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Revisiting Digital?

Have you done more than consider going back to Digital? I have only put my toe into the analog world, and found it to be the lost "High End" format. SACD and DVD-A failed to gain acceptance as a next generation High Definition audio format (Weird Huh..) With more and more vinyl being printed each month, customers are voting with their dollars.

However, I have not been able to get over the snaps and pops associated with vinyl. I have bought too many new albums, only to have a high noise floor, and distract me from the experience.

If you have any of these feelings, and have tip toed back into digital, what did you consider for your digital system, knowing you have drank from the TurnTable Cup!

To be fair, my system is decidedly Mid-Fi, theater led. I have a NHT 2.9/AC2/HDP2 - Velodyne 1210x 5.1 system. I use a B&K 31/50 Processor, and a Parasound 2205at 5ch amp. It is nice for theater, and in two channel mode with my Denon 300f turntable/phonopre.

Your journey - thoughts are appreciated/welcomed.

Jeff
jbryngelson

Showing 3 responses by paulfolbrecht

paulfolbrecht
603 posts
 
The digital I've ever heard comes from Audio Note DACs. The combination of no oversampling, no filtering of any kind, a very good power supply, and a very good tubed output stage (NOT a buffer!) does absolute wonders for digital.

I tried a kit DAC 1.1 (used) and it was so revelatory I bought & built the Kit DAC 2.1C Signature. This $2200 DAC fed by a Mac Mini stomps any other digital I've heard at any price - although I would have to guess that the expensive factory AN DACs, ranging up to about 25x the cost of mine (!), are indeed better, there's no doubt that their entry-level stuff fully captures their house sound as well.

As good as this DAC is - it is tonally accurate, detailed without *ever* being fatiguing, extremely dynamic in the micro & macro senses, very smooth & liquid *without* glossing over anything - my somewhat modest vinyl front-end does stomp it.

In a good system, there is no digital that is the equal of even middle-of-the-rode analog in terms of musicality - period.
paulfolbrecht
603 posts
 
I don't think it's resolution - cause I tried SACD for a while and it couldn't equal vinyl either.

I think it's jitter/noise/other issues that plague the A/D and D/A processes and I think we're a long way from fixing it.
paulfolbrecht
603 posts
 
Johnnyb53,

It could well come down to phase - and/or several other things too, as suggested.

I just don't think that resolution is a big part at all of what's 'wrong' with digital because the fact is that it just can't get things like instrument tonalities (completely) correct and that has nothing to do with resolution.

Every time I get 'acclimated' to my digital (which, again, is damn good, frankly), and then I spin vinyl, I am amazed at how truer the tonalities of horn instruments are and how much better the instrument separation.

And, the low-res redbook on my Audio Note DAC is really superior to any high-res digital I've heard. Whatever benefits the higher res provides either come with related weaknesses (high-freq noise from higher sampling rate?) or are just not very significant in relation to the other factors that make or break digital sound.
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