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

My analog rig ( vpi classic 3, zephyr mimc*, ear 834 phono pre) just sounds warmer than my digital setup (chord qutest w, curious usb cable, rega Saturn CD player) They both sound great. 
it’s just a matter of how much time I have to critically listen. Some recording on hi res or master sound almost identical to vinyl. Roxy music/Avalon, is very close. 
All the police albums sound better on vinyl. U2 sounds fantastic as well on vinyl. 
Just  depends on the recording. 

I have the monaural Brandenburg Concertos three-disc set performed by Felix Prohaska and the Vienna State Orchestra. I play it on a midfi setup with a stereo AT-VM95ML cartridge. I haven't seen it available on any other medium, so vinyl is best.

 

Two totally different versions, Madman on the Tumbleweed deluxe has Mick Ronson on guitar and is a great version.

I sold my $15k tt setup a few years ago and every vinyl album I had. I also did numerous comparisons between vinyl and hi res digital (dsd, MQA, 24/192), and digital won. 

I have 4 or 5 non-US pressings of Tumbleweed that are early, including a couple UK DJMs and some other early ex-US DJM pressings. The earliest UK pressing I have here actually has less pronounced bass than some of the others. (Sorry don't have the matrices to hand). I do have an SACD of it too, which sounds fine for what it is, but I'm far more advanced on vinyl playback than I am on digital. I had Qobuz for a little while but found that it didn't have what I was chasing-- stuff that is unobtaninum on vinyl, hard to find, private or small label. It did sound pretty good for what it was, though. (Don't remember if I tried Tumbleweed via Qobuz when I was using it). 

I think a lot depends on system.