This post did not start with either/or mentality. I have and will always enjoy both formats for different reasons than are personal (i.e. SQ, convenience, music format collection, etc). Rather I wanted to basically understand the delta improvement in SQ from moving up the digital ladder when it is already so close to my vinyl.
Can digital get to vinyl sound and at what price?
- Thread starter ScottK
- Start date
Bruce B
WBF Founding Member, Pro Audio Production Member
When mastering engineers receive a recording done completely in the digital domain, sometimes to make it sound more analog or to "warm it up"... they send it through a tape machine and recapture the analog signal. I've had clients purchase an analog EQ to put in the signal chain as well.
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Nice to know that analog is converted from electrical to mechanical/magnetic (tape recording) , back to electrical from magnetic (tape reading) converted to mechanical (vinyl cutting and duplicating) converted from mechanical to electrical (cartridge) without any "specific" issues.
IMO problems occur in general in this hobby because we do not know how to control the whole chain, not a specific part of it. Many times people change DACs when they should change or tune other parts of the system. But the DAC always becomes the guilty item with "specific issues".
I did not say analog was without issues ...
Identifying bottlenecks in a system is difficult, and you are right in pointing out that DACs are only a small part of the problem. But the topic is about "digital"...
Nice to know that analog is converted from electrical to mechanical/magnetic (tape recording) , back to electrical from magnetic (tape reading) converted to mechanical (vinyl cutting and duplicating) converted from mechanical to electrical (cartridge) without any "specific" issues.
Fair enough!
'heard' and "really listened to intently for extended periods" are different things. in the same way blind testing or even communal listening to brief tracks are not the same as living with gear for weeks or months to get the measure of it. you have to get to the point where the recording method and source are not mindful. it's just the experience of the music.
i'm completely invested in analog, yet i can and have gone for weeks with digital only.
sad for you. lots of great music only on digital.
some days i like to just chill listening to hours of digital and it can be very satisfying. all those feelings of appreciation and hunger for more are part of it.
i respect that has not been your experience.
i do see analog as the highest form of music reproduction for sure, but it's not a binary question. either/or.
I'm glad if you can enjoy digital as much as analog. It's easy to enjoy digital when a better analog setup is sitting aside . You know if you don't like it you can always switch to analog. What would you do if you haven't had an analog setup? Would you still enjoy digital for weeks? Or start to hear flaws of dijital and look for ways of getting an analog setup? Would your ears and brain settle for dijital when knowing there won't be escaping to analog? Like you said living -in this case separating actually- with gear for weeks or months or permanently is required to get the measure of it.
No need to be sad I'm casually listening dijital everyday. Just casual listening nothing serious. So, I'm not missing anything.
It has been and being my experience everyday cause I'm listening dijital constantly, even with earphones. Unfortunately digital doesn't bring musical involvement as analog does. Once you hear your setup at it's best there is no turning back, you can not settle for lower. Your brain keeps asking the best. In your case it is analog otherwise you wouldn't call digital as "chill listening".
great questions. the answer is what drove me from previous digital to the MSB Select II + Taiko Extreme and then to the Wadax dac and server. my agenda was finding digital that resembled/sounded like/made me feel as if......i was listening to vinyl. over extended listening.
and it does. to my ears, in my system.
the Wadax dac specifically fixes digital flaws. and the Wadax server makes it all more real. i never have a sense of settling. i'm......delighted.
i could see if i were to downsize my personal living footprint, going to digital only and being very happy.
good.
my digital does not cause me to need to go to analog. yet when i'm in my analog i fully appreciate it and how special it is.
But these digital copies of the same thread keep changing slightly. What does that tell you?
It would be nice to qualify the bolded statement with "for me".
Or do you claim to speak for the community? Or is anyone like me, who enjoys musical involvement from digital just the same, equipped with lesser musical sensibilities or doesn't know what good analog sounds like?
Maybe that's what you're thinking. It does seem to be implied.
Threads don't end by "fiat" from above. They just peter out naturally.
Unless a moderator shuts down a thread, but so far there is no reason for this one, since no TOS were violated.
...that qualifier would be useful in so many instances. A couple of days ago I had pizza at a place that was judged to have the world's best pizza in 2014.
It was not the world's best pizza...for me. Not even close. But somebody thought so back then, and they use the same recipe.
Substitute "pizza" for "analog" or "digital" and it tastes like the same argument "for me."
It would be more appropriate if I had added "for me" to the beginning of that sentence.
Imagine the pizza claim. That person would have to go to every pizza joint around the world to even begin to make that claim. Now apply that to audio, so much equipment, so many systems and more importantly the rooms they are situated in,
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