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How does good analog differ from good digital

I was at Music Direct yesterday buying some CDs. I heard Heart's Dreamboat Annie playing on their main system. It sounded really alive, punchy, and engaging. I walked over to hear it better. It turned out that I saw a rather warped record playing on a cool looking turntable called an Avid. They were using a Creek integrated and their new floor standing speakers. I was surprised that I did not hear any background hiss. I have heard their system before with digital but it never sounded this good. I wonder if it was the turntable. The speakers sounded very good but I know from experience that the characteristics listed above were probably were from somewhere else up the chain. It this what good analog offers? How much would one have to spend to get sound at least as good as my Audio Logic 24mxl and Accustic Arts Drive I? Thanks a lot, Brooks
brooksl

Showing 1 response by dlwask

dlwask
270 posts
 
Like yourself I never knew analog could sound as good as it does. Because of that I jumped right into vinyl. I listened to a lot of turntable set ups before making a decision on which one to purchase and in turn compared them to many digital sources to make sure I was doing the right thing. In my experience, a turntable/arm/cartridge combo typically performs way above its pricepoint in digital front ends. I prefer the sound of a Rega P25/RB600/Exact over a Sony '777ES (in CD) and also think a Scout/JMW9/Benz Micro smokes an ARC CD3. Granted phono stages play a part in this too but in the case of the Rega vs Sony it was through an Arcam integrated and in the VPI vs ARC it was through an ARC SP16 preamp...so things could get even better. Drawbacks? Analog is more fussy to set up and requires cleaning/upkeep to sounds its best.

Good luck
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