Tried analog yet again after decades of digital


Ok Im posting this on the digital format because Id be handed my head if on the analog side.I like many over the years decided to try analog again.Ive hauled around records for years from place to place and never really wanted to part with them,more a memory thing I guess.To the point,I purchased a VPI scout recently,mounting a benz micro cartridge to it and various phone preamps I have inside such things as receivers and integrated amps along with a stand alone phono.Bought the record cleaner machine and all the stuff necessary to use the format properly,I think.Set the table up with time and patience and dialed it in as best I could without getting anal about it.What Im finding is a format that is really inferior to digital IMO.I say this forgetting the fact I wasn't expecting much as years ago I tried the same venture with disappointment of the out come.The constant snap ,crackle pop even on unplayed records,the hassle of having to get up every 15 minute to change the side,constant cleaning,setup of the table,all the bobbles needed to make it all go.I think to even come close to digital one must spend tons of money and tons of time.Im sure there are sytems that sound incredible,but at what expense and how much time devoted to it..Dont get me wrong its fun to play music that never made it to disc but anyone thinking alone these same lines as to recapturing what was once the only game in town,think long and hard.
missioncoonery
Sorry for the off topic reply, but Oregonpapa look into the the way the Tacet label records for classical. 
Oregonpapa, I am your age and still remember when mono records were a dollar and stereo ones, two dollars. I have about 1500 records and about 1000 digital discs. I have owned at least 30 cd players with many of the more recent ones also playing sacds, but right now I have none.

But, I presently have both the best vinyl and the best digital sources, I've ever had. The turntable is the Nantais/Lenco Reference with Ikeda tone arm and 9TT cartridge. These go to the BMC MCCI phono stage. The digital is from a pro guy with the company name of Archiving Vinyl. Originally, this was derived from my interest is getting my many 45rpm reissues into the best possible digital with post digitizing RIAA.

This has resulted in their AMS music server. It allows running up to quad native DSD, which is a sampling rate of 11.2Mhz per second. These files are quite large, of course, but my hard drive are 3.5 Terra bit. Soon I will have two SSD which will hold most of my music data. One of the design goals was to have the very lowest "latency" possible. Basically, this is a measure of how much time the computer has to devote to processing the data off the hard drive or the SSDs. This means that you don't get the displays of album covers, etc. Also it has several atomic clocks to assure accuracy within the change of digital to the dac and into analog. 
It uses JRiver MC20 plus Signalyst playback systems.

What I hear with the two sources playing the same music is entirely different. Vinyl is very pleasing with great holographic presentation. The only fault I find is having to get up so often and changing the record. Digital using Signalyst has greater dynamics, better bass, and top end and an amazing sense of being there. You also get much more detail and sense of where exactly the musicians are and slight mistakes they make. But the perspective is that of the microphones not being in the audience. I should say that this is more evident on older recordings than new ones.

So what do I listen to? When I am reviewing something, I use digital exclusively as it allows clean repeat listening with and  without the component being reviewed. I have many LPs of old jazz that have never been released in digital as well as some where the digital version is quite poor. I do go on kicks where I listen for many days to nothing but vinyl.

Well I am 60 and could have dated one of your daughters. I believe I have both great digital and anolog setups. I am with oregonpapa. Listen to different music but vinyl 95% of the time digital when feeling lazy. My digital sounds great, I just really love the touch, feel and smell of vinyl. I love the way it takes me back to when the music was new(with NO snap crackle or pop). I love the physical envolvment. I love the art work and obvious effort and time that goes into the entire package. I love the sound. Great sound. Big bottoms, smooth mids and highs. Can't be beat by any available(to me) medium. Vinyl takes an effort digital is just that. Threads like theses are a joke. Some audiogoner announces "I tried it all more then once, don't bother it's waist of time". Always makes me laugh. My one question to you guys is how's the hearing?
I'm just sayin 🖖✌️
One of the things we have digital to thank for is the importance of using the earliest-generation tape source available from which to manufacture a disc, whether LP or CD/SACD. Record companies weren't overly concerned about using a second, third, or even fourth generation copy with which to master LP's from, prior to the bad sound of early CD's bringing the importance of that consideration to light. 
I tried to like digital for many years. One day I listened to a decent turntable again and never looked back. Every time I try digital it sounds fine for an hour or maybe a few days but that's about it. My cheap rega rp3 setup with a super cartridge sounds better than the most expensive digital source I've heard. Better than a 100.000 $ DAC. That's when I stopped looking for digital as Asa source of serious high end