Why didn't I sell my vinyl rig?

For me, streaming is for finding new music.  Vinyl is for the music I love.  

I recently had an experience finding an LP that was misplaced for a year or two; Jimmy Smith’s Midnight special. Playing it was a real revelation. I had never heard it sound so good, with so much detail and texture (I had new strain gauge styli built/upgraded by SoundSmith since I heard it last).  

I attributed the great increase in quality to the new styli and latest cart/electronic  upgrades from SoundSmith, but then I realized, I had been playing just the SACD rip for the last 1-2 years.  I had heard it a few weeks previously, so it was still fresh in my mind, but I just sold my Directstream MKI/bridge2 (fed via Etherregen) so I couldn’t A/B it.

I had been pretty happy with the sound of WAV files and DSD that at times beat out LP sound. I’ll have to do the comparison when the DS MKII arrives and see how it compares, but there are times when the right LP is just magical, and times when the digital is better, and it will be interested to hear how Ted Smith uses the additional FPGA in future firmware updates.

I will say that taking the digital out of the system (or shutting it off) has seemed to make LP’s sound even better, and I have a Niagara 7000 which should alleviate any power induced contamination. Perhaps it’s the XLR’s being connected, but I heard it on a tube pre and a passive as well.

The new DS MKII Dac allows one to lift grounds on any input (plus shell on XLR) so maybe that could help with what I’m hearing.

My vinyl rig is several times more expensive than my digital front end though, so digital can be cost effective for the discerning audiophile.

Incidentally a friend just got into vinyl modestly with a Technics 1500 with the packaged cart, which he is upgrading the stylus. He admits it does not sound as good as his Parasound all in one - including phono stage. I tried to explain if you’re going for vinyl I think you should consider spending at least a few thousand dollars to get something that could compete well with digital.

I found the quality of the streamer  used made a huge difference to my digital set up.

Moving away from a standard mac or windows computer/laptop was a big improvement.

@jerryg123 

”nit picky..what is a nit anyway?”

“The term originally referred to picking nits, the eggs of lice, from hair, and later to picking out the lice themselves.”

You’re welcome.

@waytoomuchstuff um that was sarcasm my man. But being from a family that is OCD about hygiene we never had to pick nits or lice. Just vegetables from our garden cause we spent all our money on soap…