free recording AND playback? Digital recordings are inherently flawed. Even the best original digital recordings are dithered and filtered, omitting and filling in information of the original analogue soundwave because analogue to digital converters simply cannot capture non-bandlimited soundwaves that are complex like orchestral music. 30 IPS reel to reel never had this inherent problem of excluding spatial and minute information like minor changes frequencies of many instruments and voices.
Take these flawed digital recordings and then convert the digital signal back to analogue, and you have even more information missing, then filtered in by 1s and 0s.
By the way, no DAC in the world is almost without jitter. The Benchmark DAC1 is known to be one of the best at jitter rejection, and its measurements are still over 100ps (nowhere near "jitter-free"). The world-class Linn Klimax measures over 200ps.
Also, for anyone who thinks that the format doesn't matter much, have a listen to the SACD versions of great analogue recordings and then listen to them on vinyl. Use any $10K SACD player and any good $5K TT. If you think that the analogue system isn't more detailed, resolving, and doesn't have better 3-D imaging, and more life-like timbre, then you really should just listen to digital and not bother with this "debate" anymore.
For those of us who primarily listen to music that was originally recorded on master tape, vinyl delivers the best sound quality, period. Those of you who listen to newer recordings that are released simultaneously on digital and vinyl, then the differences will be subtler and will perhaps even favor digital because the original master recording was digital.
I was born in the digital era and never knew a world without computers, but pine for the days gone by when sound was not delivered to our ears in 1s and 0s.
