2. digital
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Its not vinyl

I have read 100’s of discussions on the subject of building a streaming digital option for audiophile systems. Everything from the internet connection to the streaming source and then the dac. In my reading through the posts the argument will quickly turn to its not analog, vinyl is better, on the anti streaming side and then on the pro streaming side posters will fed the argument with its almost as good as my phono stage, sounds better than analog. This will even hold true within the dac manufactures and dac owners who will refer to their dac sound as analog sounding or just like phono. I think this is most referenced in the R2R dac category. I started a discussion on the new Gustard R26 which is a discrete R2R ladder dac. Right away I was confronted with “why do you want to spend the money to replace your phono analog end that you already have and sounds great”?  I  Replied with the usual “phono does sound better, even a $30,000 dac will never beat analog and all the other analog vs digital talking points”. Then it hit me that we have been arguing this wrong all this time. The argument should be that the quest in putting together a top notch streaming digital setup is not a quest to beat analog or beat phono. The quest and objective is to achieve a “ less digital sound”. We all know that sharp, bright  razor blades in my bleeding ears sterile digital sound, that will bring in-listener fatigue and quickly want you turning off the music. What I am reiterating here is that the quest the cost and the journey in digital is not to beat analog it is to beat “digital”.

sgreg1

Showing 2 responses by ghdprentice

ghdprentice
6,423 posts
 

I have been into vinyl for over 50 years and digital 40 years.

There is a lot of history and progress. Both of the basic amplification and speakers as well as source components.

 

We have reached the point where either digital or analog can sound the same or better. It depends on your equipment (and values). Because so much depends on the whole system. Also each of us have our conclusions based on our system and past experience and that varies widely. But every day that goes by digital gains ground.

 

My most recent upgrades finally brought my digital and analog into equality. Both spectacular, musical, and satisfying. While one can argue that there is an analog or a digital sound mostly from a historical perspective. I am going to ask you to suspend that for a moment.

 

Vinyl and digital are recordings of some original. The sound character… not the notes, and timing, but the tonality, presentation, musicality is determined by either the cartridge, arm, TT and Phonostage. Or the streamer and DAC. If the absolute resolution is roughly similar and greater than your equipment then the sound you get is entirely determined by your equipment.

 

You can have a really detailed cartridge that scrapes to much high frequency, put into a cheap phono stage and make it sound horrible, edgy and “digital”… a character of old digital. Or you can overly warm digital.

 

I have a cartridge that is very natural sounding while detailed (Koetsu Rosewood Signature), and I have a very good streamer (Aurender W20SE). My Phonostage and DAC are both Audio Reserch Reference (as are my other components). The result is the same character for both ends. Because Audio Research worked very hard to produce a detailed natural sound… and that means the Phonostage an DAC have the same character. So both digital and analog sound the same. 

 

So, increasingly as digital matures, the “analog” vs “digital” sound becomes a thing of the past.

 

Budget digital and analog tends to still have a bit of these characteristics. Also, analog has a bit more detail, so at the really high end, analog has an edge. But not for long as higher resolution become the norm.

 

So, I hope you can see the controversy will continue for quite a while longer because of system differences and the limited experience of most audiophiles… but that we are at the cross roads and the distinction is no longer really valid.

ghdprentice
6,423 posts
 

@jond 

 

+1… which for me is virtually the same. Digital came up short for 38 of the last 40 years for me.

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