When is digital going to get the soul of music?

Yeah, I'm with Rockadanny. I finally got what I consider superb headphone sound with my EMM SE separates and a Ray Samuels B52 amp with highly upgraded tubes and Stealth Indra ICs. With SACD or, say, the Beatles 2009 box, it's off the charts in quality to me (after a long line of annoying false starts with glare/piercing highs/muddy bass or hyped up detail). But tubes were the real breakthrough, especially great vintage/NOS ones. Tubes forever...

I'd like to mention that 192kHz applies to incoming signal while DACs have much lower THD distortions around 100kHz. For that reason Benchmark decided to ouput data to DAC at around 110kHz.

As a part time recording engineer whose focus is live, on locations recordings, I'd say digital gets the soul very well indeed!

Go buy Frank Vignola Trio (Standards Live) or Felipe Salles (Timeline) an example of shows that I recorded and were released by the artist. I think they capture the live event well.

For the Frank show I was unaware that he was going to release it until it was pressed. Certainly there are things I would have edited out between songs but, hey, it was a live event and that is how it was.

Of course these were recorded in high rez format but sre only available as CD's. I listen to the 24/96. The CD's are very close to the high rez. and you are hardly missing anything.

I have hundreds of other shows that I've done by artists such as Spyro Gyra, David Bromberg, Bill Evans, Arlo Guthrie, Marty Ehrlich, Ivo Papasov, Duke Robillard and others that capture the events nicely. As a matter of fact, I'm just finishing a Kenny Neal show that "takes you there". You can sit back and listen until your spouse divorces you for abandonment, it is that engaging.

Also, I have an large LP collection and enjoy listening to it too........but, IMO, analog's best is done through tape not LP.

As I recuperate from a bout with the flu, it enables me to catch up with this thread :-)

Many provocative positions presented...I just wanted to recognize this post, 12-18-10: Learsfool.

Much appreciated.

Regards,

Sam

I just purchased a Nad 565bee cd player.
Mozart never sounded so good!