Digital vs. analogue volume control for digital monitors

[esldude]

@20hertz:

Your setup intrigues me: In your super vinyl system you manage to avoid digitization all the way to the speakers. And then you’ve chosen digital monitors for this system. Can you tell me more about your thoughts behind this?

I would have imagined that you would prefer older analog monitors from Genelec which would allow you to go analog also inside the monitors.

 

I attempted to start a thread about this on the Genelec website, but it didn’t really catch on.

Genelec Community Forum • View topic - How come nobody hates digital monitors?

 

Maybe your experiences merits their own thread here on ComputerAudiophile?

 

In another reply to your comment, JABS1542 mentioned swallowing the concept of A>D, and then D>A. That is a very perceptive comment.

 

For a generation now audiophiles have been sold the idea digital has a bad sound of its own. To digitize 'pristine' analog signals was to diminish their goodness. The idea doesn't hold truth anymore.

 

I convinced a friend to digitize straight out of his analog phono stage, and then handle everything digitally from there on out to the speakers. We were doing room correction too. How did I convince him of this? It wasn't by lying to him, or tricking him. I set things up so it could be done both ways. I also did digital recording of his analog. He could hear for himself the digital demons were no more real than other demons about which tales are told. The result (whether room correction was engaged or not) was digitizing as early as possible gave him the best analog performance he had ever attained. So the fear of bad sound when you digitize is unwarranted.

 

As said, if you have swallowed the concept of A>D then D>A, then you don't have any reason to hate, distrust or cast questioning glances at digital monitors or other digital gear.

 

BTW, the concept of AD followed by DA isn't that such a conversion is wholly perfect. Rather that it is very, very good, it allows some useful DSP in some situations not possible otherwise, and overall any cost it exacts is quite small while the benefits versus full analog are quite considerable. Simply put you gain much more than you loose.