When is digital going to get the soul of music?

my thoughts are that digital gets let down through the transfer stages of becoming a CD/SACD,etc.

It (digital) has probably a more accurate reproduction of a master tape than a vinyl master/pressing.

Why? As I record my LP's in a DSD format for convenience and availability, I find it hard to discern between the LP and the digital playback of it in DSD.(Korg DSD recorder). As I get into PCM, the quality starts to lessen and differentiations start appearing. Probably also less data space is required as we go down from DSD to 16/44.1. In easier terms I would say 45rpm presings better than 33rpm, etc.

So digital can convey the soul, but I feel during the transfer chain we are not getting the best out of it and it starts to loose out.

Hence we have all these formats such as High res downloads, SACD, Reel to Reel, XRCD,K2HD,etc.

Redbook certainly does not have enough space for the amount of music record companies want to put on it.

Record companies are also tactful for the fact that if they eventually do let out a quality so close to the master tape -then the game's over for them- as they will never be able to sell another version of a 're-mastered' 'higher ultimate quality' ,etc. again. After all how often have the Beatles, Sonny Rollins, Miles Davis, Rolling Stones have been re-released and we know we haven't seen the last of it or a special edition.

So my final view is that vinyl and digital both have different presentations and if you can get lost into either of them more easily, you will feel the soul. Easier on vinyl though.

Cheers,

Neville

Thanks Kijanki.

You are right, DSD is the format used for making discs that we call SACD. A better format than PCM redbook playback.

Play an uncompressed master file recorded in DSD, and played back through the same DSD recorder and you probably will be hearing a step above a top end vinyl rig and even RTR.

I enjoy both digital and analog mediums and respect that the need for both formats are required to enjoy music. But I always seem to be finishing each listening session with a few DSD master recordings, and realize that it is the chain of transfers that finish up on to a 5" disc, which lets digital down. In my view 16/44.1 up to 24/192 are still not good enough in capturing all the information fed through from an original master.

I cannot comment about DXD, as I haven't heard master files being recorded and then played back in this format, but it seems to be promising from some of the recording engineers that have used it for transfers.

The DSD files I am talking about are available for download (some free) from Blue Coast Records, where a few of the recordings have just gone straight from the mixer through to the A/D DSD converter with just the bare minimum processing used after this to make it available as a download.

Play these files through a DSD dac, and it is a different experience. The playback carries such a strong imaging presence, accuracy and depth of tone, vivid dimensions of artists and a robustness or subtlety in each note, that it is hard to imagine vinyl or red book ever get there. I feel this is mainly due to the lack of ability to either hold all the information or avoid change in accuracy of the original signal.

"To reproduce all the info on vinyl, chances are that during the lacquer cutting process if compression is not used, the present grove would just rip into the previous one. Hence we have more 45rpm vinyl to capture most of the info easily" - comments from a recording engineer who cut vinyl for 30+ years after hearing the DSD masters played back.

Somewhere earlier in this thread, I had written that vinyl has it all (soul) and digital(red book)does not. I would still think that vinyl has the edge over commercial mainstream CD and SACD helps to shorten this gap.

But I have changed my thinking, as I am hopeful that more of these DSD files recorded straight in this format and available for download start to materialize.

It will certainly provide us with a new level of playback accomplishment with plenty of soul.

Neville