Digital vs Vinyl: The winner is ??


https://youtu.be/HnxexlHRY2E

Guess that settles that!
128x128dave_b
I used to think it was close. Or at worst a trade off. But I saw the light. Hialeah!
Both have their pros and cons but I think if vinyl is that efficient, then the need for digital will not exist. Digital technology has evolved its way to all areas of our living and it impacted us in many ways. The analog technology is the motivation of this new age. Indeed, we should be thankful with those phases and enjoy what we have now.
dave_b,

Thank you for the link.  For a short presentation, this was pretty good.  I agree with the comment that vinyl and digital differences in sound are a small part of the overall sound.  As for the paper--on digital tape vs. analogue tape--that was quite interesting as well.  Of course there was not enough shown about methodology, but, nonetheless, it was interesting.  Preference might have something to do will familiarity and more listeners being familiar with digital recording.  It is sad to note that research has shown that young listeners prefer MP3 processing to high resolution recordings of the same music.

A few years ago, one of the audio magazines, I believe it was The Absolute Sound, published a discussion among a group of sound engineers (I can't remember if they were recording or mastering engineers).  I found it interesting that they all agreed that the feed from a digital recorder is much closer to the sound of the live feed coming off a mixer than the sound of the feed from an analogue recorder.  It was also particularly interesting that all of these engineers said that even though the digital recording sounded more accurate, they actually preferred the sound of the analogue tape recording.
I have thought this all along.  The vinyl record has to be perfectly clean, the tone arm and needle have to adjusted perfectly to make contact with the grooves perfectly and then there is the noise that follows.  CD's simply do not pose this problem.  And then............there are those $20,000 turn tables.  They are gorgeous to look at, but do they really make a significant difference.  CD's transmit a lot more data and more data means greater detail.
I must admit, as I have mentioned in my post about my Focal Kanta No.2 speakers, my digital based system can re-create the experience I have at the Kimmel Center in Philadelphia.  A big part of that experience is a quiet background from which the music can emerge.  Some of my other judicious choices regarding cabling, AC conditioning and digital purification have helped me abandon vinyl.
One thing that the commentator did not mention was the inner groove distortion specially when the stylus reaches the inner grooves, no mention of surface noise and of cours no mention of clicks and pops, these are all the reasons why I abandoned vinyl.
Mmakshak....there’s like over 1,000 comments...just tell us what you said!!!
My Pug is an excellent curler!!  She can do a triple tail curl with a vertical point at the first sight of a treat:)


Positive drug test for Russian curler? Whoa! Is curling even a sport?
Having a good set-up for vinyl and digital allows you to enjoy both sonic perspectives.  👂

How about that Curling eh?🥌
I will admit that digital has improved over the years and sounds very good compared to 20 years ago. I also enjoy both.
I agree with a lot of what he has to say but his smugness and self assured, know it all approach blunted the impact of his assertions. The call between digital an analog is getting more difficult for me...but for me there will never have to be a "winner".  I enjoy both and am content to declare it a tie....and happy that I have the options.
@ghasley  Good point about what music majors would listen for.  They are so hyper-focused on their instrument that they are listening for individual trees rather than to the whole musical forest.🌲
Interesting. The control group doing the comparisons, the standard deviations were interesting with the sd of those who prefer analog treble quite a bit wider. The important thing here what digital tape machine and what analog tape machine were used? Additionally, some mics work better to capture analog and some work better to capture things digitally due to many factors, not least of which is the mic's frequency response and dynamic capabilities. Were they using the same recording levels on each machine because you actually shouldn't.

Most importantly, they were NOT comparing cd/digital files to vinyl playback, they compared digital tape to analog tape. Not only does this not prove anything, it muddies things. Lastly, music majors....they listen for what they listen for....which is they usually listen for their instrument alone when critically listening.

What are this guys credentials?  What systems has he listened to?

The same recording both digital and analog is a fairly big difference IME, not a small one, particularly given the two systems at the same price-point.

Ultimately, he got to the right result, digital beats vinyl (because of the physical limitations of vinyl).   But the devil is always in the details.  Expensive vinyl system versus expensive digital system??  It all depends.

I suspect that some inexpensive vinyl systems may beat inexpensive digital systems.

Steve N.

Empirical Audio

Post removed 
@geoffkait  Great when the definitive truth is revealed.  We're richer for it!💰