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Rediscovering the Joy of Digital?

Guys,

I've been into analog for a long time, and it's always been a royal pain in the neck to perform all the necessary adjustments to keep my tt at its best; not to mention the record cleaning rituals and the inflated prices they're charging for high-end analog gear these days.

I bought an early generation CD player back in the mid 80's, a modified Magnavox CDB-650, which was considered good at the time, but is not so good by today's standards. I also invested in some of Audio Alchemy's early DDE's, but they had some problems as well. So I went back to analog and bought a VPI Aries/JMW 10 and more recently, I have moved to a Michell Orbe SE with a Wilson Benesch arm and a Shelter 501 II cartridge.

It took a lot of work to get the Orbe/WB combo to sound its best and in reality, it's not a whole lot better than my much less expensive digital gear, but it sure is a lot more work. It's been my experience that you have to spend a lot more money on analog to get it to sound as good as today's respectable digital gear. I own a Parasound transport, a Bolder Cable modified ART DIO, and a Perpetual Technologies P-1A and it kills most of the Linns, Regas, and all but the highest priced VPI's that I've heard.

With my digital, there's no futzing with VTA, no worries about an expensive and delicate stylus assembly, and I have instant track access. Plus, it sounds virtually as transparent and liquid as analog and eschews those annoying ticks and pops.

My records and gear are sure taking up a lot of space. Perhaps I should dump my whole lot of LPs at the local Salvation Army and be done with it. Then I could sell that expensive analog front end that is a constant source of angst and buy something really cool with the money like a lot more CDs. Whadaya tink?
plato
mikesinger
572 posts
 
with the latest generation on cd/sacd players, i think we are the entering the reniasance of the digital age.

digital has never been enjoyable or musical compared to a class c analog unit until the last year. i have a marantz sa 8260 and i can listen for hours without fatigue. it is the first musical unit that i have heard and have no desire to upgrade or tweak.

hopefully the manufactures will continue to make quantam leaps over the next couple of years and move into class a /b of analog playback.
eldartford
4,262 posts
 
Zaikesman..True about the cassette tape, but it's only because the cassette tape speed is so slow, and the recording quality so undemanding (because of Dolby processing) that the format was able to gain some acceptance. In the pre-CD age, convenience, and automobile-friendly characteristics were important. However, the serial data transfer difficulty is one of those fundamental truths which it is better to avoid than to overcome with fancy technology.
zaikesman
3,017 posts
 
Eldee, not only does avoiding tape circumvent the serial-duplication problem, it by the same token permits random-access cueing upon playback, an even more important consideration for me as a consumer.
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