Why, oh why, does vinyl continue to blow away digital?

AP reissue of Tea For The Tillerman is extremely good. Your unfortunate experience with it most probably due to your vinyl playback setup. A poor alignment or wrong matching choices can make a vinyl setup sound extremely bad. At least that’s what I observed over the years.

As I indicated, bad tone arm alignment (VTA etc.) was my suspicion too.
 
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I had a bad vinyl experience. I had Erik with Solypsa over. We were listening to records. I put on my Analog Productions 45 rpm Tea For The Tillerman. It was horrible. So so bad. I then put the same album on Qobuz and it was so better. We both agreed the digital was much better. The album cover says Guaranteed. I want my money back.

I'm all digital now. I took apart my record player and boxed it up. I'm searching around for good streaming. Really enjoying a nice classical piano piece as I type now. I'm actually really satisfied with what I'm hearing.

Proper cartridge tonearm set up is a skill and requires knowledge and experience. I’m sorry you had a negative experience with vinyl, but it’s not for everyone. I hope you continue to enjoy your system.
 
JR ser it up. Its not the cartridge. Its not the setup. I have plenty of heavy vinyl. Its the record.
 
i find any result when viewed as a one off is possible. 45rpm pop/rock is no 100% deal.

i have 2 45rpm copies of Rumors that suck compared to my original pressing, and that are not much different than the digital. but other 45's that are epic.
 
I have some good 45 such as these. Same thickness. All play very well.
 

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Do you mean modern LPs and reissues when you refer to “heavy” vinyl? So I guess I misunderstood you. I thought you were abandoning vinyl.
I have some older vinyl that is stiff and thicker. Then I have AAA that is thinner and more flexible.

The 180 grain are all reissue or modern 33.

I'm not giving up on either. I'm moving. Had to break the table down. But it was sure eye opening to realize some of my new expenses vinyl is just junk. Other ok. Like the Steely Dan reissue. Good. But not much different than digital. Just a little different.
 
Taiko Olympus compatibility with HQPLAYER:

Post in thread 'Introducing Olympus & Olympus I/O - A new perspective on modern music playback'
https://www.whatsbestforum.com/thre...ve-on-modern-music-playback.37939/post-974760
acknowledged.

which which does not change that Taiko, in spite of the enormous efforts they have poured into managing digital files, and creating new, fresh, products, moved away from the HQ Player approach and has never returned to it. for whatever that says or does not say. far be it for me to get into the nuts and bolts of why. its just is what happened.
 
acknowledged.

which which does not change that Taiko, in spite of the enormous efforts they have poured into managing digital files, and creating new, fresh, products, moved away from the HQ Player approach and has never returned to it. for whatever that says or does not say. far be it for me to get into the nuts and bolts of why. its just is what happened.

The fact is that neither Taiko or WADAX can handle HQPLAYER. A server needs to be extremely fast and have a tremendous amount of processing power to handle the calculations and computing required for real-time playback. There is a high difference between these commercial servers and the custom servers that HQPLAYER users built to achieve real-time DSD1024x48 playback. Don’t kid yourself into somehow thinking that Taiko left HQPLAYER behind as it was just the opposite, it was HQPLAYER left Taiko behind.
 
The fact is that neither Taiko or WADAX can handle HQPLAYER. A server needs to be extremely fast and have a tremendous amount of processing power to handle the calculations and computing required for real-time playback. There is a high difference between these commercial servers and the custom servers that HQPLAYER users built to achieve real-time DSD1024x48 playback. Don’t kid yourself into somehow thinking that Taiko left HQPLAYER behind as it was just the opposite, it was HQPLAYER left Taiko behind.
fair enough.

enjoy!
 
The fact is that neither Taiko or WADAX can handle HQPLAYER. A server needs to be extremely fast and have a tremendous amount of processing power to handle the calculations and computing required for real-time playback. There is a high difference between these commercial servers and the custom servers that HQPLAYER users built to achieve real-time DSD1024x48 playback. Don’t kid yourself into somehow thinking that Taiko left HQPLAYER behind as it was just the opposite, it was HQPLAYER left Taiko behind.
It's a 2 way street. Yes it takes a lot of processing power, so you have to design for that. Anyone can. But it has to be a part of hardware design.

Also take into consideration you loose some contol of the software development, implementation, licensing and support becomes complex and costly.
 
I wonder if you could use a Taiko as a endpoint. Use the noisy high power computer to mess with filters and sample rates, then hand the package to the Taiko.

If you can, I wonder why you don't hear much about it.
 
This is the simple fact that many here refuse to grasp. Whatever the playback medium, it’s the recording/mastering that is most relevant. The whole “digital/analog” debate is a relatively meaningless distraction.

Respectfully, elevating your opinion to the level of a "fact" is exactly what excites a lot of the disputes around here.
 
This is the simple fact that many here refuse to grasp. Whatever the playback medium, it’s the recording/mastering that is most relevant.
my opinion is that mastering is much less significant than the whole recording process. by whole recording process i mean artist, performance, venue/studio/ mic'ing and recording method. work parts of that recording and the mix down are the holy grail. from there mastering is much less a determination of quality. if the master tape, or master file is not great, the ceiling SQ level of the performance is reduced.

i have lots of master dubs, and then the digital result or analog vinyl result. mastering is almost an inconsequential factor almost always and more an accommodation to adjust it for the consumer media characteristics. which can be important.

in the case of the DG Original Source recent releases, the mastering is more significant since they add the rear channels of the quad recording to the front channels to add information to the mix. but really; that is the mix step combined with the mastering step in that case. the mix is where the quality of the recording is allowed to come through.
 
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my opinion is that mastering is much less significant than the whole recording process. by whole recording process i mean artist, performance, venue/studio/ mic'ing and recording method. work parts of that recording and the mix down are the holy grail. from there mastering is much less a determination of quality. if the master tape, or master file is not great, the ceiling level of the performance is reduced.

i have lots of master dubs, and then the digital result or analog vinyl result. mastering is almost an inconsequential factor almost always and more an accommodation to adjust it for the consumer media characteristics. which can be important.

FYI - The Mastering engineer has the final say on the sound quality of the recordings released to the public and just how he can enhance and polish the final mix, he can also take one of your magnificent “the whole recording process. by whole recording process i mean artist, performance, venue/studio/ mic'ing and recording method. work parts of that recording and the mix down” and turn them into utter crap.
 
FYI - The Mastering engineer has the final say on the sound quality of the recordings released to the public and just how he can enhance and polish the final mix, he can also take one of your magnificent “the whole recording process. by whole recording process i mean artist, performance, venue/studio/ mic'ing and recording method. work parts of that recording and the mix down” and turn them into utter crap.
the artist/producer approve the master mix-down tape or file. nothing goes forward until that happens. that is the big step. getting that sound onto the commercial media is certainly important but not as.
 
the artist/producer approve the master mix-down tape or file. nothing goes forward until that happens. that is the big step. getting that sound onto the commercial media is certainly important but not as.

The artist and producers approve what the mastering engineer presents to them. The ultimate sound quality is with the mastering engineer. Mixes reach the mastering engineers hands at all different levels of qualities and he goes to work from there to produce the final mix. The whole art is that he can take a Nirvana mix produced for a few hundred dollars and can make a better final product than with a multimillion dollar Celine Dion mix crafted with all the creature comforts and privilege that it entails. It is not about the quality of the mix going into the mastering engineer’s hands but what comes off his hands that matters the most.
 
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The artist and producers approve what the mastering engineer presents to them. The ultimate sound quality is with the mastering engineer. Mixes reach the mastering engineers hands at all different levels of qualities and he goes to work from there to produce the final mix. The whole art is that he can take a Nirvana mix produced for a few hundred dollars and can make a better final product than with a multimillion dollar Celine Dion mix crafted with all the creature comforts and privilege that it entails. It is not about the quality of the mix going into the mastering engineer’s hands but what comes off his hands that matters the most.
5-10-40 years later it is the master tape or file that is the truth. the record of what the intent was.

the mastering step is relative to the particular media at that time.
 
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The artist and producers approve what the mastering engineer presents to them. The ultimate sound quality is with the mastering engineer. Mixes reach the mastering engineers hands at all different levels of qualities and he goes to work from there to produce the final mix. The whole art is that he can take a Nirvana mix produced for a few hundred dollars and can make a better final product than with a multimillion dollar Celine Dion mix crafted with all the creature comforts and privilege that it entails. It is not about the quality of the mix going into the mastering engineer’s hands but what comes off his hands that matters the most.
True but if it's been poorly recorded, no amount of mastering will fix it, you can't polish a turd.
 
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