Madman! Digital vs Vinyl


Anyone out there who has a great vinyl setup and a great digital setup, try this!

Bring up Elton John’s Tumbleweed Connection Deluxe Edition on Qubuz for digital which includes Madman Across the Water and play it.

 

Then pull out your vinyl of Madman Across the Water and play it.  
 

Please tell me which sounds better on your system and what you have for TT, cartridge and phono preamp.

 

 I won’t bias the results by telling you what I think.

 

 Thanks 

dougthebiker

Showing 1 response by yoyoyaya

@2dougthebiker - to answer your question, with €7k invested in your analogue front end, it is definitely worth investing in a quality phono stage - pricewise/quality, up to something like the Parasound JC3+, I would say.

But will €10k of analogue gear trounce €10k of digital playback -  no.

As regards comparisons of specific recording on vinyl and digital, there are massive variations at both ends.  A friend of mine used to blind tests using me a the subject with him playing various copies of LPs from different mastering houses and pressing plants, and sometimes albums from the same pressing plants where the variable was the age of the stamper. There were significant differences in sound quality. Then throw in the differences in mastering /  A to D transfers of digital files for CD and streaming and the number of possible permutations are enormous.

However, I will try your comparison as soon as I get my digital streamer back up and running. It's down while I install a hardwired connection to it.

 

 

 

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