When is digital going to get the soul of music?

Did it get the "soul" of the music?

Since my comparison was made only between the commercial CD release and the artists personal copy of a digital master, there was no analog to judge by.

Part of why I was listening was because my friend was angry that the manufacturer had "ruined" his CD release. I explained that CD was not capable of what he heard on the master and he was very disappointed.

"Since my comparison was made only between the commercial CD release and the artists personal copy of a digital master, there was no analog to judge by."

Ok, I have no doubt that the vinyl would cut it, all other factors aside.

But did the digital master you heard get the "soul" of the music or no?

I'm praying that there is some hope here the answer is "yes".....but maybe I'm doomed.

Mapman, again I was composing my response when your post went up, sorry to be out of sync.

I have not compared that recording of the Moody Blues, I'm pretty sure I have the LP but not the CD. Then again, even if I wanted to conduct tests again, I would need to get a high end loaner digital playback system.

With my current Blue Ray player serving all my digital sources, I have no expectations it can serve as a comparison. I had a $16K D to A box here about 2 months ago and it was really nice. Still not analog but I would sure buy it if it were about one third that price.

Gotta crash, I've been up nearly 18 hours. I'll visit tomorrow with a clear head and see what gems have been posted.

Albertporter -

"You're missing the point completely" - I'm not sure what point it is since you use a lot of words with just one conclusion that current CD format is not as good as LP. I never said it is, and there is no need to jump at me such unpleasant way. I merely reacted, if you read the tread, to statement that digital will never rival analog. I don't understand logic behind it - that's all. Many of my friends claimed the same at the beginning of digital photography and now all have digital cameras. I am not an angry person - just read my other post but it seems to me that with claimed experience and amount of dollars you "throw" at me you are a little arrogant. It might be better if you will not respond to my posts and I will do the same for you.

The failure of SACD and DVD-A to produce significant profits for the record companies and component manufacturers suggests that there will be little, if any, future emphasis placed on mass release of high resolution audio software that faithfully preserves the digital master.

Music buyers voted down high resolution audio with their failure to buy enough SACD or DVD-A discs to encourage the record companies to continue with the business model.

MP3 downloads are far too commercially successful to encourage record companies and hardware manufacturers to further investigate high resolution alternatives. The vast majority of the music buying public simply doesn't care.

Too bad for audiophiles, but we are a quirky, micro-market in the music business with too few dollars to drive high resolution format development.

Will digital get to the soul of music? Given the present reality, I would say no.

Funny thing is, in the 70s and 80s, when I owned Kenwood, JBL, JVC and Pioneer electronics, I loved listening to music and I never analyzed it. I just played it. Soul? Yeah, I would say it had plenty of soul, whether it was digital OR analog (BTW...back in those days I never set-up a cartridge with a protractor, and my record cleaning amounted to a spin with a wet Disc Doctor brush).

Ah, the old days...