And analog system so we know what he is comparing to.
Can digital get to vinyl sound and at what price?
- Thread starter ScottK
- Start date
I have always felt that the shortcoming in all these “digital does/doesn’t sound as good as analog” or “digital doesn’t sound great” discussions is the lack of distinguishing between reproducing/playing digital media and the media itself.
My experience is that digital playback continues to improve as some very smart people are coming up with the great solutions, but that digital media itself is still far behind analog. I listen to a lot of jazz and the number of great sounding LP OGs or reissues is plentiful but the digital counterparts of the same music is often lacking.
My experience is that digital playback continues to improve as some very smart people are coming up with the great solutions, but that digital media itself is still far behind analog. I listen to a lot of jazz and the number of great sounding LP OGs or reissues is plentiful but the digital counterparts of the same music is often lacking.
There are so many albums that are never issued on vinyl that it seems hard to generalize.
I have personally never heard better vocal rendition then wadax atlantis .
Both with ARC and Gryphon Apex.
R koda was good too
Disclaimer im completely Deaf and i know Nothing
Both with ARC and Gryphon Apex.
R koda was good too
Disclaimer im completely Deaf and i know Nothing
Elliot G.
Industry Expert
I am in total agreement. I have also done a bunch of exploring on ways to make my system better. My system is digital based at the highest level. There are always things we can learn about this technology and we have come a very long way. I believe that analog is changing as well and maybe in a different manner but it is still evolving. Digital is younger, streaming even younger and these methods have been misunderstood and now they have over the last 10 years or so really accelerated their improvement. If one remembers they called digital perfect when introduced in the 80's.
The understanding of noise/distortion that is not present or is not the same as other formats as well as the noise that is inherent in generating the music are areas which have dramatically changed outcomes of systems. I can only speak for digital but the things I have done should change analog playback as well. The changes may not be equal or the same but I believe they will be inportant improvements just the same.
My basic knowledge is constantly being tested, changed and improved. To me that is the fun part and of course the music is just more involving and there is so much more to listen too
I am not generalizing. I am saying there are a lot of albums that have great LP versions and not great digital ones.
What albums are never issued on vinyl? Wasn't everything issued on vinyl prior to 1990? Are you talking about newer albums?
You ignored my question. You simply repeated your subjective personal opinion -- which I accept, of course.
I am asking you to prove your assertion that "many others" think digital recordings are "absolute garbage."
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Agreed that there are a lot of albums that have inferior digital versions, especially when it comes to CDs issued in the early days of digital.
Vis-à-vis CD only releases, yes, I am talking about newer albums. I only mentioned these as you were discussing the improvements of digital.
If that were true, then vinyl sales would surpass CD/streaming sales, which is not the case. For classical music, for example, CD sales are still much larger than vinyl. You could argue that people who stream are not concerned by audio quality, but when it comes to classical music physical media purchases, that is less of an argument.
There are a humongous number of great digital jazz recordings since 1990!
while i agree with your perspective about digital, classical vinyl sales, being almost zero, are not evidence of anything......except that no one is really doing any analog classical now. there are a few isolated things happening, like the DG Original Source reissues, but that whole genre of vinyl is absent pretty much. yet classical music is alive and kicking and there is a strong market for classical CD's and files.
i hope this changes, but right now classical artists and producers are not paying attention to analog recordings. not sure how to motivate those people to jump into analog, and doubt it will happen. whereas pop music and jazz/blues artists and producers are on the analog/vinyl band wagon. even if digitally recorded.
maybe it's a great time to jump on a large collection of golden age classical vinyl.
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But it is the most convenient for casual listening, which is why I, a die-hard analog enthusiast, have been tinkering with it lately.
Elliot G.
Industry Expert
This is the part of audio forums that makes no sense
Let's talk about the best pizza in the world.
Let's discuss this with people that don't eat or don't like Pizza.
It truly is absurd.
"Technology is nothing. What’s important is that you have faith in people, that they’re basically good and smart — and if you give them tools, they’ll do wonderful things with them." - Steve Jobs.
Source material:
It's all crap. Extremely high variability.
It's a question of which version of crap you can tolerate on "your system".
"Your system"
Audio electronics, speakers, streamers, ICs etc.:
It's all crap. Extremely high variability.
It's a question of which crap components you can tolerate with your brain, it being fed from your dual mono aural system.
Seriously...nothing sounds real except for real itself. An audio playback system never will come close.
Bickering for another 206 pages won't accomplish anything I can think of at the moment.
It's all crap. Extremely high variability.
It's a question of which version of crap you can tolerate on "your system".
"Your system"
Audio electronics, speakers, streamers, ICs etc.:
It's all crap. Extremely high variability.
It's a question of which crap components you can tolerate with your brain, it being fed from your dual mono aural system.
Seriously...nothing sounds real except for real itself. An audio playback system never will come close.
Bickering for another 206 pages won't accomplish anything I can think of at the moment.
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Republicoftexas69
Well-Known Member
Republicoftexas69
Well-Known Member
Who is bickering? Just some feel stronger about their positions and opinions than others. You can always hit another thread that truly interests you, rather than fanning the flames.
There is plenty of bickering here. Just a thought, but look at the advancements in streaming over the past decade. Video in particular. Using YouTubeTV is amazing. 4K sports in HDR, the most incredible picture and audio quality on Apple TV shows like Slow Horses with Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos. This quality was unimaginable 15 years ago. It is all digital. We are in the infancy of digital tech. It will be interesting to see where a thread like this is in 10 years or so.
Republicoftexas69
Well-Known Member
I am not bickering and I do love Slow Horses and The Old Man.
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