Which is best - vinyl or CD ?

All in all as far as this thread is concerned, I have to agree with about 95% of what oliver and Tony has said. Analog, under the right conditions can just blow digital away in terms of just sheer warmth and fullness of sound.

As stated earlier, the only analog pressings I go with are the high-line audiophile pressing that were the "big thing" prior to digital in the late 70's and early 80's. I'll put my Beatles box set up against any of the CDs.

The advantages of digital is of course practicality and durability. But also that when a good digital re-master is done, the studio master tape is used as the template as opposed to most mass production analogs where a 2nd, 3rd or even a 4th generation copy of the studio master is used. Many factors involved here. I have audiophile pressings of Yes CTTE, Floyd's DSOTM, Moody's DOFP, Parson's Robot and their CD counterparts. The CDs come pretty close to the analog pressings, but still have that homogenized and cold digital sound. Just a little though. It has gotten better.

Then we come to SACD, which I think has potential. Great clear and warm sound like an analog LP, except there's a catch. You can't EQ it! You can't adjust the bass, mids, treble or anything! What you get is what you hear. I don't know if this an artist thing or what. When I bought my new unit with SACD capability, the first thing I bought was Floyd's DSOTM, and while it sounded very analog, I couldn't tweek it at all. To me the message from Waters and the gang was "This is the way WE mixed it, so you're stuck with it!" Give me a break!

Science certainly has the ability to make digital every bit (no pun intended) as good as analog. But what's keeping them from doing so? Answer is simple:

$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$.

Isn't capitalism wonderful?! Yes, even a staunch capitalist like myself has a few gripes!

But only a few, so shut up!

Edited by marktheshark

What's your CD player, Mark?

marktheshark wrote: You have a good point oliver, even at 50,000 kps the holes will never be filled.

That is a conceit. The human ear is very well understood by science, and one of the estabilshed facts is that it doesn't have an unlimited resolution. It is true that the standard audio CD resolution is at the threshold ... there are situations (depending on the waveform of the signal) where the digital signal contains small mistakes which are audible. But these mistakes are really not audible as "harshness". Oliver (and others) will always deny that and say that they can easily hear the difference on their system. But on the other hand that hasn't been proven yet ... which I find strange. IF the difference would be so easy to hear, even sceptics like myself could not possibly deny it. So a company selling audiophile equipment could simply set up "listening centers" all over the world where people can go and hear the difference for themselves.

That hasn't been done yet. Why? Because the difference is not nearly has big or easy to hear. It is in fact so small that audiophiles are even afraid of listening tests (at least they keep avoiding them). 

oliverstoned wrote: "IF the difference would be so easy to hear, even sceptics like myself could not possibly deny it." The problem is that a system needs to be fully optimized to really work. And you won't find it in shops, unfortunatly. But at my home, yes! And all the ones who tried were convinced!

But then WHY don't you find it in shops? I'm sure that there would be a market for a system like that. And what does that have to do with the vinyl/CD discussion ... I mean, were vinyls designed for 20,000 EUR systems? No.

Edited by MikeEnRegalia

^ sorry oliver, but my university education (information technology / electronic engineering) prevents me from agreeing with many of the things that you call essential. There is no power line optimisation, it's just one of the audio "myths". You're free to believe in anything you want, but for me it is simply not possible.

Search something to reply..search!

http://www.tnt-audio.com/clinica/system-tweaking_e.html

Edited by oliverstoned

...of course, don't try to do the tests at home, cause it would not be revealant as you need a minimum of quality devices, and "that you are using reasonable quality interconnects".

Or snake's charming!










Edited by oliverstoned

It's impressive and overall efficient indeed!