Analog invites you to turn up the volume

@macg19

I am not trying to be argumentative, but add some detail to my comments. While the very significant shortcomings of digital equipment lasted until… well let’s say the last ten years. Now digital can sound pretty much as the designer desires. I have used many phonostage, turntables, DACs, cartridges, streamers and CD players over the last fifty years.

As an example, I configured my current systems (you can see it under my user ID) to very specifically sound like real music in detail and in gestalt. In preparation I attended the symphony in 7th row center seats for a decade… and acoustic jazz concerts. Then I constructed my main system, both analog and digital to sound that way. While vinyl can sound very slightly better or not quite as good depending on the particular pressing they sound the same. I could easily configure a vinyl system to sound less analog than my digital system simply with choice of phono stage and/or cartridge.

Lots of things can happen.  

@ghdprentice 

Thank you for coloring in your comments. I’m familiar with your systems, the main system is an amazing achievement. 
 

Best wishes to you and your friends and family over the holiday season.

@OP - very nice system. Differences in tonal balance between different sources may become greater at different listening levels. Perhaps the analogue source sounds smoother than the digital - that will be more apparent as the volume level goes up. Conversely, perhaps it is less dynamic sounding, encouraging higher levels in the search for more dynamics - though that's a fruitless pursuit. Lastly, maybe one was just reinvigorated by hearing the turntable having been away from it for a while, and surfing a wave of dopamine. It would be interesting to see if, playing both sources consistently and interchangeably the listening levels still vary or even out over time.

I think what @ghdprentice is driving at--and I agree-- is that what you are noticing is not universally true for everyone who has both digital and analog front ends. I, for example, do not find myself generally playing one louder than the other. I do find that each piece of music has a volume where it sounds best, and that seems to vary by engineering/ mastering rather than genre or media. 

You apparently have a system where one front end has characteristics causing the best sound to be at a higher volume than the other. I would not read into that anything inherent in the media. If you are wondering whether this suggests one front end is ultimately giving you better performance than the other, well, I think the simple answer is to ask which one you enjoy more when played at its ideal volume.  You might also consider which of these volume levels more closely matches a live performance. My guess is the louder one.