which in a blind test...  So, I back to blaming my ears, and believing that these versions are very similar based when and how they were recorded, and the sound of my system with similar tubes in the preamp and amp stages is producing comparable sound for both Analog and Digital. 

@billstevenson  @newton_john  @audphile1 

Lol, great points, thanks so much.  I just finished upgrading my ethernet and streaming front ends this year, so, I have been doing a lot of comparing between streaming (Qobuz) and SACD/CD and I am very satisfied with the results.  After that, I decided to test my DAC to see if I should upgrade, and the best I could come up with is to compare it to Vinyl & Digital that I know comes directly from the original analog master tape... Hence, this long post about DCC Aqualung with both Analog and Digital mastered by Steve Hoffman directly from the 1971 original master tapes in 1996. 

I did a similar test this AM on my system and in the past.  One Step vinyl against digital streaming.  My observation is this; I am amazed how good vinyl can sound on a well mastered recording.  In my system it’s easily the equal of my digital system that costs 4 times as much. That said it’s not better thus digital will win based on convenience.  I do still enjoy spinning at times and have many vinyl records that beat poorly recorded digital streams!

Good for you!  I envy you.  Take this as a blessing.  You're good. 

OP - thanks for this post. I've heard the same thing and here's a few comments from my experience.

I could always hear a significant difference between vinyl and digital before I bought a Hana SL. Now my vinyl and digital sound very similar, if not the same. The Hana has a particularly flat frequency response which is why I bought it.

Phono cartridges are notorious for having a lumpy frequency response with many of them having a several dB tilt in the high frequencies. If a particular cartridge compliments other aspects of your system you will prefer analog over digital. For decades, audiophiles have used cartridges to tune the frequency response of their systems. CD players and DACs, on the other hand, all have a ruler-flat frequency response.

I never was able to hear the kind of blanket digital nastiness described by people like Fremer. Sure, some early digital recordings were terrible but that was the fault of the recording or the digital transfer from the analog master. There were plenty of early CDs that sounded great, at least to my ears.

I don't accept the idea that because you're old you can't hear differrences in gear. Most of us in this hobby are geezers. I think that most people who make broad general statements about how formats sound, or pontificate on the subtle differences between similar gear have never really attempted to do a controlled listening test to check their beliefs.

Modern DACs and players have converged to sound nearly identical. I have not seen a double blind ABX test that shows that modern DACS sound different. I have two DACs, two transports, a CD player, and an SACD player in my system, and I have carefully listened for differences on repeated occassions. If they are not identical then they are very, very, close. I could live with any of them.

The fact that my analog and digital rig sound so similar is interesting because the retail value of my CD transport (Jay's CD3 MkIII) and my DAC (Berkeley Alpha Reference II MQA with Alpha USB) is about $24,000 and my turntable is a 90's vintage Denon DP 47F with a Hana SL cartridge running through a Krell phono preamp - total value of about $4,000. I should add that I also have a Sweet Vinyl SC2 Plus ($3800) that removes the ticks and pops because I've always hated that aspect of vinyl. The biggest reason that I was an early CD adopter was because I found  vinyl surface-noise so distracting.

I still buy vinyl and I play records regularly. Sometimes I'm just in the mood to play a record and marvel at how this ancient technology can sound so good. But mostly I play CDs for the convenience and the quiet noise floor.

FWIW, I've done careful listening comparisons on several titles between Qobuz and the corresponding CD version (running through the same DAC) and I can't hear the difference. I figure that if the stream sounds identical to my CD rig that's as good as it's going to get. I see no reason to stress about digital cables, fancy switches, or a 5 figure streamer.

@8th-note 

Thanks for documenting your experiences.    It is much appreciated. Yup, your experiences are similar to mine.  My new updated Streaming front end with Qobuz sounds as good as my CDs & SACDs with comparable resolution.  My Analog setup can sound different from my Digital, but, I have just found an example described in this thread where they both sound the same...  So, the big question I am trying to answer is will a new upgraded DAC really improve my digital system in my large room with my current tube preamp, tube amps, & speakers which I plan to keep for the long haul ?