Diff in recording/reproduction in Analog/CD/SACD

Going back to the first response: I am also an Analog man at heart. I have two systems for 2-channel playback, one upstairs (digital - Rega Jupiter 2000) and one downstairs (Analog- Rega P-9/Benz Ref silver/benz phono unit). Now while I'll always have the records and LP system, I don't necessarily think the Digital system sounds that bad... just different, and sometimes I cannot pin down exactly what it is that makes the digital sound different, it just is... Perhaps if you carry the upgrading a couple steps up (from what I have) the differences are easier to describe(?) Also many of us were raised with Analog, have spent decades developing and acquiring the analog equipment and peripherals. If we had to start from nothing right now.. digital would be cheaper and easier. $5K for a really top notch cd player and be done with it... now to start building a LP system.. just think of all the stuff you need!! Table, Arm, Cart, Arm wire, cable, stlyus cleaners, LP wet vac system, LP cleaners, LP inner and outer sleeves, not to mention LP's themselves, stylus gauges, setup tools, phono preamp, and something really hard to find these days, furniture for storage of LP's.

Thanks all for responding and making this an interesting read. I did not intend this to be 'flame away at digital' thead. Intent was thru simple technical rational backed by your actual vast or limited listening experiences.

Just finished reading 'Ringing False' article in January 2005 Stereophile issue. It was hard for me to follow and understand technical jargon in story of the digital sound evolution. In the end the author seems to indicate the early problems like dither, jitter, energy smear w/ digital sound reproduction has significantly reduced.

My limited personal experience with analog does indicate (like the poster Spiro indicated) that analog rig typically lacks ultimate air and resolution and at all the auditions I have made except two, I did yearn for that presence-they are there sound and was unable to find. The auditions that I did find complete satisfaction- beyond the best digital I have heard- was one with Transrotor Orfeo w/ (tone arm I could not recall) Shelter 901 run thru MBL preamp, MBL amp and MBL speakers and the second was Clearaudio master solution w/ Master TQ1,Everest stand and I am not sure which clearaudio cartridge it was but the whole system sounded fast, almost real and with lots of air.

But both systems (TT) costs 10k-20k. SME and VPI set up has not satisfied me yet so far. My own Transrotor Sirius with Lyra Clavis DC does a pretty good job, but not great. At most times I yearn for air and transperancy. May be digital sound habit is hard to break... Gotta audition different TT set ups, but Clearaudio max solution is clear standout. Clearaudio master solution should even be better.

Dopogue,

I respect that your $3000 turntable may sound nicer to your ears than a $150 CD player on a particular recording...I see this as a question of taste and not a measure of performance. I respect that some people love vintage cars too...and there is nothing wrong with prefering an unreliable gas guzzling beast with an old carburator, drum brakes and solid rubber tires....but even those who adore these vintage cars would not argue that they outperform modern vehicles. ( I do not mean to compare your $3000 turntable to an old car...certainly high quality turntables do a handsome job at sound reproduction much better than an old vintage car verses a modern car...but you get the idea even if the differences are less extreme)

Certainly the quality of source material as affected by the mix or mastering studio/engineer, which can have a big impact. Indeed some original vinyl recordings are better soundingthan the CD version despite all the distortion that the vinyl analog source introduces....this is because the orginal recording may have been better mastered or mixed on to the vinyl than it was to CD. It is also possible that old recording studio masters were mixed by an engineer intending it to be played back on a turntable...and therefore the sound was mastered for this medium....playback on a turntable will then be closer to what the engineer/artist originally intended when compared to a CD straight from the same master tapes (assuming they have been adequately preserved, which is unlikely).

This does not change the fact that the majority of the recording industry use Digital... and I doubt this majority have hearing deficiencies or that there is a conspiracy against Analog.

Digital is undeniably better in terms of performance but I will admit that high quality Analog can sound extremely good and may actually sound better for some particular older original recordings.

I don't even have a vinyl rig, but am the first to admit that sonically, it is far superior to digital.

As an example, I own what I consider to be a reference level CD player - a Granite 657. Playing the same Sonny Rollins "Way Out West" SACD against the record on a bone stock $550 Music Hall MMF5, the vinyl is at least 2 - 3 steps better. We've done this in two different systems. Of course, you need a clean record, but the vinyl rig can outdo digital that is more than an order of magnitude more expensive. I'd welcome a list of CD players that outperform a turntable here in this thread. And, again, this is coming from someone devoted to digital.

In the last sentence in my post above I meant .."Clearaudio master solution is clear standout. Clearaudio Maximum solution should even be better". I always get mixed up between these two ;-)