Does anyone have a digital system that is as involving as their analogue front end?


I have a good analogue front end. Not stratuspherically good but good enough for this comparison. VPI Prime Signature 21 turntable, Pass Labs XP-25 pono preamp, Pass Labs XP-30 preamp and Hovland Radia amp. It has a lovely, very involving sound. On the right recording, I just drop everythng and am drawn in to listen.

My streamer, on the other hand, is decent but not spectacular. It is better than my CD player, but it is not jaw-dropping like my analogue front-end. My question is this: does anyone have a high-end, tier-one streamer (dCS Bartok Apex, Lumin X2, or something like them) that can rival a good analogue system?

audio-b-dog

My CD system sounds better than my analog system.  The points to consider with analog are.  Is it a new (digital) or analog record pressing.  The variables of analog are the turntable, arm, cartridge, set up, and phono stage.  Then you have the noise and limited dynamic range. I believe an excellent analog set up will be more expensive than digital.  In digital I'm only talking about Cd or SACD, not streaming.  I have an Esoteric K-01XD se player.  With the correct media, i.e. good to excellent Cd's the sound is wonderful.  Most analog is from ProTools digital masters.  The native format of digital (Cd) sounds better.  If the source is an analog master tape you could claim it sounds but those are being transfered to digital for production.  The masteing or potential re-mixing contributes greatly to the final product.  I'm not going back to analog with the great digital that is out there.       

@audphile1 

Cassandra Wilson's "Blue Light 'Till Dawn" sounds fantastic streaming on the Meitner MA3. It also sounds fantastic on CD playing through the Meitner MA3's DAC. I would have to listen very hard to pick out the differences with the album, although there are some. With your upgrade, it may be equal.

@goose 

After 1980 the music industry turned to digital. Most albums were recorded digitally and from a digital master pressed onto vinyl. Not all, though, I have a few exceptions from the early 80's. I go on adventures looking for good vinyl. It kind of takes a love of the hunt. I have a newer copy of "Graceland" that I'm pretty sure was pressed from an analogue tape. It sounds great. "Rhythm of the Saints," however, sounds terrible. i had to go looking for a well-pressed copy. I talk to Chatgpt a lot about recordings, often giving it record numbers. It helps steer me down the right path. But then there is always finding a truly mint- copy.

If you want to hear a really terribly pressed album, listen to Springsteen's "Born to Run." I listened to it through a new phono preamp and was sure something was wrong with my new piece of equipment. Earlier Springsteen stuff sounds good. "Born to Run" was just at the point where digital took over, plus it was pressed hot to be played on car radios not our mega-buck rigs. And now there are purist engineers and recording labels going back to analogue tapes to press AAA vinyl.

@audphile1 

I will end up using Mcontrol. Unfortunately, Jplay is flakey with my Meitner. It stops in the middle of cuts and played one cut silently. I think the Meitner is made to work with Mcontrol. I'll get used to it.

@audio-b-dog cool. You can email jplay. They might resolve the issue for you. It’s so much better than mconnect it would be a shame if you can’t use it. 
Also keep in mind there’s an ongoing Qobuz issue. Some tracks just won’t play. It’s been going on for weeks intermittently. Some tracks won’t play on roon and jplay. Roon mitigates it by just skipping to next track. Jplay looks like it plays it silently for few seconds then errors out. Not a fault of either, like I said it’s a Qobuz issue.