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Where is my digital problem: taste, vinyl v. digital, DAC, realities, etc?

I want my digital to sound better.  While I have about 500 vinyl records, I really like being able to sample music first before buying what I know that I will listen to in the future.  I tend, though, to not want to listen as much to poorly recorded music or digital in general.  I'd like to get my digital sounding better to make it more engaging so I can listen longer and test out albums before purchasing.  

Here's what's going on with my digital end versus vinyl.  

Vinyl is holographic--spooky and romantic at times.  The sound fills the space better.  Digital emanates sound more directionally from the loudspeakers.
Vinyl makes certain instruments sound more realistic--i.e. horns, drum sticks, brushes, acoustic guitar/bass.
Vocals on vinyl (in particular when I play jazz vocals from 50s/60s) sound sublime. Digital is not bad, but the vocals sound less in the room and more like a picture of the recording session. 
Digital has more harshness, fatigue, and I cannot play things as loud or as long.  

My DAC is an NAD M51 (fed by Tidal to Bluesound Node 2 to DAC)
My phono pre is a Manley Chinook, taking its signal from a Technics 1200 GAE table and ART9 cartridge.
I seem to get this sound, as described above, regardless of speakers.  

On some level, I haven't spent as much money on the digital end as the analog end.  

Should I try another DAC?  Should I just conclude I'm a vinyl person and live with it?   I'd prefer not to go down the road of getting back into CDs because the beauty of Tidal high resolution is the ability to try out tons of stuff before purchasing the album.

If I try another DAC, what do folks recommend if my priorities are increasing holography, realism of individual instrument sounds, making vocals sound more in the room, and decreasing bite/harshness/glare, etc.   I'd really prefer not to spend Lampizator money.  Can I reasonably achieve an improvement in these objectives by going the route of Border Patrol, a tube DAC, or something in the $2k range?  

BTW, If I didn't love my vinyl sound so much I'd say the NAD M51 is a really great DAC.  



128x128jbhiller

Showing 2 responses by mahler123

mahler123
3,097 posts
 
OP asks if he should just be happy with vinyl.  I would leave it at that.
I think that some people’s brains are just Hard Wired to prefer the limited dynamic range, surface noise, and speed instability that vinyl offers.  IMO digital should not try to emulate any of those characteristics.  The OP should be happy that so many albums are now available in vinyl, and be happy to shell out the sixty bucks that vinyl retailers charge for digitally recorded music that is then embedded in a slab of petroleum and extracted with an expensive sewing needle that slashes the grooves of the album with each playback.  
  
mahler123
3,097 posts
 
Jbhiller
My last analog rig, which I gladly sold off after finally getting tired of vinyl propaganda and used the proceeds to help purchase a second DAC (Bryston BDA3), consisted of a Clearaudio Concept tt, Concept mc cart, and a Musical Surroundings phono preamp.  Total cost was about 4K.  I’ll leave it to you to decide if it was a “good analog system “. Before that I had a Rega P3 with a PSAudio Preamp, with whatever mm cart Rega included.  Before that, a Project starter system.
  My objections to vinyl were as stated in my first post.  My question for you is if you prefer analog sound, why are you trying to get a digital front sound that sounds analog?  Why not just spin your vinyl, have fun plucking the dust bunnies off the stylus, and enjoy the music?
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