Analog: Still Better?

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On 1/12/2021 at 5:13 PM, hopkins said:

I have a modest vinyl source (cost: around 700 euro) and am floored by the sound quality it provides in my system.

 

"Sounds good" is subjective, a matter of preference, it depends on the listener.

For every audiophile who prefers vinyl there is another one who is "floored" by digital.

 

LP sound is not analogue sound: vinyl playback adds quite a bit of its own set of mostly signal-correled distortions, things like surface noise, static, channel bleeding, monaural low-bass, high-passed sub-bass, high-frequency roll-off in inner groovers, off-centered records, speed stability, arm and cartige resonances, airborne and platter vibration pickup, RIAA filter, cartridge transduction, etc.

 

And whilst CD can sound almost indistinguishable from the master tape it cannot sound like an LP unless it has been digitalised from one (I have some very old jazz and blues digital recordings which where made by the Bibliothèque nationale de France which sound like the shellac records they were made from, warts-n-all).

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7 hours ago, Rexp said:

This is true, I feel very sorry for folks who listen to audiofools like Darko who tell them a Node 2 sounds as good as an equivalent turntable. 

 

I don't watch Darko but isn't that a matter of opinion?

 

I much prefer digital so it is likely that I would find the Node 2 better than the equivalent vinyl player, you would probably say the opposite. None of us is wrong of course because it is a matter of personal preference...

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1 hour ago, Rexp said:

Most of the population think mp3 sounds as good as lossless, do you value their opinion? No, they are clearly wrong. Darko seems to play mainly poorly recorded modern pop records, which sound as bad on vinyl as they do digital, hence his conclusion. 

 

Like I said, I don't watch Darko.

 

I mostly listen to often reasonably well recorded classical music, hence my conclusion.

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On 1/16/2021 at 10:09 PM, davide256 said:

I suspect most opining about CD being better than vinyl have not experienced a good turntable. Even before CD's existed, over 80% of the turntables out

were techno garbage like Pioneer, Technics and Denon. Only a few stumbled across and bought a  Linn, Sota, Thorens or the briefly lived "the AR" turntable,

machines where competent mechanical engineering allowed one to hear the full dynamics recorded on vinyl. You would think  now that the cogging issue

with direct drive is understood and addressed there would be more affordable good turntables but as best I can tell the isolation designs for TT's below $2k

are still poor, causing dynamic range collapse and muddiness in detail.

 

I suspect most opining about vinyl being better than CD have not experienced a good CD player....

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21 hours ago, sandyk said:

High Res releases from HD Tracks etc. in 24/192 are usually sourced from Tape, with rarely much more than 30kHZ HF information due to the limitations of both the microphones and Tape medium.

I doubt that there'll be much more 20kHz HF information... Just look at the response of the typical mics.

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26 minutes ago, The Computer Audiophile said:

I'm sure violinists say all violins sound identical

 

Even if they did, not all mics have the same technical performance ("sound" the same) and where you place them makes a difference too.