How many of you are digital only systems?

@yermajesty:

I'm sorry-- I'm afraid I'm no help in that regard as I'm firmly wedded to the physical medium of CDs. Having to interact with yet another electronic screen holds little appeal for me. Plus, I'm old-fashioned (and old) -- I like being able to hold a CD case, read liner notes, etc. 

Sounds like you have a local dealer whom you trust and who knows your system. -- if he'll allow you to bring gear home to try out, I'd certainly start there. 

You want both because they are both a means to get the best recordings from different eras in music so just have fun and listen to more good music and great recordings that is the fun in audio finding the magic records to listen to.

I went all digital eight years ago for one reason and one reason only...sound quality. My love of all music has made me a gear hobbyist with the goal of getting to the best quality sound reproduction, and experience (I listen to a lot of live recordings), that my wallet, research and (hopefully) intelligent decisions can get me to. My last move was three years ago, to a house because of my audio addiction, and I am quite positive I would not be enjoying the stellar sound quality level I am at without being fully digital.  

I can’t help it, but streaming always felt like fast food to me.
Easy access and convenience are nice, but skipping from song to song, playing something half with already the next song in mind takes something away from the experience.
I do enjoy it for background music or to search new albums, but there is, for me, some tranquility in choosing a record or a CD and listening to that album only without the constant temptation to push next.
Sound quality is a different story. Depending on the equipment all mediums can sound very good.

Working towards becoming "analogless".

@tom2015…”but skipping from song to song”

Funny you should say that, because the exact same thing happened to me. Streaming caused me to “channel surf” so to speak. So I took apart my streaming end about five or six years ago (Apple notebook). I was happier because I would listen to a whole CD.

A couple years later I bought a streamer (Auralic Aries G2). The improvement in sound was profound. The improvement also slowed my desire to channel surf. The SQ was good enough to highlight some more subtle problems… which caused me to upgrade my streamer and then my desire to “channel surf” completely disappeared! The music became engaging… I no longer wanted to switch.

I realize in retrospect that the desire to change from cut to cut is the desire to find something that is musically satisfying, just like if you do it on TV. You do it until you find something engaging. Now, my streaming is so engaging I frequently get caught up in music I normally not like because it sounds so good and musical.

I am new to Digital as well. Have a PrimaLuna EVO-100 integrated, Bluesound Node 2i running through a Shiit Bifrost DAC using AudioQuest Cables. Burn CD’s to a Innuos Mini MK III and could not be happier with the sound. I live in a small town home so vinyl would be a space and storage pain. Because of bandwidth even with HD, the Innuos sounds better on good same recordings. Being able to select any of 60 million songs and play them anywhere with a phone signal or Wi Fi is wonderful. Streaming is really good, and not making me change a thing. I will never go back to vinyl again. With the same quality recording you would probably hear a difference but splitting hairs. My biggest issue is not what plays it but the quality, EQ of the original recordings to either format. I have heard terrible on both, outstanding on both.

+1, pcrhkr. :-)

Since May 2021 I have reverted back to an all digital system. I ran analog gear as a teen back in the 1980's, sold it off by 1987 as I got into CD audio pretty early on (June 1984).  Slowly built up my CD collection and often using Columbia House  through the 1990's.

I fell back DEEP into vinyl by 2003 and spent crazy money buying and selling and trying all sorts of vinyl gear from numerous turntables to phono cartridges, to phono preamps, to vinyl cleaning including vacuum machines etc. Of course I took advantage of thrift store shopping for used vinyl from about 2003 till 2016. I lost interest in adding to my vinyl collection when I reached close to 1000  LP's. I did start buying new LP's around 2011 till 2019. But the costs were just getting too high for my budget.

 I also around 2008 got back silly big time in buying cassette decks and even reel to reel tape decks, along with huge amounts of tapes, over 600 blank audio cassettes and a few dozen blank reel to reels. I was buying most deck on impulse off Ebay or at thrift stores and fiddled around with each  for most till the novelty wore off and resold each deck. I had a couple of keepers but most just came and went   with me  just throwing more money away. It was like an addiction until between all the vinyl stuff and the tape stuff   I realized  I was crazy and  kissing good money good bye. 

 By 2019 I sold off all my remaining cassette decks and all the hundreds of tapes, all at a financial  loss but good bye and good riddance. The 11 years of such with tapes was fun at times but depressing as well, too much for me and my absolute disregard for money being wasted on it all.

By 2019  I after keeping my CD's in large CD binders for years and as such out of sight out of mind, this was one of the  reasons why I got bigly into LP's as they were on shelves easy to  pick out and use, the CD's never got played much except for in my car. I put my CD's back in jewel cases and on display. From such I began to actually play through my CD library and  really began to enjoy the sound on my current A/V system. It became fun again and yes so easy to live with CD's as you just plop them in a CD player and hit play to listen without having to get up and flip sides over and to screw around with  cleaning them.

 I began to notice that when playing a CD I was just listening to music, clean, powerful and no background noise. I would then put on LP's and no matter how  good they sounded or clean they were I always knew I was listening to a  vinyl record. It got annoying to me.

I also began running A/B comparisons between my CD's an  their LP twins in real time and  EVERY time the CD outperformed the LP, especially the inner grooves. It was close at times and others it was NO CONTEST the CD  sounded more lifelike.

 I also began a serious purge of my near 1000 LP's. Noting that  I had hundreds bought for years that I had yet to listen too. I surmised that I listened to to maybe  40-50-60 LP's on a  regular basis and a few dozen more only periodically. It was all just collecting albums and wasting shelf space. I  quickly purged and or sold off near 800 LP's thinking I would live with about 200  that I really liked.

 But with all that has been going on globally  with the never ending covid stuff and in my life along with realizing how much money I essentially threw away on  analog gear, tape decks, tapes and LP's etc. The sight of my turntable setup began  to really depress me.  I had to rid myself of it all and that is what I did by May 2021.

 I recorded about 120-130 LP's onto CDR's for posterity, though I find it hard to listen  to these as  the recorded along clicks, pops, groove noise and inner groove distortion bothers me much now as I am so use to my  commercially bought CD's again. But once  done all my analog stuff was gone and  this page in my life was turned. I'm not saying analog is bad or wrong  or not to  be enjoyed  by others, but for me  from 2003 until 2021 it was enough, enough money spent, time wasted on cleaning and shopping around on buying hundreds of LP's  I never even played.


 I have about 300 CD's. I enjoy physical media  and do not run streamers at home  but listen to streaming music on my  phone  for personal use only. I'm a product of life  of owning physical media (CD's, BluRays, DVD's and Video games for the  Playstation)  and I enjoy owning CD's and buying new CD's  which  are  even  when brand new a fraction of the cost of their vinyl  LP  counterparts.

 My A/V rig includes  for CD and other disc playback my Oppo BDP 83 which sounds great to my ears, a Philips CD-101 which I bought new in 1984 and have  found out over the years a family member had it in storage and gave it back to me and a Panasonic DVD Recorder I keep to once in  a while off load programs on my PVR to DVD discs.

I'm pleased with my set up  now and   I am now   having some peace of mind  after  getting more or less over  the money spent on my analog side for 18 years.

 That is my analog to digital story. :-) 

"As hard as it might be for some to accept, I don’t think analog is for everyone".

Judging from the number of digital-only responders to this thread, it's clearly not!  

I only use a digital front end. I sold my analogue one few years back, I do miss it sometimes but not as frequent as I thought I would.

In the late 80's, early 90's I had a pretty high-end analog rig with a Goldmund Studio turntable with Goldmund T3F arm, Koetsu cartridge, AR SP10 preamp. In 92, I made a move across the country and had little kids, so decided to simplify my system. I hung on to my 2000 records for three house moves, but didn't have the storage space on the fourth move and my wife was getting tired of all the boxes. I ended up selling them for a small fraction of what they would get now (many MFSL and Sheffield discs, oh well). 

I missed the sound of the records, but even then I had a reasonable sounding digital rig (Spectral SDR-1000). These days, I'm absolutely loving the availability of an unlimited selection of music on Qobuz and Tidal, and do not miss the ritual of cleaning my records every time before playing them. And I'm thrilled with the sound quality I'm getting from my system. 

Thank you everyone for the detailed responses and discussions. For now I am staying with digital. In fact I just got a deal on a demo Innuos Zenith mkIII so I sold my Zen mkIII and moved up a notch and it was a nice jump which I am happy about. I am planning later this summer or fall to get together with a couple old friends who have TT and go and do some listening and refresh my memory with what is all involved. If its for me then maybe I will get an entry level table for a while and see if I stay with it, but now I am very happy with my all digital system.

"As hard as it might be for some to accept, I don’t think analog is for everyone".

No it isn’t but the same can be said for hard core vinyl aficionados. I believe neither analog nor digital are plug n play, they both require fair amount of attention to detail.

No. Analog is not for everyone. With digital finally getting better sounding, and streaming becoming equal or better than CDs: more music, less hassle, not surprising. 

I’ve primarily been an analogue guy, but I recently got a Denefrips Ares 2 so I can bypass the DAC on my Bluesound Node 2. I think I’ve listened to maybe two records in the two months I’ve had my Denefrips. It sounds amazing streaming Hi Res or MQA. Vinyl is major time and money suck- researching and finding the precisely right pressings in VG+ condition or better, high prices for audiophile pressings, cleaning each record (think I hate that the most), worrying about my turntable’s VTA/cartridge life/etc.
I’m a busy dad and don’t have much time to listen these days. I want to spend my free time listening to music, not preparing to listen to music. I think for a while at least, I’m a mostly digital listener.  

@lalitk2: 

"I believe neither analog nor digital are plug n play, they both require fair amount of attention to detail".

+1

I believe neither analog nor digital are plug n play, they both require fair amount of attention to detail. 

Yes, but once digital gets to the play stage, you’re pretty much finished with maintenance, cleaning, tweaking, etc.  With analog, you’re just getting started.  

All digital for me too.  I don’t want pops/clicks, adjustments, cleaning, and the other hassles that come with LPs.  I lived with that for years and will never go back.  

Tidal Masters streaming and thousands of CDs ripped to a NAS all tied together with Roon is a much better experience for me than the hassles of analog.    

Its ironic that those saying 'never going back' to vinyl are actually going backwards. 

All digital here.  Using a Lumin U1 Mini into a Prima Luna Evo 400 pre and Evo 400 amp.   Very pleased with the sound my system reproduces.

tube cd player or tube DAC, ONLY, No stream please

1shultzee3 posts07-11-2021 3:16pmAll digital here.  Using a Lumin U1 Mini into a Prima Luna Evo 400 pre and Evo 400 amp.   Very pleased with the sound my system reproduces.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~
You need the PL  tube DAC or PL tube player 
 complete the system

I still own a turntable, phono preamp and 3,000 vinyl LP's.
However, I only play digital.  At this time in my life, I can't be bothered with the phono & LP ritual of finding the album cleaning it and re-filing it.  Digital is too good and too convenient to be bothered with the antiquated process of playing a record.  I find I listen to a lot more music because of digital....instant accessibility with outstanding sound is where it's at.

...and no, I'll never sell my records or the analog portion of my rig.

I have 1000+ albums from my college days in the '70's in great condition.  I had a good TT back then, and always cleaned each record with a Discwasher before playing it. But for me, digital is the way to go.  I keep my albums for nostalgia and as wall decorations, but everything is digitized on a dedicated Roon server, and I stream with Qobuz.  I just can't see going back to the old days of getting up every 20 minutes, picking an album, cleaning it, carefully putting the needle down, etc.  My current TT is decidedly low end (Music Hall MM5), but I just can't see dropping the kind of $$ to get a really proper TT and cartridge, along with the inconvenience.  Plus, with some of the albums that I have digitized, you hear the little pops and imperfections from the vinyl that are there no matter how good your TT rig is.  So for me, digital is perfect every time and I don't miss playing albums, although I still hold them sometimes when listening to the album on Roon, LOL!

I'm currently digital only.  Tube DAC, and tube intigrated but when I finish the move and can properly set up the stereo rack with my 40 year old preamp. I  just recently purchased a turntable and probably will occasionally spin some of  the couple of hundred albums I've aquired over the last 50 years and some new ones but digital is so more convienent. My biggest issue now is the cats.  The albums either have to be stored behind glass or some other scratch proof enclosure which I don't currently own..

I used to be all analog only 3 years ago.  Part of the reason was the ritual and the inclusion of digital has increased my time enjoying music.

And the media available for digitial is HUGE!  So there's that!  Enjoy the journey.

Its digital only for me. I grew up with vinyl but fully embraced CDs when I purchased my first player in 1987. The quality of vinyl records got so bad in the early 80’s that I was returning 50% of my purchases due to defects. Warpage, pops, clicks, scratches etc. I sold my remaining LPs decades ago and have never looked back. I understand the appeal of vinyl and am very glad it’s made a comeback. Vinyl was on the brink of extinction 20 plus years ago where CDs appear to be now. Like vinyl, I wouldn’t count CDs out just yet. DAC technology has taken huge leaps in the last few years and will continue to do so in the future. This is a boon for all digital formats including CDs. The SQ of my cd transport / standalone DAC would be unimaginable a few years ago for the price I paid. I also love streaming and the opportunity it gives me to explore new music along with its convenience. I still prefer CDs because it offers a physical medium in which I own the music. Streaming is like borrowing from a library and I have seen titles disappear without notice. The cost of vinyl, its high maintenance, and storage issues are what prohibits me from every wanting to return to it. CDs current fall from grace provides a huge buying opportunity and I love being able to scoop up used CD titles at bargain basement prices. Alas, this may not continue forever.

I gots both.  Fairly new P6, good phono stage and ~100 albums.  Fairly mature Digital setup as well that I been working on for years.   I rarely use the TT anymore.  If I were in your shoes I would put my money in improved amplification,speakers or DAC and stay with the digital path.  CDs are a bargain and vinyl has become a bad value.

I chose to focus on streaming, copying and storing music files-

All in one machine- Innuos ZEN MK3. 

Turntables do sound better sometimes-Okay happy?

What I do with Qobuz/Roon is find and enjoy new music

everyday. Beats cleaning records and checking TT measurements.

In time digital will pass analog. 

Well since this thread was resurrected after a few months I thought I better provide an update. I did end up getting back into vinyl after 30 years. I bought a VPI Prime Scout/Ortofon Quintet Blue going into a Sutherland Insight LPS phono pre and I am SO GLAD I did. I find myself favoring vinyl so much more. Vinyl just has much more presence in the room to me, where digital sounds flatter. Vinyl in my system sounds fuller bodied where digital sounds thinner. For reference I am running an Innuos Zenith mkIII feeding a Chord Qutest. Most of my digital is FLAC and DSD files saved on the internal SSD. I also stream Qobuz. But right now, its all vinyl for me.

Congratulations @jmphotography . I have a high end digital end which I listen to most of the time. But if I really feel like reaching for the very best sound I use my analog end. My Linn LP12 / Koetsu Rosewood Signature + SRA isolation platform + Audio Research Reference 3 phono stage is quite inspiring. It is still fun to crawl through the record store to find great gems.

For reference I am running an Innuos Zenith mkIII feeding a Chord Qutest.

 

You may want to try a different DAC.  I haven't heard the Qutest, but from what I read here the Chords are on the lean, detailed end of the spectrum.

Digital, now mostly streaming, with an Ayre DX-5 DSD for Blue-rays. My Thorens TD 124 and Technics SL 1200 II are displayed as icons but rarely used. I also display a Gerrard RC 80 as a reminder of my introduction to HiFi in the 1950s.  I still have all my vinyl, including boxed Capital FDS and Westminster Labs. 

+1, @tomcy6 

Chord Qutest is the weakest link. When digital done properly, it can be just as enjoyable as vinyl. For now enjoy your vinyl system :-) 

@jmphotography

Please read up on this thread for great insight on how you can improve your streaming experience.