Hello jmphotography,
I was originally all analog but have been all digital since college days about 1980. My Technics turntable with a Shure cartridge, along with my entire album collection, were stolen around that time during an apartment break-in.
I figured it was a good time to switch to the new CD playback format and start enjoying "perfect sound forever". Of course, we all quickly discovered this marketing slogan wasn’t completely accurate since digital CD recordings and playback had its own set of pros and cons. Yes, it had a much lower noise floor which resulted in better perceived detail, the frequency range seemed more extended especially at the low end of the spectrum, the dynamics seemed more powerful and playback was more convenient. On the con side, however, early digital CD sounded more sterile, less warm and smooth and brighter than vinyl playback on the higher treble frequencies.
But I also believe digital CD technology and sound quality performance has improved at a faster pace than vinyl since the introduction of CDs.
My current opinion is that you can attain exceptionally high sound quality utilizing either format but it’ll generally cost less going the digital route and it will be significantly more convenient as well, similar to an extremely high quality juke box when done correctly.
I have a combination digital music and HT system. I use an Oppo 205 Blu-ray/universal disc player for video and 5.1 surround sound for HT and a 2 TB Synology hard drive and Lumin D2 streamer/dac for digital 2-ch music.
But I also never really enjoyed the whole vinyl playback ritual as I know many do and you might. The primary reasons I chose to go completely digital were the current high quality of digital recordings, especially hi-res direct to digital recordings, the much improved quality of current digital playback equipment and the easily achievable next level of operational convenience inherent in its use.
Best of whishes,
Tim
I was originally all analog but have been all digital since college days about 1980. My Technics turntable with a Shure cartridge, along with my entire album collection, were stolen around that time during an apartment break-in.
I figured it was a good time to switch to the new CD playback format and start enjoying "perfect sound forever". Of course, we all quickly discovered this marketing slogan wasn’t completely accurate since digital CD recordings and playback had its own set of pros and cons. Yes, it had a much lower noise floor which resulted in better perceived detail, the frequency range seemed more extended especially at the low end of the spectrum, the dynamics seemed more powerful and playback was more convenient. On the con side, however, early digital CD sounded more sterile, less warm and smooth and brighter than vinyl playback on the higher treble frequencies.
But I also believe digital CD technology and sound quality performance has improved at a faster pace than vinyl since the introduction of CDs.
My current opinion is that you can attain exceptionally high sound quality utilizing either format but it’ll generally cost less going the digital route and it will be significantly more convenient as well, similar to an extremely high quality juke box when done correctly.
I have a combination digital music and HT system. I use an Oppo 205 Blu-ray/universal disc player for video and 5.1 surround sound for HT and a 2 TB Synology hard drive and Lumin D2 streamer/dac for digital 2-ch music.
But I also never really enjoyed the whole vinyl playback ritual as I know many do and you might. The primary reasons I chose to go completely digital were the current high quality of digital recordings, especially hi-res direct to digital recordings, the much improved quality of current digital playback equipment and the easily achievable next level of operational convenience inherent in its use.
Best of whishes,
Tim