Analog invites you to turn up the volume

My TT Drive system has been down for 2+ months. I’ve listened to digita exclusively. I am a vinyl fan for one reason. It makes you get more involved because it must be physically handled. You must get up every 20 minutes to change the record. This involvement in general, makes you get more involved in the music itself That involvement may be the reason you have come to the conclusion you have. Digital is convenient.And yes, it sounds good. That convenience allows for more outside activity to take one’s attention. It becomes more background music than the main event

@mitch2 

Is it possible that you need to turn up the volume on your analog source to replicate what you typically hear from your digital source?

How would that replicate the dynamic range? Wouldn’t the difference in range still be the same?

Your point is technically correct since dynamic range is the ratio between the loudest and quietest sounds, yet I have had components that made me want to "chase the volume control" and it always seemed to be related to one component sounding more "dynamic" than the other.  In addition, you may still enjoy the sound of the analog equipment more since digital can have its own issues.

You might want to consider that for best sound quality your digit streamer is inviting you to turn down the volume.

Lot's of variables including the quality of source components (obviously), but my take on this is, that vinyl is natively analog. No DAC. No square waves converted to sinusoidal. So it sounds better, especially loud.

Case in point - I recently listened to a $350K Nagra system with Wilson speakers. That price included a Nagra TT but we were listening to the DAC.

It sounded super detailed, crystal clear, and effortlessly powerful. But after a few minutes I thought this is cool but no way I'd listen to it for a long session at home. Never mind loud.

Just my 2 cents.

When it came in printed format, I used to read UHF Magazine (originally Hi-Fi Sound), a Montreal-based journal. The editor had a bee in his bonnet about the idea that if you constantly felt the need to turn up the volume there was something less than ideal in your system. Well, just as a cigar is sometimes just a cigar, I think that sometimes it just sounds so good I want more!