Comparing quality on vinyl with Digital

I hope I'm not putting words in your mouth here but are you saying a source can be too good for the rest of the system and this may be detrimental to sound quality? If so, it is difficult to understand how this could be true.

 

...It's easier to make digital sound euphonic in cases where the acoustics of a room, the recording, speakers or other variables stand in the way of truly accurate and uncolored reproduction of an original sound event. With digital you can more easily reach a local optimum where everything sounds really nice indeed and nothing grates on you too much despite imperfect conditions.

With vinyl though, a global optimum can be reached. On the way there, flaws in your chain or listening environment will be more clearly revealed which might be disappointing. But the potential is there to make things sound nearly indistinguishable from the recorded event...

 

Digital has been shown to be superior in almost every way when it comes to playback.
Doesnt mean it sounds the best though.

 

I'm sorry but this is not correct. Digital has just as many distortions (limits in filtering, jitter, zero-crossing distortion, etc.) as analog.

 

Are we counting phenomena or ascribing their importance based on how much they impact the medium?

Do you disagree that vinyl has more limitations?

 

My view is that they both have limitations. There is no inherent advantage in digital from that standpoint. Good digital can sound good. Good analog can sound good.

 

Vinyl is limited to about 40 minutes each LP and about 10 records every inch in your shelf.

 

No one disagrees here. But you are wrong if you think Digital has more or the same amount of limitations in it. Any cutting or mastering engineer will surely agree.

 

Thanks, Bluemooze. I glad we've cleared up that one.

 

In a way, yes, I think so. It all depends on your definition of "good" and "sound quality". Digital is only a good source in so far as it has the potential to allow for very accurately replicating recorded sounds (which, even if successful, you may or may not find pleasing). But to make all that detail actually sound like it's supposed to – so that sounds that were pleasing when recorded also seem pleasing in your room – is harder than simply making vinyl sound good because due to its technical limitations it actually "defuses" certain sounds that would not be pleasing to the ear when played back in your room and adds other sounds that can subjectively improve the listening experience. That makes it less accurate but more likely to sound good in a lot of instances. Vinyl, to me, is more like a painting by a great artist whereas digital is a photograph.

 

People on here still buy albums?????

 

lol, well played

 

Didn't you learn nothin' back in 2014?!

 

There seems to be a bit of a moebius loop aspect to all this Evidently I need a long vacation from this place

 

Thank you Steve for putting it so clearly. I now understand why I am enjoying my music so much more, I am hearing deeper into it and my upgrades over the years have allowed this to happen more and more until at this point I am very satisfied. I also now am aware of hearing deeper at some live concerts over others and the reason usually is the sound of the hall, the equipment the band is using and how well it is mixed. All this leads me to believe that it isn't digital verses analogue it is the system synergy and quality of the pieces that will allow this to happen. It may happen at a lower price point with analog, not sure, but maybe and that is why so many believe analog is the boss over digital.

 

I believe you have squarely hit the nail on the head with your explanation here. For many people, mainly the digital-exclusive team, "good" and "sound quality" simply means accuracy and the analogue-camp, while enjoying and wanting accuracy to varying extents, interpret good sound quality more in terms of euphonics/tonality. At least I do. That's why I migrated back to mostly listening to records in the latter part of the 1990's. I found my luck in finding pleasing sound far, far, far better with records than with CD's. Still listen to CD's though.

 

Vinyl sounds a touch less energetic and exact. A well-calibrated hifi TT with an audiophile record, tube phono stage, etc. will have an ever so faint variation from the true sound that for whatever reason is a bit more pleasant (which may or not be a placebo effect of vinyl fanclubism). It feels a bit more gentle on the ears. I doubt that it’s from picking up the artificiality of the digital rendering of the waves, more to do with the charm of fluttering back and forth from the exact in a unconsciously perceptible way. Whatever the difference is very slight, and is not worth fighting about. The real difference is the convenience vs. mechanical spectacle. Vinyl is more memorable for the latter aspect, and is my go-to for dedicated listening experiences, therefore. I could concede that digital sounds exact, though I would not concede that vinyl in its reached potential (the great mastered/presses records) has any significant deficiency that would make it lesser than great high resolution digital/CD. The difference in sound is negligible when done well, in short. So, negligible that liking one and disliking the other is a tad ridiculous. When poorly mastered discs enter the fray, then the scene gets muddier.

 

I hear "Laurel".

 

Are you saying that when mastering for and cutting a record there are not more limitations to think about like groove spacing, trackability for mainstream playback systems, IGD etc?

Im only aware of one limitation when it comes to production of digital music and thats peak level.

 

Well I can agree with this. Its simply a law of physics that a copy or immitation can never be perfect. But this applies to records too Im sure you would agree.
You cant put 100% of the tape onto a Laqcuer and with those afformentioned limitations the engineer has to be aware of it only complicates things further.

Im no expert when it comes to digital reproduction of analog recordings, my simple point of the thread is that given each formats optimal conditions digital should come out ahead.
This has nothing to do with our real world however as such conditions rarely are given.

The bottom line for me is that in the real world the overall production chain is what mainly determines the sound, not the format its played on.

 

Riiiiigggghhhttttt!!!!! Ha!!

 

You are on a roll!!!! Stepping into it!!!