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

@newton_john 

I know Hemingway and bullfighting are out of fashion. However, I think Hemingway can give us a good analogy from his book "Death in the Afternoon." He said that one would need to go to a hundred bullfigths to see a perfect one. I think playing music on our stereos can be comparable. (And to a certain degree going to hear a live concert, which I have done over a hundred times with just classical music. I once heard Joshua Bell conduct Beethoven's 6th and I walked out of the concert hall saying, "He ruined it.) 

Music can be lovely, calming, and all those other modifiers, but maybe once in a hundred times am I sitting on the edge of my seat, filled with the spirit of music (which  may have been humanity's first form of communication) am I filled with the absolute spirit of music.

@audphile1 @audphile1 I have both MA3i and XDS1v4 with DA2i dac, and the differences are meaningful, especially in terms of tonal weight, space, bass, and increased microdynamics. However, I agree it will likely be a long time before anything in the $10k range that will be better than the MA3i. I personally preferred the MA3i over the original DA2 as an overall dac. The last time the company had this large jump in quality was from DCC2 to DAC2x (and the Meitner version MA1). I think we will be fine for at least 5 years, if not longer. Meaningful R&D at the high end takes a long time. 

@newton_john in my experience…

if we’re looking for consistency in performance, in digital, it is CD and SACD. I’m talking physical media played back using a cd/sacd player or transport, not ripped files residing on a storage device and played via network. 
Just as consistent are the ripped files that reside on a drive that’s mounted inside a streamer that’s connected to a DAC, using the streamer’s native app to playback the files (i.e. Aurender streamers that allow SSD to be mounted inside the unit). Similarly a drive connected to a streamer via usb cable should be as consistent as the internal drive. Although sound quality might be impacted depending on implementation of that USB interface. 

Files played bavk via local network are also a good option but now we’re introducing variables…network speed, router noise, etc.

Vinyl can also be inconsistent in that it wears out with each play, has different levels of static due to humidity changes in your room that will impact playback, room temperature that affects cartridge performance , dirty records, etc.

There’s no perfect format :)

I think we will be fine for at least 5 years, if not longer. Meaningful R&D at the high end takes a long time. 
 

@chesebert agreed

I just returned from a week holiday and am streaming Miles Davis "Kind of Blue" through the Meitner MA3. I have the vinyl album in excellent shape, but I''m kind of wiped out and it was easier to stream. The MA3 sounds very good. If I weren't comparing the sound to my memory of the album, it would be as if nothing was missing. 

We must remember how good our stereos sounded three years ago or ten years ago or when we were thirty. They probably sounded full and complete. Despite that, due to my audiophilia-nervosa, I will upgrade the Meitner MA3 at some time in the furutre.