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Rediscovering the Joy of Digital?

Guys,

I've been into analog for a long time, and it's always been a royal pain in the neck to perform all the necessary adjustments to keep my tt at its best; not to mention the record cleaning rituals and the inflated prices they're charging for high-end analog gear these days.

I bought an early generation CD player back in the mid 80's, a modified Magnavox CDB-650, which was considered good at the time, but is not so good by today's standards. I also invested in some of Audio Alchemy's early DDE's, but they had some problems as well. So I went back to analog and bought a VPI Aries/JMW 10 and more recently, I have moved to a Michell Orbe SE with a Wilson Benesch arm and a Shelter 501 II cartridge.

It took a lot of work to get the Orbe/WB combo to sound its best and in reality, it's not a whole lot better than my much less expensive digital gear, but it sure is a lot more work. It's been my experience that you have to spend a lot more money on analog to get it to sound as good as today's respectable digital gear. I own a Parasound transport, a Bolder Cable modified ART DIO, and a Perpetual Technologies P-1A and it kills most of the Linns, Regas, and all but the highest priced VPI's that I've heard.

With my digital, there's no futzing with VTA, no worries about an expensive and delicate stylus assembly, and I have instant track access. Plus, it sounds virtually as transparent and liquid as analog and eschews those annoying ticks and pops.

My records and gear are sure taking up a lot of space. Perhaps I should dump my whole lot of LPs at the local Salvation Army and be done with it. Then I could sell that expensive analog front end that is a constant source of angst and buy something really cool with the money like a lot more CDs. Whadaya tink?
plato

Showing 1 response by perose

perose
40 posts
 
I'd be happy to save you the aggrivation of shipping all those LPs across the country and pick them up personnaly, since I'm also in the Old Pueblo. :)

I've been revitalizing my analog system over the last few years and now get performance that I only dreamed about since I started in audio. The biggest change was getting rid of my Thorens TD126mkII and installing an SME-10 (with arm). The fixed suspension was a tremendous improvement over the spring suspension and the arm is much better as well.

I would certianly consider going to a shelf arrangement and back to the fixed suspension before dumping your analog collection/system. There are just so many pieces of music that aren't available on CD, or don't sound good, to justify such a drastic move.

I do however, agree that the convienence of digital is wonderful and, with the right gear, it can sound incredible. It makes perfectly sense to have and enjoy the best of both formats.
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