Done with digital

[SoundMann]

I am done with digital. After having suffered thru every digital format available over the years, and never liking the sound of any of it, I am putting all my time, money and effort into my analog front-ends (turntable and tapedeck).

How many of you have a similar story to tell?

 

[Sampajanna]

The opposite, actually. Yes, SQ may not be the same, but you cannot beat millions of albums at your fingertips, nor the wonder of surfing Roon for example from artist to period, song to theme and so on, discovering so much new music along the way. Then, you can always get analogue versions of the ones you love…

Why not both?

 

[bryans]

I am done with digital. After having suffered thru every digital format available over the years, and never liking the sound of any of it, I am putting all my time, money and effort into my analog front-ends (turntable and tapedeck).

How many of you have a similar story to tell?

Sorry I'm not with you on this one. I grew up with vinyl and own a TT but most of my listening is digital. Nothing wrong with your decision as it works for you.

 

[SoundMann]

Well, I still use my computer to sample different works.

 

[Al M.]

I am done with digital. After having suffered thru every digital format available over the years, and never liking the sound of any of it, I am putting all my time, money and effort into my analog front-ends (turntable and tapedeck).

How many of you have a similar story to tell?

The opposite. I *love* my digital, plain 16/44 physical CD, which -- via reclocker from transport -- is much easier to get right than computer audio, even though that *can* be done (with lots of money and/or effort and drama).

I never thought that it was possible to get the sound quality from CD that I am enjoying now, but here I am, very happy with what I hear in terms of timbral fidelity and sheer resolution -- for example, I never thought I would get this outrageous level of delicate detail combined with a rich, wooden, rosiny tone (depending on recording) from string quartet as I am hearing now.

I am regularly exposed to great vinyl playback, which I immensely enjoy in friends' systems. I don't find the differences to digital of a nature and magnitude that would want me to invest the extraordinary amounts of money to get there, have me deal with surface noise, clicks and pops (I don't mind them in friends' homes, but in my own system they would drive me crazy), and would want me to accept not having access on vinyl to all the newer music and/or newer interpretations/ recordings that I can enjoy on digital.

I am extremely happy with my decision to spend all the money that I wanted to spend on optimizing the sound of my CD playback, which is at a level that I could never have reached had I split my resources and attention between different recording media.

As for streaming, I do that on YouTube over laptop and $30 headphones (not that I'm spending much time on it).

 

[Audiophile Bill]

I am done with digital. After having suffered thru every digital format available over the years, and never liking the sound of any of it, I am putting all my time, money and effort into my analog front-ends (turntable and tapedeck).

How many of you have a similar story to tell?

Hi,

Yes I did that very same thing about 4 years ago now. Tried all manner of ways to make the digital experience enjoyable but always left me cold, frustrated and irritable.

I haven’t looked back whatsoever. Purging myself of digital really improved the satisfaction of the hobby. I spend considerably more time looking at buying pressings of music that I want to own. The excitement of a new album shipped from Discogs is still the same as the day I bought my first one.

I spend all day on computers in my work life. The last thing I want to do is interact with iPads/iPhones/laptops when enjoying my hobby.

Finally - the musical experience of a really well sorted vinyl rig with a great pressing through a well set up system just can’t be replicated or beaten with digital for the most part imho.

So yes - enjoy your new direction of travel - I think you are making a very sensible decision.

 

[rDin]

How many of you have a similar story to tell?

Same. Put my record collection into hibernation 20 years ago to pursue the digital dream. Out of curiosity, tried a vinyl record about three years ago and was blown away by what I heard, compared to what I was now used to with digital. Thankfully I never sold my record collection, so was ready to go again. Since then I've continued to push my digital side hard to try and catch up, but it's still not there. And while digital is demonstrably better in many aspects, there seems to be something musically critical "lost in translation" that remains intact on vinyl/analogue. When I rip the records I play, I have to use 192/24 minimum for the rip to be *almost* transparent to the live vinyl, and even then it's not good enough. We understand that the reconstruction of digital to analogue is imperfect - it works in theory, but the theory cannot be put into practice due to physical limitations on the electronics - every DAC is a compromise. This is why DAC designers like Rob Watts put decades of effort into their DACs to try and solve this problem. Until this is solved, I'll mainly be listening to vinyl.

* note - AAA vinyl where possible, as digital vinyl also loses that something in translation and I find it quite easy to hear a record and say, "yup, that's a digital transfer".

 

[tima]

How many of you have a similar story to tell?

I decided that I could not afford to do both vinyl and digital really well. I still have most of the LPs I bought over the past 30 years. (Earlier than that were lost in 'the great flood'.) I do have a boatload of CDs but don't play them. Digital keeps changing formats and is in a continual state of equipment change 'evolution' whereas analog vinyl is pretty much a set piece. Last winter I took one of my CD players out of hibernation to use for breaking in a pair of speakers. Then I put it away. Vinyl is more work and for me more rewarding. If others prefer digital then okay; we each have our preferences. Best of luck to you going forward.

 

[AMR / iFi audio]

I'm using both ATM. Vinyl is for those days when I can afford to chill out in peace. It's not only about sound quality, but also about the whole shenanigans around it. Digital is for streaming, discovering new music, and albums I don't have on vinyl yet.

I decided to resign from using CDs due to having a better alternative to physical (vinyl) and digital (files) mediums.

 

[Joe Whip]

Same guy posted the same thing at Audiophile Style. It was his first post there. probably posted it at other sites too. Just trolling for a reaction. Don ‘t feed the trolls, even if you agree with them.

 

[Al M.]

Same guy posted the same thing at Audiophile Style. It was his first post there. probably posted it at other sites too. Just trolling for a reaction. Don ‘t feed the trolls, even if you agree with them.

Thanks for the heads up, Joe. It's still an interesting topic.

 

[Joe Whip]

Hi Al. This topic is a variant of one that has been beaten to death. Like arguing over ice cream flavors. It has also been posted on Audio Asylum. It may even make its way to ASR.

 

[Al M.]

Hi Al. This topic is a variant of one that has been beaten to death. Like arguing over ice cream flavors. It has also been posted on Audio Asylum. It may even make its way to ASR.

Sure.

 

[audiobomber]

It may even make its way to ASR.

LOL! That would really be a waste of time. We know what will happen there:
Trial by MEASUREMENTS!

 

[BlueFox]

Same guy posted the same thing at Audiophile Style. It was his first post there. probably posted it at other sites too. Just trolling for a reaction. Don ‘t feed the trolls, even if you agree with them.

Yes, he also spammed AudioShark.

 

[audiobomber]

I don't expect the OP will be back to tell us of his actual experiences, but IMO cheap digital sounds better than a cheap turntable, and bad vinyl is worse than a poor quality CD (remember K-Tel records)?

 

[Al M.]

I am wondering if the detractors of digital ever got the most out of it.

A central issue that is problematic is that of high-end computer audio, which seems to be very hard to get right, and can be derailed by the slightest problem. While I did hear some great computer audio -- so it can be done -- there were many times where the sound was just unpalatable to my ears, with a synthetic, plasticky signature that I could not enjoy. In those circumstances I would strongly prefer vinyl to digital, too.

This whole complication has prompted me to stick to physical CD where I don't experience those problems.

Sure, when digital was mostly physical CD, the sound was often not the best either, but digital has gotten much better since those days. I have found that for optimal CD playback I need a reclocker after the transport, since almost all transports have inherently high jitter (the jitter of my transport is already relatively benign in comparison). The signal then is processed by an external DAC. This jitter issue was also a given in the heyday of CD players, which is why computer audio with its nominally low jitter measurements was heralded as the next technical and sonic breakthrough. Yet in my experience it introduced its own problems, regardless of how high the sample and bit rate was.

 

[Al M.]

I don't expect the OP will be back to tell us of his actual experiences, but IMO cheap digital sounds better than a cheap turntable, and bad vinyl is worse than a poor quality CD (remember K-Tel records)?

True. Vinyl's dirty little secret is that it is dependent on great pressings, and there are many pressings out there that aren't (even from the heyday of vinyl). That narrows the selection that I truly can enjoy considerably.

And yes, you can get great sound at much lower prices from digital than from a turntable. The vinyl sound at its best that really would interest me is outrageously expensive to attain.

 

[John T]

I cut my teeth on vinyl in 1976, recorded everything from a Empire TT to a Revox A77. I now get up in the morning power everything up instant gratification. Buying vinyl is hit or miss. Do I miss vinyl? No. Do I miss surface noise? No. I could see adding analog for the occasional different presentation, but digital is here to stay. With the right setup, its pretty damn good...

 

[caesar]

Walked into a record store recently and it was abuzz. But I didn't see any audiophiles there. Just normal people buying records.

What percentage of records out there are decent recordings that audiophiles would enjoy?

1%?
5% ?
25%?

Other?