@audio-b-dog cool!
Check out James Taylor Live on streaming. Great sounding album.
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?
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@cousinbillyl CDSA is over 20 yrs old at this point and a good 6 generations behind the DA2i in terms of dac technology. I think you will be pleasantly surprised at what the latest Emm Labs digital is able to achieve. IMO it’s better than most vinyl rigs I have heard and at parity with high end tables assuming playing modern records. |
Try Javon Jackson "Jazz in the New Harmonic." The sonics are excellent. It was made with David Chesky who made some of the best sounding CDs I've heard. The music is a bit like later Miles, but not as edgy. I agree with you about Emm Labs, although I am still down at the Meitner MA3i level, but I've heard it's close to the higher priced spread. The one place I would disagree is with your statement "assuming playing modern records." Records after 1980 almost all come from digital sources. At 24/192 that can sound very much like analogue, but not always. Sometimes digital sounds like the sound has been torn apart and reassembled. I think the best sounding records are AAA reissues. Other reissues are very iffy. I bought the reissue of "First Take" by Roberta Flack and it sounded so bad to my ear that I went looking for a mint copy of the original pressing. Finding good records has become more difficult. |
@audio-b-dog I’ll check that album out thanks! |
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