What percentage of digital vs. analog?

99% digital, 1% the rest

To those who have large classical record collections, what percentage of the time do you spend listening to your records?

i own about 5000 Classical pressings, of my total approximately 12,000 pressing collection. and my vinyl listening is 75% classical.

of my total listening time, which is 30-40 hours a week since i’ve been retired, it’s 75% digital, and around 20% vinyl, and 2-3% tape.

as far as classical listening; both digital and vinyl, i listen to lots of String Quartets and lots of full orchestral. my room is very friendly to large scale classical, with zero restrictions. the system has full range extension so i get all the venue ambience and scale of big music, which took a lot of work to achieve. so i indulge myself fully in those type recordings. my room also is superb for smaller scale recordings too.

Most, but not all, classical analog recordings are available with streaming. (I can’t speak for other genres.) Do you find that records generally sound better? I know there are audiophile record pressings that are exceptional. Also many older recordings from the 60s and 70s are unmatched.

digital does sound great with classical; however vinyl is quite a bit better when everything is right. but it’s not trivial to have a room plus the quality of vinyl playback to get all there is to get from the vinyl. but the level of realism is many times in a completely different place with vinyl. and certain tapes even more profound for classical.

the particular pressing matters a lot too. vinyl is more media driven than gear driven. so conclusions about how vinyl does classical can be all over the board. in my case, my room and system needed to progress before my ear was comfortable for all classical. also, my own tastes had to evolve too as 30 years ago i knew zero about classical. i had to evolve myself to open up to it all.

But it seems to me that, at least in classical which I mostly listen to, digital sounds at least as good or better.
So, do you listen to records for sentimental reasons?

i also love streaming classical and it’s fun to explore streaming. many recordings are out there to experience with streaming, and i fully indulge. but even at it’s best it’s not at the level of better vinyl.

certainly i have emotional connections to certain recordings, but it’s because they kick ass. both digital and vinyl. but there is nothing purely sentimental about it. it’s a thrill ride that delivers pure pleasure with certain vinyl pressings. the level of nuance, flow, musical rightness and complete immersion is just different for better vinyl. it’s more like real life. honestly i prefer my system experience of large scale classical to going to the symphony. not saying it's equal to live music, i'm saying i prefer it and mostly hear more of the actual music in my room. 

but i would also say that you could stay with digital streaming and be fully satisfied. just don’t ever hear the best vinyl has to offer and you would be just fine.

ignorance can be bliss.

I almost exclusively listen to classical digitally.  Most recording after 1990 or so were only available digitally, and unlike popular music, classical recording quality in modern times remains quite high.  Some fairly crappy sounding recordings from the past, like 1979's DG recordings, actually sound better as digital reissues.  I also like the convenience, lack of breaks in the music to change record sides, and freedom from ticks and pops during quiet passages that digital affords.  

I have ripped about 3,500 classical CDs to WAV files and do most of my classical music listening at home from these files.  The catalogue of CDs and streaming content is quite vast and there are very few recordings that are not available digitally that I have on records.  

@mikelavigne 

Very well put. I agree with most everything you say. 
 I can accept “ignorance can be bliss,” but that excludes me from a lot of pleasure.

last several months i am spending less time messing with my system, enjoying summer and fall outside and busier with other things and hobbies, and when i listen i just put on nice music, i don’t think gear at all (have the system in a very happy place)

listening is now 100% streaming... but all the records and tt’s still are fun to look at!!!

I got out of vinyl about 15 years ago. My collection is substantial but all in CD’s. I’ve not let my computer into my music room (yet). My music is 80 percent classical, the remainder jazz. I’m retired and mostly at home. My system goes on at about 8AM and off at about 8PM. About 75% of the time on a local college FM station the rest from my ’sweet’ spot to specific recordings. I dumped vinyl, not because my system was not up to it, the recordings I favored were few and mostly from the 60’s +/-. (The good ones dwarfed digital in sonic qualities but were acquired before my choices acquired any sophistication. As time passed availability of vinyl of any quality became slim, digital was poor sonically, so I didn’t buy much new stuff until digital got some real legs in the 90’s and I started paying attention to new music and recordings. And that is what I do today, looking at new music/performances, etc. No regrets whatsoever. :-)

I'm 100% digital, baby!

LOL.

I have (literally) thousands of CD's, and that's all I listen to. I don't even have my streamer hooked up. I probably have 3000 Classical CDs.

I have friends with turntables, and some of them sound quite good. But the idea of getting out of my chair every 20 minutes to flip a record just turns me off.

Unless it is a REALLY crappy CD pressing, they just sound better (and honestly, we're talking less than 1% of all the CDs I own that I would put in that category).

The only thing I miss about vinyl is the cover art/liner notes.

I have a great analog and digital leg and a large collection of classical. There is no consistent difference between the two on my system. Both digital and analog sound fantastic… there are more high rez versions on like than in my collection although I have many audiophile pressings.

To split hairs occasionally a vinyl pressing of the same recording will sound a tiny bit better… but usually not. I believe this is dependent of the pressing number. The actually molds used to press vinyl can only produce a few hundred (?… whatever, it is limited) then they are replaced as they wear out. I believe the occasional vinyl that sounds better is from a pressing from a new mold. This would account from my observations.

Summary, which sounds better analog or digital is entirely dependent on your equipment… now. That wasn’t true twenty years ago… the finest digital couldn’t touch great vinyl equipment of that time and earlier.

so many people wanting to ditch their record collection, where can they be bought?

When I compare recordings made in 60s and 70s vinyl vs digital there is usually no question as to which media is better.  Just the elimination of surface noise and extended dynamic range of digital win the day.  And many lps from the early sixties were mixed with the thought that people would be listening on AM Radio (try Bernstein Mahler 7) so even the earliest CD incarnations sounded like a revelation..  Having said all of the above,it is possible to get excellent results with an analog setup, if one has the patience and the cash

 I can add nothing to all the excellent posts  arguing for digital convenience and sound quality ... I dont doubt though  that in a race with no money limit vinyl masters sound better, it is easy to trust Mike  Lavigne expertise  on that after reading and seeing his system and post ...

I had no need to verify with my money ... Thanks to him though for his many interesting posts about that ...

At one time records sounded better 

that being said at least $10k needed for digital or Analog-records. To sound 

at Audiophile standards on average , for digital $4-5k alone just for a LPS for router 

2-Quality ethernet cables, a goodEthernet hum with LPS built in or external  at minimum $250 power cords, and Dac $4500 on up .

look at a good turntable which I hav3 had exceeding $15k complete.

to myself having owned a Audio store for a decade ,  Analog used to beat digital Always ,digital now has progressed many times over in the last 4 years.

a record can produce 12.5 bits Max, true digital 20 true bits , read up on this it’s a lengthy explanation .  Digital far better S/N ratio , THD , Bass, As well as HF extension when properly implemented . As we speak I am saving hope to have the

Best Buy in digital the T+A 200 dac , I have yet to find any digital even 2x it’s $7200 retail price ,to better it, plus built in has HQ player which is a very powerful tool to tune your audio taste exactly to your-system but takes time to learn and for $200 a true bargain ,Roon even has HQ player built into it, Innuos also allows this now you need HD space and a modern Processor and prefer a nice SS  drive. ,

I'm amazed that vinyl addicts seem oblivious to the clicks and pops that are inherent in vinyl records. IMHO clicks and pops are not an integral part of music and any medium that eliminates them is to be applauded.

the acquired skill of mentally filtering out those clicks and pops comes in very handy for ignoring jitter….

and of course, i have both…and high speed tape scrape…. perfection awaits…. reality…

Some evenings 100% analog vinyl.  Other evenings 75% analog, 25% CD.   It depends on what MUSIC I want to listen to.  

so many people wanting to ditch their record collection, where can they be bought?

See the "Music" section of the Classifieds.

All classical all the time…100% digital…Qobuz…

90% digital 80% of which is streaming and 10% compact disc. Last 10% is vinyl. 

50% of vinyl listening is classical. 

100% digital via streaming Qobuz and Tidal. Sold my CD player.

Probably 90% of the time digital playback.  But once we put on an LP, there is nothing that compares to that sound reproduction.  It is so magical to listen to.  To our ears, the LP makes digital playback sound average at best in direct comparison.  But like I said, still 90% of the time we spin a shinny little round disc!

Happy Listening.

It varies. Digital for convenience, vinyl for preference. Also, I use Roon which is continuously presenting me with new (to me) music which drives my LP purchases.

For me, 100% digital.  Ripped all my CDs to an ssd, but mostly stream high definition in Roon.  It all started as a matter of convenience but now, in my system, hd streams sound better than my CDs.  I never had the experience of being a vinyl audiophile, but judging from the above posts, I missed something special.

@grislybutter - some people sell their entire collections en masse to larger record stores.

These days I listen to my vinyl about 70% of the time and CD's the other 30%; don't have a good streaming setup yet...

I would say 95~98% of my classical listening (which is the majority genre I listen to) is on vinyl.

I have some wonderful classical selections on digital (CD and streaming) as well, but I do prefer music on my vinyl rig. Most of my classical LP’s are 40-60 years old, and some are incredibly recorded.

I will admit though, that many new classical releases are primarily only available in digital format, and some of the new recordings are stellar. Although the new releases available on vinyl, and I have purchased on vinyl, are incredibly satisfying on my vinyl rig vs CD or digital streaming service.

It simply comes down to a subjective preference. To me, the LP presentation is simply more natural, it’s ‘organic’ and ‘moves’ unlike digital.