CD vs. Vinyl

what if Master Tape is digital (most common)?

1. Master Tape to CD to DAC to amp
2. Master Tape to DAC to LP to amp

Both have one D/A conversion. Perhaps quality of D/A conversion is important since most of LPs now comes from digital Master Tapes?

Hi Kijanki,

I suppose that there are a number of comparisons along those lines that would yield useful data points. But I think that step 1 in resolving these kinds of debates, which is perhaps all that can ultimately be hoped for, is to get the debates out of the realm of ideology and theory (as to whether or not chopping up the signal into discrete samples and finite numbers of bits is inherently a flawed concept), and to the point where it is recognized that neither the digital nor the analog approach is inherently flawed, and what counts is the quality of the implementation.

I think that a re-do of the Wilson Audio recording I described would go a long way toward either proving or disproving that assertion, and thereby narrowing the scope of these debates.

I certainly don't profess to have the experience to be able to assert either position with certainty, but fwiw my own instinct is that digital is not inherently flawed, and that quality of implementation (in both the recording and mastering process and in the playback process) is what counts.

Best regards,
-- Al

Al - I agree. Quality of implementation is the key. Nyquist preserves frequency information but it is hard to imagine sinewave at 20kHz recreated with two samples per period.

In addition there are personal preferences, convenience and different technologies (D/A conversion, amplification, speakers). This hobby is more of an art than science.

Mrtennis, a live broadcast over the radio is still compressed quite a bit, so it would not be close compared to the master tape.

Rudy Van Gelder said "Linear digital has no attributes, it's just a medium for storage. Digital is cold, has to do with writings in consumer magazines. They got to write about something"

There is some screwed logic in the wilson experiment. All one has to do is substute the word digital for analog and the word analog for digital. To take a hi rez digital rechording resample it with only the best equiptment to red book. VS taking the same feed to an analogue storage medium (of your choice) then a2d back to red book. If my postulation makes sense then so does wilsons

Looks like there hasn't been any activity on this for eight years.  I still play CD's occasionally.  I put on my CD of Abbey Road. It sounded so bright and brittle I had to get up and put the LP on.  I know-should have known better.  I'm using a Theta Miles, which I dearly love, all going through tubes, then a SS power amp.  Nothing wrong with my playback equipment.  Sometimes I just get lazy.