Hi,
Just to share with you guys - when I asked Fred Crowder whether the latest top of the line EMM Labs dacs can compete with vinyl, he said:
"Assuming that money is no object (i.e. one is willing to expend around $100,000+ on a turntable, arm cartridge and phono stage), vinyl is still superior to the EMM DV2 or any other digital setup; however, the gap is getting smaller and smaller. There remain some things that a cost-is-no-object vinyl setup can do better. The miracle is that a digital setup for a fraction of the cost can come surprisingly close. I should also say in all fairness that not all records will beat all digital all the time and many titles are not available on vinyl. Most of my listening is to early pressings of classical and jazz recorded in the late 1950’s through the late 1960’s, perhaps as late as the early 1970’s or to audiophile vinyl. I do feel that EMM comes closer to analogue than any other brand and that Ed Meitner is continually working to improve his products." He also highlights vinyl's "ability to recreate extremely low level ambient detail. Again, digital is getting better in all these areas ."
However, when I countered: "Based on my personal experiences, I found that I cannot really hear all the micro details during live concert performances unless I am sitting close to the musicians. Mostly, I listened at mid-hall , level 2. And therefore I do not feel that I am missing much when listening to digital. What are your thoughts on that?"
He responded: "Again, you comments are spot on. Remember however that we are attempting to recreate a live event which sometimes requires that we “exaggerate certain aspects of the sound, overcompensate if you will. This is also true of imaging. I sit row M normally and imaging is not as pinpoint as an excellent system will reproduce; however, if I sit much further forward the imaging gets better and better, likewise fine detail as we increase direct sound and decrease reflections. If you consider the placement of the mikes, particularly in older recordings, they “hear” more what the conductor might hear. In any event, much of this is academic and you are correct that we normally do not miss the subtle cues in listening."