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Classical music listening... what is a better source High Rez or Vinyl?

For many of us who really enjoy classical music, for me it is Baroque and opera, what is the better and more consistent for source high fidelity listening?

I am a mid hifi guy and have a Pro-ject Classic SB turntable with a high output MC Sumiko Blue Point No. 2 cartridge.. I am using a Jolida JD 9II Tube phone stage, with a vintage Telefunkin tube upgrade.

I have a Rogue Sphinx 3 integrated amplifier, with a vintage Mozada tube upgrade. My digital source DAC/SACD/CD is a Yamaha CD-2100 player.

I have refurbished Ohm H's loud speakers.

I have been picking up many vintage classical albums recently, mainly 1980’s releases in excellent condition too, at my local transfer station, and it has been mixed bag in comparison to my high resolution music files and SACD collection.

I was expecting much more when it came to vinyl and classical but I have not been as won over, as I have been with rock and jazz on vinyl.

My experience with SACD and high resolution, 96/24 or higher, has been very rewarding with a wide variety of classical music. Opera really shines in digital IMHO. Strong and full on classical piece are quite stunning on many a SACD releases I own. Rachel Podger’s Vivaldi: L’estro armonico - 12 concerti, Op. 3 on SACD is an excellent example of the audio quality I demand, as this recording is exceptional! Plus there are are very few new remastered vinyl releases for classical, particularly for opera, these days. A perfect example of this is Shubert’s Winterreise featuring Joyce DiDanato and pianist Yannick Nezet-Sequin, which I saw performed at Carnegie Hall for this recording and which sounds phenomenal in 96/24, and was release recently.

That would seem counter intuitive but that is clearly what the market is showing.

On one of these threads I recall someone posting how strings of violins, and the intensity that they are played at, can lead to degraded sound quality depending on the type of cartridge used.

I want to hear back from the classical music posse here to help me get to that higher level of listening with classical vinyl.

Is it the cartridge?

Or should I just stay with my digital sources?


idigmusic64
melm
1,057 posts
 
Not looking to pick a fight here.  I am an old-time classical music analog lover still with major investment in analog.  Until about 4 years ago I couldn't listen to digital for more than 20 minutes at a time.  I would have been in full agreement then.   Problem is that while everyone knows that you had to spend some bucks for good analog, digital with great specs seemed to come pretty cheap.  I thought when I bought an Oppo 105 that digital nirvanas should have arrived.  But classical demands so much more.

Truth is you have to spend more on digital and do it with the kind of care we analog veterans are accustomed to.  In any event, I am here at the moment simply to take issue with the "the nuances that only vinyl can offer" remark.   Given that a favored LP is giving the sort of pleasure described, and I don't for a moment doubt that, some credit must be allocated to its digital source.

Cheers.
bkeske's avatar
bkeske
5,593 posts
 
@melm

Fair enough.

In any event, I am here at the moment simply to take issue with the "the nuances that only vinyl can offer" remark. Given that a favored LP is giving the sort of pleasure described, and I don’t for a moment doubt that, some credit must be allocated to its digital source.

Not classical, but a perfect example, that only I can confirm. Not classical, but just bought The Trinity Session by the Cowboy Junkies. It arrived yesterday. When that album fist came out, I bought it on cassette, then/and CD. So, had both for a long long time.

After listening to both the cassette and CD versions not so long ago, I decided to buy the period vinyl. As stated, arrived yesterday.

I dropped the needle and was immersed in that vinyl version much more than by my digital version, and also more than the cassette (albeit, that was a time period when cassettes were actually pretty good, some call the mid-80’s and into the 90’s their ‘golden years’). There is a depth, a naturalness, timber and tone, and small details that both sprang out of that album in vinyl form while also ‘sucking me in’ like never before. If you are familiar, that album is very quiet, and recorded pretty ‘raw”, similar to many classical or older jazz trio type recordings.

That is an example of an ‘album’ I’m very familiar over the years, loved it, but have only really listened to it in digital form (and cassette, as I said, and still have a Nakamichi deck that plays my cassettes from time to time). Bottom line never had it or ever remember hearing it on vinyl, and it simply ‘blew me away’ in comparison to other formats I know well. That’s what I meant, and I’ll stick to it. Same can be said for some of the same classical selections I have in both formats, but to be honest, those are much fewer.

I think I made it pretty clear, this is all very subjective, and there are an incredible number of factors, but I know what I prefer, and perhaps you do as well. Great. Enjoy the music.

idigmusic64 OP
56 posts
 
@petg60  please explain  further on the cartridge. I always was led to  believe that a MC, granted I have a HO one, is  better for classical and  jazz. I do need my cartridge to play a wide variety of music, including rock, but would be curious what you would might suggest.

@bkske I will have check out that Hilary Hahn  album.

@mikelavigne  thanks for the honest assessment. I  am trying to seek out vintage classical recordings, as I mentioned many end up at the local transfer station in my area, so I am not  giving up yet.

Everyone else thanks for your input. I thought I  might get more technical advice on my current rig in regards to fine tuning my vinyl but we'll see.


melm
1,057 posts
 
@bkeske

Cowboy Junkies ‎– The Trinity Session is a digital recording.  Surely there was a DAC somewhere in the process of producing the vinyl, that would have provided the same profound immersion, etc., as you found in the lp.  That is, unless you think there was something extra added in the process of producing the vinyl that was not in the original digital R-Dat recording and that provided all that good stuff..

Apparently mastering a CD is a process where things can go wrong, or at least not very right.  In that sense it is just like mastering an LP.  I have experienced what you have, that is an LP clearly outperforming digital.  I have also experienced the opposite.

Finally, though quality does not correlate perfectly with expense, generally speaking if you spent less on your DAC than you have spent on your turntable + arm + Cartridge + phono preamplifier it is not a fair comparison, IMO.


edcyn
1,876 posts
 
I have to admit that many of my London and Angel/EMI LPs, especially the operas, do sound better than anything I get either via CD or streaming. Then again, I have to reiterate that it's the original recording that ultimately counts, not the format with which the music wends its way to my ears.
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