When is digital going to get the soul of music?

Never. The technology is not there to accurately transfer the analog sound wave to digital w/o loss of info. Ever listen to cymbal strikes on a good analog rig versus a great digital rig ? All cymbals mostly sound alike on a digital rig...not so with analog. An experienced drummer probably can tell if a cymbal strike was on a Paste or zildjian cymbal. Good luck trying to descern that on digital playback.

I own the Perfect wav system. Cymbals are lacking in digital when compared to analog. You must listen to a good analog rig to even making a comparison. Prior to analog I had no problems with cymbal timbre, attack and decay on my digital front end (I didn't know any better). Even hi-rez sources at 24/96 or higher native sampling rates still don't stack up to the natural sound of cymbals reproduced via a vinyl record. I suspect those that are challenging my assertion don't have high end analog rigs in their systems. To even suggest cymbal production from 16 Bit redbook sources (along with the rest of the music) even compares to good analog is laughable.

04-19-11: Raymonda
(All cymbals mostly sound alike on a digital rig...not so with analog).

You must have a very poor performing system. Not only should you be able to tell what type of cymbal was use but also what brand of microphone was used to record it. I never have a problem doing so and neither do any of the folks I hang with.

Sure thing. Here's my poor system...LOL at you...

Pass Labs XA 100.5 Class monoblocks
Wilson Audio W/P 8's
Mark levinson 380S pre-amp
PS Audio Perfect Wav Dac and Transport
Clearaudio Innovation Wood Compact Turnatble
Clearaudio Universal Arm w/ VTA lift
Shelter Harmony cart
Clearaudio Balance Plus Phono stage with ACCU DC power supply.
Siltech LS-180 Speaker Wire, MC 4-80 Interconnnect XLR
PSAudio AC-10 and AC 12 power cords
PS Audio Power Plant Premier Power regenerator.

Folks, when I said... cymbals sound the same, I meant to really say that with analog, on my system...I am getting much more enjoyment from the cymbals having much better timbre with a more natural attack and decay than achieved with digital...After all, digital is only an aproximation of the natural analog sound wave. To me, it's like the analog sound wave was passed through a very fine filter, stripping the music (instruments) of it's natural space, air,textures and nuances. The soundstage is much deeper and wider with analog. Digital just doesn't do the cymbals justice like analog. Heck, I was a analog naysayer up until early last fall when I decided to plunge into analog head first. I haven't looked back. That said, enjoy the music. Cheers !

I believe the processs of reading the data via a laser can be argued to be an analog process.

So I secured an Ortofon MC A90 cart with very few hours last night. It will need to be broken in... not a bad thing as it means I have many hours of listening pleasure ahead before stylus replacement. I will be giving my Shelter Harmony a rest and will give my comparo of both down the road. Still no pics yet of my system, but they will be fourthcoming when I make the time to take them.

I am curious what load impedance owner's of this cart like ? 10, 50, 100 ohms ? I probably won't get it in my possession until early next week. TIA

12-17-10: Learsfool

digital processing simply removes too much timbral information, something that designers have always acknowledged and have never been able to fix, despite the great advances digital has indeed made. This is what most people mean when they talk about missing the "soul" in digital recordings.

Thank you..that is exactly my experience. You could not of said it better. Cheers !

please forgive my last post. It was posted in the wrong forum. Should have been under my system thread in All out assault !

03-01-11: Tompoodie
May be it has. I was on the threshold of purchasing an EAR tube or Modwright Sony 5400 player and happened to hear a PS Audio DAC/bridge setup through reference full range speakers. I am a vinyl lover (Rega Planar 9/EAR phono preamp) and was very favorably impressed. I read the website and learned that part of the reason for the excellent sound is error free reading of the disc, which generally doesn't happen even with expensive CD players. Furthermore, it uses a Wolfson DAC, which is the same manufacturer as in the EAR acute CD player I was considering. I have been reluctant to consider computer audio because of a learning curve and the amount of time involved. I now believe that it may be worthwhile. Opinions?

If you don't want to deal with the computer server detail using the bridge, by the PWT with the PWD as I did. Burn hi-rez 24 bit files to DVD and play them back just like a redbook CD. I am very impressed with the rig. I still will grab a vinyl LP if given the choice when playing back a musical selection.