Worth pursuing analog sound from digital?

I hated digital when I owned bad dacs (for me they were all bad ,too digital, harsh, piercing highs even when they were not piercing they were like craking chalk on a board even subtly like that sometines   etc)…. I owned someday a NOS dac with a minimalistic design and that was game over for me... This incredible dac was too low cost for being mass convincing... (starting point systems dac)The sound was anything but not digital...Organic and natural...Viva digital life...

A turntable is mechanically very vulnerable to vibrations of his own makings and constant fluctuations of the courant from the wall for his continuous rotations, not speaking about the needle deficiencies and limitations and other things that are problematic... Sorry nothing is perfect not a dac neither a turntable... Pick your problem but dont speak about a panacea...No grudge against you Master Geoffkait … : )


A walkman is not like speakers, and most headphones are not speakerslike at all...I dont know what you listen to but me I want more than clarity and air, I want 3-d musical holography and more than that naturalness of timbre in music...You owns a very good walkman indeed... A very good headphone too it seems...


By the way I own some vinyl of Moondog 45 years ago that I listen to with my turntable and if I listen to it now in files format it is like night and days for the perceived details... It is too easy to say that 50 % of the sound is not perceived with a cd... This is only caricatural sayings about a much complex issues indeed implicating more factors than only the opposition turntable versus dac...

I concede tough that for the human nervous system anolog sound is better for health than digital.... Nothing is simple and nothing is so simplistic to be on the same side of the equation...


Dont take it personal Geoff I like you very much....:)

flatblackround

I only say that vinyl are superfluous for ME... And i say that against those who promote vinyl as a theological miracle in sound...By the way i dont recommend to ALL people to place rocks under cable etc etc... I only partake my discovery about the noise level and simple means to improve it with the use of crystals on certain location... Each one of us have his own agenda to battle against noise...But noise is THE problem.....I listen to Mompou with these rocks now, and trust me a geological course does not teach all that is to know about rocks and sound... I wish you the best...


P.S. There is and will always be a difference between vinyl and digital, not so much in musicality "per se" because the technology is so advanced now that there is only a little margin of audible difference... But for example the effect on health by the sound is improved with analog and not so by digital, this important fact speak about analogous against digital...

These things being said i prefer digital because of the convenience and the impossibility to transform my 10,000 files of music in 10,000 vinyls...And a turntable when I own one was a pain in the ass for me...I dont even mention the price of my low cost miraculous dac versus the cost of the same quality turntable for my system...

Anyone can listen to a cd or a files and a vinyl with the same very known musical piece and decide for himself if the analog version and digital one are close enough..."Close enough" is the key concept, because there is big difference between 2 turntables in different system and rooms, like there is difference between files read trough different convertor...

Even if you compare in the same embedding audio room, vinyl turntable with a digital convertor with the same speakers and amplifiers, the results means nothing,because you can have a better convertor that will make the listening more analogous...There will always be some turntable better than my convertor, and there will always be some convertor better than your turntable, it is a without end technological hierarchical progression toward an asymptotic point where the resolution powers of your ears reign supreme...


The only thing that count is your impression, is this music playing with an electronical halo or glare or not FOR YOU? In my digital system the answer is no for my ears...Good bye turntables...


Turntables are not religious necessities in an audio life...Neither the convertors, or class D amp....Music is music, with or without a turntable or a convertor...


By the way the most important choices and decision are not nowadays between a turntable or a digital convertor, these choices are up to the "taste" and caprices or budget of the audiophile, they are only a preference not a life and death audio decision...The important decisions and choices nowadays are between the cleaning, treatments, and tweaks that will transform the house and room embedding of the audio system relatively to mechanical vibrations, electro-magnetic interferences and noises, and acoustical dispositions of the room, nevermind if you have a turntable or a convertor...These choices are vital choices not the choice of a convertor or a turntable... Nowadays with the technology involved these choices between convertors and turntables are only markets hyped ideology and facts... There is fantastic turntables, and there is fantastic convertors also, thanks to many great audio engineers...But most houses and rooms are noisy, and destructing the music, unbeknownst to the owner... This is fact, and a real problem, not hypes or dogmas or debates between different audio religious characters...

My actual tweaked system with a low cost minimalistic designed Nos dac sound analog and more vinyl than ever....No digital glare detectable by me at least...I will never go back to a turntable, the annoying clic sounds of damaged vinyl and the necessity to change the vinyl at each 30 minutes, the cost and necessary disposal of a large object in great quantities, the maintenance and cost of a very complex and sensible mechanical object, the adjustment necessary etc etc...I had never undertand why today people buy a turntable...In a good audio system the difference in non audible...


Nowadays my dream is coming true, no need for an object at all, only files and then only music, without bothering with superfluous materials...