Done with digital

[gestalt]

Over the last couple of years I have been enjoying listening to music in my main system through a Mojo Audio EVO DAC and Simaudio 260D CD Transport. That said, I decided to arrange with Colin King to make the 3 hour drive up to visit his Gestalt Audio in Nashville to listen to the top of the line Tron Electric Atlantic GT DAC and, the Circle Labs A200 integrated amp, and Frontiers Audio 300B amp. Before listening to the Tron Colin set, in my words, a baseline by spinning a few tunes on the vinyl rig he had set up; believe it was TW Acustic. Very nice, natural and engaging sound IMHO. I didn't have in mind an intent to listen to a CD player, but he had a Neodio Origine 2 hooked up in the same system as the vinyl and suggested I take a listen to it. I won't suggest that the Neodio surpast the sound of his vinyl , but to my ears the Neodio nonetheless drew me into the music with refined tone, timber, texture and soundstaging; it was far from anything one might suggest is lacking in digital. I then listened to the Tron Atlantic DAC in the system it was original setup in, as well as in the same system as the one incorporating the Neodio. The Tron was driven by an Aurrender so obviously a different transport was also influencing the sound. To my ears both the Neodio and the Tron engaged me and produced excellent sound, though different. To my ears the Neodio being slightly romantic while the Tron leaning towards transparency. I could live with either but decided that the Neodio was more to my listening taste. Luckily for me Colin is a really nice guy and agreed to let me take his 2 month old demo instead of making me wait 2 or so weeks for a new that is in transit from France. I installed the Neodio in my main system this morning and I am enjoying the music even more-so. I swapped the Mojo and Simaudio into my 2nd system. If you spin CDs and have the chance to audition the Neodio Origine 2 I think that it is worth a listen to see if it suits your tastes; nothing to lose.

A side note, I really liked the Frontiers Audio 300B but changes to amps will wait for another day.

Thank you again Colin for a very worthwhile visit and your hospitality.

The Neodio Origine S2 is a really special piece. Thanks for the visit Frank!

 

[ACHiPo]

I downloaded the Scherchen and just started listening to it now. Definitely a different interpretation based on 3 min in. Clean recording so far.

Thanks for the link!

I'm really liking the Scherchen, especially since I discovered some nasty handling scratches on the vinyl re-release I bought. I'm also really like this symphony. Thanks for reminding me how good Mahler is.

I downloaded the Scherchen and just started listening to it now. Definitely a different interpretation based on 3 min in. Clean recording so far.

Thanks for the link!

 

[Joecoulson]

I wonder how many of these “I’m done with digital” folks actually have tried DAC’s that are worth a sh$# ?
I am very grateful that when switching back and forth between DAC and TT, the sound is very similar. But a $4-5k DAC along with proper files will do that.

 

[rDin]

I wonder how many of these “I’m done with digital” folks actually have tried DAC’s that are worth a sh$# ?

FWIW my journey back to vinyl was against a Chord DAVE. Does that count?

 

[Joecoulson]

Never heard one, but they have a solid rep.
Question, how much as a percentage do you have in your TT setup vs what the Chord sold for?

 

[rDin]

Never heard one, but they have a solid rep.
Question, how much as a percentage do you have in your TT setup vs what the Chord sold for?

When, out of curiosity, I decided to revisit my archived vinyl collection, I picked up a £300 Rega RP1 as I figured I didn't want to spend much on what might turn out to be a very short experiment. But that turntable was sufficient to highlight that vinyl had something to offer I wasn't hearing with digital. And thus my journey began. It didn't take long before I stopped listening to digital on my hi-fi except as a way to explore music I might want to then buy on vinyl. I continue to push my digital chain, looking to close the gap between the two but, in the arms race between the formats, vinyl is so far ahead to my ears that, even with it's inherent flaws, I now doubt digital can catch up.

 

[Joecoulson]

Interesting
So I have a modest P2 that I have a few upgrades on including Tangospinner sun platter and bearing upgrades, pulley, along with the Rega Ania MC cart and the Fono pre. All in all close to $2k in the setup.
for the DAC and streamer, I have the Auralic Vega G1.
These two setups are quite similar in SQ with (assuming highest quality material) an edge given to the digital.
I imagine that if I had a $5-10k TT setup, that would not be the case.
It is also my opinion that the higher up the chain you go, pound for pound, vinyl will outperform digital. But that is also very subjective.

I guess my main point for the original post is that some modest DAC’s present such a clinical presentation that it’s obvious why warmth lovers would go back to TT’s.

 

[Tuckers]

I posted this in the wrong thread, reposting here.

So, I had an interesting experience last week. I dropped by an acquaintance's place last week and he invited me for a listen. He had a complicated system, all tubes, and he played his Metaxas R2R with a tube head amp for me. He played some recent all analog recordings of vocal jazz. Now I have a good amount of experience with R2R, I've owned one and I've heard some peak systems with them. I don't currently have analog at home, its hi-rez digital and all solid state, but my good TT has been waiting for some attention to set it back up.

If I was listening blind, I would have swore that I was listening to digital. I heard glare riding on vocals with little air around instruments, and less 'room', depth and soundstage than I do with my system on a good similar recording. So it just goes to show that you really can get to your own version of sonic bliss with careful and obsessive attention whether its analog or digital! It gave me some peace of mind that I am not necessarily missing anything, and I have been moving in the right direction.

 

[VAC]

My perspective is that it is all about the music. I have LPs, session tapes I've engineered, CDs, and even 78s, whatever format contains the music I love.

My experience is that a well sorted analogue front end best preserves the life in the music, and yet at least half of my listening is to a digital source. I'm not dogmatic on the topic. I'll even listen to a song from YouTube on my iPhone at times.

Looking over the variety of perspectives and opinions expressed in this thread, I would note that it is easy to put together mediocre sounding analogue and digital systems. In a resolving, musical system, EVERYTHING MATTERS, everything leaves a sonic thumbprint. The majority of front ends I hear do not strike me as delivering satisfactory sound, and on occasion I wrestle with this in my own systems. The advice I follow is to keep an open mind and keep looking for improvements until I'm satisfied. The well known learning curve goes on forever.

As long as you are enjoying the music, whatever you have is serving you well.