AAA Vinyl or Digital Transfer of the Mastertape - which would you prefer?

Uhmm, it's like, most studio engineers most of the time. If there is a term means Joe Sixpack Engineer, then it's that guy.

 

This study specifically used professionals and audiophiles in controlled environments and their own homes.

 

Have to say, Analog. Digital isn't even a consideration.

Mostly because Analog would require me to interact with it. Caring for it is more than half the fun.

 

Does this mean that, despite the tape winning every time over CD, carefully done digital wins (in your opinion) over carefully done vinyl every time?

 

Well, vinyl is more fun to have in the collection, but the CD (correctly mastered) is a vastly better format. I would prefer a AAA vinyl that incl the CD. Best of both worlds.

 

Agreed. When whittled down purely to their weaknesses, I think the potential for a weaker vinyl pressing outweighs the potential flaws in an A-D transfer.

 

AAA done well. Pretty simple really

What would one prefer.

Led Zep Classic records analog remastered album which sound amazing

Or

Jimmy Page digital remasters from last year? They sound nice but the Classic reissues sound amazing.

2nd very recent example.
Bowie's 40th anniversary analog Ziggy which sounds amazing

Or the rest of the 5 year box set which is digital and just sounds meh boring
Emi100 1997 analog pressing of Hunky Dory sounds great, where the current digital sounds a distant 2nd best.

Led Zep and Bowie digital vinyl reissues are examples of current state of the art for digital remastering.

Yet, they are easily beaten in sound quality by excellent AAA remasters.

End of any debate as far as I am concerned

 

Be that as it may (I have no knowledge, not my field) it's not very diplomatic to say such things even if true, and I always question why people behave like that and the motives behind it. To draw an analogy to my area of expertise, Warren Buffett doesn't go around saying how great an investor he is and how everyone else sucks even though there is a large element of truth to it. Res ipsa Loquitur and all.

 

I voted for AAA vinyl, just because I think it's more fun to listen to LPs than to digital files.

 

Being retired, I don't have much money to invest in Hi-Fi these days, but I do know my CD player outperforms my turntable, so digital would be my choice.

 

Those comparisons don't really capture the essence of this debate.

 

I agree. The question is basically Digital at its best or Vinyl at its best? I don't think those Zep or Bowie CD's would be considered digital at its best.

 

Why?

You don't want the examples of the best mastering and how poor digital is compared to well done analog mastering of analog recordings. I thought that is the essence of the debate.

 

please tell.

What is digital mastering at its best? we are talking vinyl digital masters.

CD's are a given in being inferior sound.

 

Another agree here. Even so, it is generally a subjective view as to which of those Zep or Bowie albums sound better. My opinions on them are a bit more nuanced - generally I prefer Page's digitally remastered albums, but it depends on which particular album. The early RCA Hunky Dory and Ziggy Stardust CDs are my preferred versions of these two Bowie albums but generally I prefer the vinyl versions of the others.

 

Below are a few examples for modern examples of best digital mastering vs. best vinyl mastering.
Outkast - Aquemeni - Orginal CD mastering vs the original vinyl mastering
Red Hot Chili Peppers - Bloodsugarsexmagic - Original CD mastering vs the vinyl remastering
Beastie Boys - Ill Communication - Original CD mastering vs the vinyl remastering
Many others.....

In addition, there just seems to be an abundance of original vinyl masterings that were never equalled in the digital realm like: Nick Drake - Pink Moon, Pink Floyd - Animals, The Beatles - numerous titles, Led Zeppelin II, T. Rex - Electric Warrior, James Brown - The Payback, Leonard Cohen - numerous titles...list goes on.

You can probably compare any of the Music Matters jazz titles to their best counterpart and they will win ever time.

Classical belongs to digital from what I can gather.

 

So you rail in on me and you forgot our forum host? I always question why people behave like that and the motives behind it.

I like the basball umpire quote "I call 'em as I see 'em". I basically live by that.

Diplomacy is for politicians.

 

Out of curiosity, which of these wins? I've had Aquemeni on my Amazon vinyl wish list for years, but I never pull the trigger because I find it so rare for hip hop LPs to sound special.

 

Digital transfer. I'll take any noise from the DAC process over vinyl playback noise any day of the week

 

The original vinyl (not the reissue) is the one to get and it is a fine sounding piece (3-lp set) of vinyl. The reissues has been reviewed to sound similar to the CD and inferior to the original vinyl pressing.

I find hip-hop to be ideal on vinyl as long as it's spread across the appropriate number of lps. When 1 lp gets above 40 minutes, then CD (if mastered well) would be the way to go. There are some fine sounding CDs from the late 80s/early 90s and not coincidentally, this was an era where vinyl was being maxed on on 1-lp and DMM. Even some of these can sound good but not sure if they would be better than the CD. From 95-2000, hip-hop on vinyl tended to be at it's best but it's still case by case. Luckily, this is one of my favorite eras. During this time period, CD mastering technology was peaking but loudness was beginning, which may be a reason the vinyl sounds better.

I have 100+ select hip-hop titles in my collection and a large number are better than their CD counterparts IME. Some highlights include: Outkast (Aquemini - OG), Outkast (Atliens - OG), Goodie Mob (Soul Food), Witchdoctor (A S.W.A.T. Healin' Ritual), Kilo - Organized Bass, Tupac - All Eyez on Me, Dre - Chronic 2001, Eminem - Slim Shady Lp, Eminem - Marshall Matthers LP, Kendrick Lamar - Good Kid, Mad City, Kendrick Lamar - To Pimp a Butterfly, Three Six Mafia - Chapter 2. World Domination, Notorious B.I.G. - Ready to Die, Prodigy - H.N.I.C., Beastie Boys - Ill Communication (RI), Beastie Boys - Check Your Head (RI) and Beastie Boys - Hello Nasty (RI). This is not to say that the CDs for these are bad, most are pretty good actually but some are likely victims of the loudness wars.

There are more but this is off the top of my head. Anything that is real recent, like Kendrick, isn't on the same level SQ wise as the others but I thought it was worth noting. A few are all analog but most are likely cut from well prepared digital masters. Production teams like Organized noise were tracking live instrumentation and laying these tracks down to 2" tape and mixing analog, and we know how meticulous Dre was out on the West Coast. People like Prodigy were recording at Electric Ladyland and many of these hip-hop recording budgets were huge. Tupac and Em both had an affinity for tracking to tape. Pac used to sit in the studio all day, smoke and record. No wonder he had hundreds of songs accumulated when he passed.

Most of these are originals that I'm listing but the reissues (RI) are noted. Surprisingly some of these lps were remastered by George Marino and Chris Bellman. I think Ill Communication was the first or one of the first lps cut all analog at Sterling when they got that lathe back up and running. Well done vinyl like some of these are truly a lost art, there is nothing like it. Unfortunately, there is more garbage out there than out. You just need to know how to weed through it. Sorry for carrying on.

 

I don't think that is a given to everybody.

 

The essence of the debate is taking a given album and giving it the best possible analog mastering and the best possible digital mastering and saying which you would prefer. The debate is not comparing two things that are currently available both in digital and analog and saying one is better than the other. There is no way of saying both got an equal effort when mastered in both the digital and analog domains. It is perfectly fine if you think analog wins every time, but not everyone will agree as you can see from this thread.

 

It's a "given" for a tiny niche of audiophiles who like to state opinion as fact.

 

Does this mean, in your opinion, all the great sounding AAA LPs issued before there were digital transfers would have sounded better after a "careful digital transfer"?

And why would that be, if so? Isn't the range of digital more limited than analogue? Please educate us because this is not inherently obvious.