The character of analog and digital


Having just obtained some high quality analogue components, I want make some comments on the character of both analog and digital.
First of all it’s very difficult to speak of analog in general. Records vary widely (indeed wildly) in sonic character and quality. Digital recordings are much more uniform. When you play a digital file you more or less know what your getting. Of course some sound better than others, but there is a consistency of character. With records, it’s the Wild West. Variation in SQ and character are rampant.


Therefore it becomes very difficult to make generalizations on which categorically sounds better.

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Well, the vinylphiles better hang on to their lps from back in the day, because due to tape storage issues most reissues have to go through a digital phase, as the MoFi mess shows.  So enjoy using those expensive analog rigs to extract digital files from slabs of fossil fuel, and keep getting all teary eyed Pavlovian responses when you hear the needle drop, and let’s all move on

“Digital is absolutely capable of delivering natural, captivating and exquisite sound quality if one has assembled a proper set up.”
+1, @charles1dad

It’s no surprise to see millercarbon putting down digital. Nothing will change his mind! Now that he’s back, just enjoy the freshly cooked up stories on Vinyl triumph over Digital in his mid-fi system 🍿

As @noske pointed out, the discussion here is about feature of the media or the many issues related to the recording and engineering of that recording. A well recorded piece of music properly transferred to physical media or streaming platform should sound great as long as your system is properly setup to re-produce that recording.

@millercarbon 

aw far as tracy chapman, i was looking into buying her debut album but its very pricey and was all recorded digitally, i have a very nice digital rig, and a very very nice analog setup now.. but since its a digital recording on vinyl wondering if itll be any better than my digital file

Instead it was his wife that released a sigh of unexpected pleasure practically the instant the stylus touched down. The two reactions I would pay money to have recorded, that one and the other guys wife who when her husband wasn’t looking whispered to me, "I could listen to this all night!" In a tone of amazement, because her audiophile husband having only CD she never even imagined music on a high end system could sound like, you know, music.

The time honored unsolicited audiophile wife (Long suffering no doubt) comments as a prop for added/confirmed legitimacy. Still there remains the issue of them simply lacking the opportunity to have heard better quality digital sources for which to compare. So, very limited exposure/data base.

Why is it so difficult to acknowledge that both formats are quite music rendering accomplished if done right. Sigh!!!

Charles

Is that the sound of a dropped stylus on a platter or the sound a piano makes genuflecting in the forest?  : )

 

Yes, a very welcome back to you. I’m honored to be the venue for one of your initial posts.