WBF Poll: Which Sounds Better, Digital or Analog?

[Mike Lavigne]

You're right there, Mike. It's all about which sounds better. That sounds like a challenge.

I've got a very simple 2-ch. 2-component digital system that including speakers retails for only $10k, excluding cabling, line conditioners, rack, etc.

As I recall, you're only a few hours north of me. Is there any value that either or both of us could benefit if I were able to demonstrate a level of musicality that clearly exceeds what you're able to achieve via your analog (or digital) system? And in virtually every category, except perhaps an overly expansive soundstage since my smallish room does not allow my speakers to breathe as they should.

it's fair to interpret my 'analog bravado' as a challenge. my whole audio journey has been a conscious effort to discover the best possible audio format within my own system. I was on the forefront of SACD in 1999, jumped headlong into multi-channel music only with a dedicated room for it in 2005, bought a Rockport Sirius III tt in 2002 to find the best tt, then jumped into vintage tt's when I abandoned multi-channel. in 2007, before almost anyone was doing tape, I jumped in at the top of the food chain. in 2011 i even explore serious high end headphones to discover how far they could go. right now; after 7 years with the same digital source I'm looking around at dac's to see if there is a clear step up from what I have. so far I've not found that step up but we will see.

I'm not anti anything, but do appreciate each approach and format. OTOH i do have strong feelings about which formats sound the best and their relative abilities. and I listen to hours of digital every day.

so this whole format thing has been a hot button for me and lots of fun to explore. and I've gone all out to surround my sources with an optimal system and room.

your suggestion sounds more like a system comparison, not a source comparison. I have no doubt that modest investment, high synergy, digital based systems can rock. I heard some at the Newport Show and can imagine one of those really really tweaked would be that much better.

you would be most welcome to visit anytime, and bring along your digital source if that is a doable proposition. honestly I don't 'get out' that often anymore as I just like to hang in my own room and welcome visitors. i rarely even go to my local audio club meetings any more...... i have the exact spot i want to be to listen and so that is what i do.

if i do get 'south' I'd be happy to drop by.....but typically when I'm down there it's either a very quick trip to pick up something or I'm on vacation with the wife on the Oregon Coast.

 

[Rodney Gold]

Voted digital in terms of sheer technical ability.. but I do own a TT and 4 records which are ornaments in my listening room mostly to show I am a card carrying audiophile.
Will find a nice valve amp to compliment it.
I have heard and seen some stunning vinyl rigs tho, wouldnt mind owning one of those too..loved the sound at the time

The question maybe should have been

Who owns and listens to only vinyl
Who owns and listens to both vinyl and digital
Who owns and listens to only digital

There is no sort of grey area in the poll.. a place where folk that think they are both good can feel safe

 

[Al M.]

The question maybe should have been

Who owns and listens to only vinyl
Who owns and listens to both vinyl and digital
Who owns and listens to only digital

Or perhaps:
What is most important to you, with the three options: analog, digital, both equally.

 

[ack]

I think the point of the poll was more to suggest the overall tenor of the forum rather than establish which format is "best" (good luck with that)

Right, no one asked which format is "best" - but rather, "which sounds better"... slightly different connotations. So how do we know that voters are adequately exposed to BOTH in order for their vote to have a meaning. Even my vote shouldn't be taken seriously, because I have limited exposure to hi-res digital, though I do have some. Anyway, if the poll means something to the admins, so be it - voted and will now shut up.

 

[caesar]

I find it neither silly or sad because at the end of the day, it is all about taste or preference or bias. I started a thread on this forum back in the Jurassic age that was entitled "It's all a preference" and I think it had more pages than the Old Testament. Let's face it, everyone loves to argue their point of view. You of all people should understand that since you are famous for starting threads with inflammatory titles so you can get reactions out of people. Half of the titles of your threads are expressed as statements of facts that you are asking for comments on when in fact there is nothing factual about what you have stated in your title.

Mep,


Is it really you ? Haven't heard from you in several years. It's been a while since I smoked or ate something mind altering, but I think I also saw something from Myles and Microstrip.


You are not the first person to think I'm a witch, but I'm not sure what anything in this thread has to do with me. I'm a firebrand, and biting the forbidden fruit helps people see the world in a different way. After all, I'm not running for site Pres. Steve and Amir are already doing a great job with that.

Anyways I agree with you that it's all preference . I don't really care how people want to get off in audio or in whatever they do - missionary style , doggie, 69, plastic dolls, or whatever. None of my business. Your thread on that topic is one the best we had on this site- definitely on top 3. Yes, Preference is king. But hand in hand with preference, context of the individual’s experience is queen. One’s frequency of exposure to live music, different rooms we’re locked into, types of music, recordings, listening habits are all key ingredients. And, of course, we all get different personal benefits that stroke our egos - cool new toy to show off, reinforcement of our fragile ego by some schmock in the media who has the same taste as us (no, not all media members are worthless schmocks!), latest space age materials in your gear that make you feel like a rock star, DETAIL!, less detail, “smoothed over” detail, cool industrial design, neat paint job, niche brand built by a master by hand, bigger brand, joy and desire to kibbitz about your brand with others who own it, etc…

Yet some people's preferences sound more like real music than those of others. Only pathetic losers and consistent fools think there is only one best - again I'm thinking of members of the elite audio media here. But we are way off topic now...

So it’s great to hear from you again. I hope that you are in great health, have inner peace and that your life is extraordinary. And I hope it stays like this.

Ditto for Myles and Microstip.

 

[TBone]

Who owns and listens to only vinyl

Not anymore, but being a vinvlhead for decades without digital, it took me a long while to adopt (or perhaps adapt) digital into my system.

Who owns and listens to both vinyl and digital

95% digital, 5% vinyl ... but here's the kicker; 50% of my digital listening are analog rips.

There is no sort of grey area in the poll.. a place where folk that think they are both good can feel safe

I vote mastering quality, not format.

Vinyl is an emotional format. Not just in terms of SQ, but from an ownership, end-user point of view. I'm far more attached to my turntable and it's individual components than any of my digital systems combined. When I'm tired, easy plug&play music, digital works best. However, the "audiophile" me is all about vinyl. Something extremely gratifying with vinyls hands-on requirements ... the equipment, it's dependencies, all the many variables ... setting-up vinyl can be a "black-art" which takes years to develop. Digital by contrast ...

 

[amirm]

Right, entirely meaningless, because we don't know what exposure to both formats voters have. I voted and bowed out. Amir, what analog equipment do you own?

Reel to Reel deck although it is currently broken and I have not had time to fix it. This is a picture of it when it was in the shop:

 

[Dre_J]

Seems like a simple straightforward poll question to me.

(Poll: Which format sounds best to you: analog or digital)

Dre

 

[Dre_J]

Sounds like for clarity, we should have our own versions of this statement in our signatures. That way, when we make comments on the forum, our bias is clear.

That's an interesting comment Gary. Where will you put your bias in your signature?

 

[Kal Rubinson]

Not quite so, there is some new rock that comes out on vinyl, but yes, the general lack of availablilty of new material on vinyl makes the format musically less interesting to me as well.

Right. "Some new rock" doesn't qualify as anything of interest to me.

 

[Kal Rubinson]

I'm amazed how much confusion, resistance and justification there is for a simple poll like this, just click one and be done with it!

If there was no follow-up discussion, all we would have is the poll and that is not even a useful statistic.

 

[Kal Rubinson]

Apparently, that is about to change. The Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra is preparing to release some new recordings on vinyl for the first time in twenty or so years. I don't know if they will be recorded in both analog and digital, but there will be LPs of these performances. I hope they are recorded in analog.

They are not the only ones to try this but, so far, nothing of value has appeared and I am skeptical that any ever will.

 

[amirm]

If there was no follow-up discussion, all we would have is the poll and that is not even a useful statistic.

What makes it not useful? We have 64 people voting so far with 39 voting for Analog. As it happens, that is exactly the number of votes we need to have 95% chance that the data is not random (i.e. p<.05). So if you mean from statistical point of view, I don't see what invalidates it.

I also explained why we ran the poll. I put in "WBF" poll in my polls to indicate we are measuring the pulse of the membership to better tailor what we do. It is not meant to settle any food fights between members, convert one camp to the other, measure percentage of time you listen to one or the other, etc. It asks a simple question as to how you identify yourself.

 

[ack]

Reel to Reel deck although it is currently broken and I have not had time to fix it. This is a picture of it when it was in the shop:

You already know this, but just because I am very literal, the electronics in the R2R are extremely critical to the sound, as are the heads - hence all these JRF Magnetics super heads and external repro electronics. It just goes to show how relative everything is: analog? what's IN the analog? Digital? What's in it; is it hi-res or RBCD... etc. (BTW, noticed the air freshener!)

 

[Johnny Vinyl]

What makes it not useful? We have 64 people voting so far with 39 voting for Analog. As it happens, that is exactly the number of votes we need to have 95% chance that the data is not random (i.e. p<.05). So if you mean from statistical point of view, I don't see what invalidates it.

I also explained why we ran the poll. I put in "WBF" poll in my polls to indicate we are measuring the pulse of the membership to better tailor what we do. It is not meant to settle any food fights between members, convert one camp to the other, measure percentage of time you listen to one or the other, etc. It asks a simple question as to how you identify yourself.

Several of us have said the same thing, but this is WBF and you know nothing is ever simple here!

 

[Al M.]

It asks a simple question as to how you identify yourself.

But that is precisely the question it does NOT ask. According to the question asked I find analog superior to digital in sound, from the experiences I personally have, but that is irrelevant for how I identify myself. I'm a digital-only guy. There you have it. (I did vote for digital, because that's where all the music is.)

 

[Johnny Vinyl]

But that is precisely the question it does NOT ask. According to the question asked I find analog superior to digital in sound, from the experiences I personally have, but that is irrelevant for how I identify myself. I'm a digital-only guy. There you have it. (I did vote for digital, because that's where all the music is.)

Did you not read the Poll question? Here it is: Which sounds best to you: analog or digital.

It does NOT ask which is superior or better in one's opinion.

What is not to understand? Gheez!

 

[Mike Lavigne]

What makes it not useful? We have 64 people voting so far with 39 voting for Analog. As it happens, that is exactly the number of votes we need to have 95% chance that the data is not random (i.e. p<.05). So if you mean from statistical point of view, I don't see what invalidates it.

I also explained why we ran the poll. I put in "WBF" poll in my polls to indicate we are measuring the pulse of the membership to better tailor what we do. It is not meant to settle any food fights between members, convert one camp to the other, measure percentage of time you listen to one or the other, etc. It asks a simple question as to how you identify yourself.

I personally reject the notion of digital or analog camps....even though I realize many embrace that idea. my daily audiophile experience is a rejection of camps. one can have an appreciation of all formats and still have strong preferences as to the hierarchy of how each format when optimized ranks.

i'd love to see those who selected digital as sounding better to describe in 'specifics' (software-specific gear-system context, how recent, how frequent) their top analog experience so to better understand the why.

and those who selected analog could talk about what their top digital reference might be, do similar.

I know it would end up as a mess to some degree and be a bit controversial but in my experience our preferences have mostly to do with our references.

 

[PeterA]

Did you not read the Poll question? Here it is: Which sounds best to you: analog or digital.

It does NOT ask which is superior or better in one's opinion.

What is not to understand? Gheez!

I agree Johnny, but consider this:

1. The poll question is: "Which format sounds best to you: analog or digital"

2. The thread title is: "WBF Poll: Which Sounds Better, Digital or Analog?"

3. The OP is: "This is a simple poll to get a gauge of our membership with respect to format preference for utmost fidelity. Not looking for a debate. Just interested to see what percentage of our population prefers one or the other. So please vote."

Different questions and lots of room for interpretation and confusion. I responded to #1 and voted, though my answer also works for #3. It seems others are responding to either #1, #2, or #3, or to some combination of the three. I think, therein, lies the problem.

 

[Peter Breuninger]

If we had a poll of is this white or is this black?... we would have an argument.

Black or white?