Analog tape has many issues mechanical, and due to the non-linear nature of the magnetic material, wear, tape head non-linearity, etc. which is just what I could scrape together in a few minutes of research. In the big scheme of things, digital has far far less issues, and jitter is simply not an issue today. Not at all. Analog enthusiasts often have no idea how their system is truly performing because they think their ears are measurement devices. They have bright rooms, bright speakers, dark analog setups, etc. When they start using digital, it simply reveals the flaws in their system that they have covered up with band-aids over the years.
People who "find flaws" in digital, are not people who understand digital, who don't understand the basic premise of measurement techniques and why while not perfect, they perfectly refute so many of their claims. However, it is easier to blame digital, than to accept that their perfect systems are far from perfect. Then what do they do? Fix the system? Nope, lets add more band-aids like tubes to our digital equipment.
As an MD, you of all people should know that an observation is just not, it is not a conclusion. Causation does not equal correlation. When someone says they need antibiotics, you don't blindly prescribe them (I hope). You do specific test, observational, culture, etc. to verify the claim and to rule out other potential causes for the discomfort. And yet here you are, in audio, accepting single point anecdotal evidence without insisting on the detailed analysis and evaluation as to the underlying cause. This is not a "camp" issue. Current measurement techniques are quite obviously more than adequate to reveal the transparency or more than adequate transparency of current digital solutions, they certainly far far exceed any analog format in terms of transparency whether any of the ballywick of claims by others such as frequency response, signal to noise ratio, distortion, etc. as well as all the other poorly understood excuses about things like settling, ringing, etc. that stems from a lack of understanding of the underlying fundamental math. Presented with a litany of convenient, but incorrect excuses, backed by people such as yourself, who while educated, clearly don't accept the veracity of the measurements or understand them, they reach for and grip those excuses rather than accept the real issues, the recording is not very good, and their system is not as good as they think, a hard pill given the spend often involved.
Subjective truths are only truths if obtained by objective methods. Again, as an MD, surely you appreciate the absolute insistence on double blind testing in the medical field or do you think that is just an inconvenience when the reporting on the effectiveness of these drugs under test may often be subjective, just like audio? It Why would you set a much lower bar in audio when all the same potentials for influenced reporting (likely more) exist?
