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Reconciling analog and digital playback

My catalyst for posting is the recent upgrades I made to my analog system: Micro Seiki / SME 3012 / Shelter 901. The changes were made last week, so I am still getting a handle on the nuances and subtleties, but there is a significant naturalness, ease and presence that really allows me to connect emotionally with the music. The problem is that now digital playback on the Sony DVP-S9000es is so lacking in soul, emotion and body compared to analog. I was satisfied until now, realizing that the Sony is good, not great. My digital sources are almost exclusively PCM CDs, not SACD.

I want to close the gap, so that I can enjoy my CDs again! The Sony is used for DVD video playback no more than 20% of the time. I have decided to either: 1) replace the Sony with a more contemporary universal player, or 2) add a nice DAC, either a Bidat or Lavry 924, using the Sony for transport and video duties.

Is anyone more experienced with digital playback, who can provide some guidance?
skushino
cmk
397 posts
 
I really think it has moved. While it is true of most high end redbook playback systems that these are still competitive - I still like my CEC TL2/Meridien 566DAC(20 bit balanced DACs) for redbook, a newer and cheaper Universal Player like the Denon A11/5900 offers considerably more features and similar performance(on redbook) to the CEC/Meridien combo while costing a fraction of it when new.

Even if you take the DCS combos(1st gen), those need to be upgraded to the latest spec or they are obsolete.

The Sony DVP9000 was their flagship model in 2000, now its not even listed in the catalog. Its does not have :
a) upsampling
b) HDCD/DVDA playback
c) progessive scan
and the SACD chipset comes from their first gen versions which take the DSD signal and down converts it to PCM bef the DAC gets it. I don't know if you notice this, but Sony digital machines have a certain signature sound, which as you correctly put it is "so lacking in soul, emotion and body compared to analog".
psychicanimal
1,738 posts
 
"Consensus is the last thing I expected to encounter in this forum, but the verdict seems to be that the gap between analog and digital is fundamental and part of our landscape."

That's because their goal--if any--hasn't been making their analog and digital rigs sound as close to each other as possible. In my system the goal has been to close the gap by working to improve on each format's weaknesses and not having my analog rig sounding 'analog'. I use a KAB modded Technics SL-1200MKII & Modwright modded Parasound CDB-2000 belt drive transport. The DAC & phonostage are by the same designers, thus having very similar sonic signatures.

Although I have way more LPs than CDs, I can honestly say that I immensely enjoy my digital setup and it has no glare, fatigue, edge nor any attribute characteristic of 'digital' sound.

It can be done...

***
abajaj11
3 posts
 
I own the bidat. It is phenomenal. Unfortunately, hard to find. It will blow away any other dac, because of the unique adaptive algorithms it uses that keep frequency & time purity. Through my 45 SETs and to my home built speakers, it is bliss. If you can find a bidat, BUY it.
I really don't miss analog at all.
-abajaj11
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