All things being equal, a digital transfer of a technically inferior analog source should be transparent. The fact this is not, and is not in repeatable and predictable ways demonstrate artifacts inherent in digital capture and playback, that do not exist in analog ones.
and in my system, every time my digital gets better.....my analog also gets better....maybe by a very slightly greater margin. i keep pushing both. the evidence points toward the analog media being less optimized by the analog hardware compared to the digital media. maybe the nature of an analog mostly mechanical process.
Indeed, much of the difference we hear between vinyl and digital comes from how these recordings were created. The vinyl audiophiles buy nowadays is mostly produced for that specific market, whereas digital is produced for a different sector, and so the priorities for the mastering engineers are different. Since the early 2000s, we have been doing recordings with both tape and digital running in parallel. The mike feeds go through a Studer mixer and the signal is split between two Nagra IV-S and a stereo digital recorder. The mike feeds also go directly to a multichannel ADC and recorded by a computer. We can switch between the live feed and through the recorder's ADC and DAC. At least through our monitoring system, I can hear a difference between the live feed and high rez PCM (24/192), but I cannot discern any difference between live and DSD128. This might just be due to the equipment we use. Bearing in mind that storing the signal and then retrieving it will also affect the sound. Even using different brands of hard disk in the digital recorder made an audible difference. Cutting vinyl will introduce an entirely different set of distortion (from the high powered cutting amplifiers to the characteristics of the cutting head, the inconsistencies in the lacquer, the whole process of plating and stamping) to those introduced by the act of recording the digital data (magnetic medium, SSD etc.). The difference between the recently released Original Source vinyl and the original DGG LPs is huge. Therefore, I think both media (analogue, DSD) are capable of superb results. The problem with DSD is of course the need to convert to PCM for most post-production work. The best result is obtained using the old fashioned approach of live mixing and balancing before digital conversion, and only doing editing post-production.
When I listened to my new analog setup versus my digital, the first thing I noticed was an effortlessly naturalness in the music and in general, quite accurate tonality of instruments / vocals.
5kOhm output impedance ?Long ago I designed, built, and sold a very nice DAC (Chime), but it was limited to Redbook CD (44.1k) inputs. It sounded glorious, however. Two things I believe set it apart were re-timing of the DAC outputs with a re-created less jitter clock, and a tube gain and output stage (I-V conversion done by resistor, no opamps).
So I decided to finally bring some of that within reach of all the new hi-res DACs and streamers. Not re-clocking, but a tube output stage. Yes, it adds a tiny bit of distortion, but that's exactly what tube magic is! You can live with sterile, boring sound, or you can juice it up.
Baritone - Vacuum Tube Buffer
BARITONE is a vacuum tube buffer designed to warm up your digital audio. The 12AU7 operates at proper high voltage delivering huge headroom and low distortion. Add that tube magic to your sound! Specifications 10Hz to 35kHz bandwidth (-3dB) 15Vrms output voltage (HI) -2, 0, +4, +8dB gain (HI)...www.haglabs.com
It only does one thing, permanently sit on the output of your DAC. You can't really use it for anything else...
I think the distortions introduced by the vinyl production process, and perhaps the signal retrieval (record player, phono stage) might be perceived as beneficial by certain audiophiles or even professionals. That's why some people claim they prefer the sound of the vinyl to that of the master tape. I have compared extensively master tapes and commercial vinyl LPs of the same recordings, and I prefer the master tape pretty much always. And by transferring from master tape to DSD128, I do not hear much loss, but interestingly the end result usually sounds different from commercially released DSD material (SACD and downloads) of the same recordings. The master tapes I have are mostly from the 1950s to late 1970s, in other words, original production or safety masters. Some commercial digital reissues have been remixed, so might sound different.
Unfortunately, the vinyl production process is inherently lossy, that was also my point. Similarly, the sonic difference between an optimised tonearm/cartridge setup versus anything less is very substantial indeed, putting the vinyl format on the back foot in many real world situations. I say this as a turntable diehard, btw.
Great. A sample size of one and proclamations that you know of the “best” of anything. Such subjective absolutes are worthless beyond your own frame of reference.
5kOhm output impedance ?
 | Steve Williams Site Founder | Site Owner | Administrator |  | Ron Resnick Site Co-Owner | Administrator |  | Julian (The Fixer) Website Build | Marketing Managersing |
