Are you an analog audiophile or digital?

[yoda313]

So let's start up an easy flame fest here that should be "civil" but entertaining.

Are you the type that is pure analog or digital? Are you a mix?

I've gone strictly digital since I got my first cd player back in the early 90's. Since then I haven't looked back. Of course I still have audio cassettes and yes even records that are collecting dust. But the versatility of digital just far surpasses any perceived "purity" of analog.

Let the debate begin again!!!!

[Constant Gardener]

Anyone using digital speakers?

[BJ_M]

i tried them but the 1's were much louder than the 0's

[MOVIEGEEK]

I am totally digital now but I still keep the turntable and cassette deck in the garage just in case.
I get a kick when I go to A/V forums and some audiophiles still prefer tube amps over solid state.

[Marvingj]

I will always be 50-50 regardless of the norm....Betamax...Laser disc 4ever....

[fritzi93]

My vinyl is long gone, along with the turntables. But I still have a LOT of music on tape, which I play occasionally on my old TEAC 4140 reel-to-reel. Although I have lots of CDs as well.

Hell, I dunno. It seems to me analog is less, um, "harsh" sounding. But I'm no expert and don't pretend to be. Plus my hearing is not so great anymore. :P

[BJ_M]

I am totally digital now but I still keep the turntable and cassette deck in the garage just in case.
I get a kick when I go to A/V forums and some audiophiles still prefer tube amps over solid state.

some great sounding tube amps out there to be sure -- well to put it this way -- the 'sound' they have is pleasant

[gadgetguy]

I have to say I don't care enough to make the distinction. I seldom listen to music and when I do it's usually just the radio.

[dwill123]

I love CDs but I've got a lot of vinyl that will never see a CD disc unless I transfer it myself. I mean where else am I going to find a copy of Juicy Lucy - "Lie Back and It" on CD?

[lenti_75]

all digital...I was hating analog even before to use digital.

[AlanHK]

Other - you got me on this - what other choice would you want here???

Live.

[TheFamilyMan]

I'm sittin' on the fence with this one. I still listen to LPs and cassettes, but my new denon DCM-390 puts my analog equipment to shame. I'd imagine that about a $700-$800 upgrade for my turntable system might level the playing field, but my LP collection ain't worth it. I have not recorded anything on my Nakamichi tape deck in a few years, it's been replaced by my PC's sound card. I still have a stockpile of high-end cassettes that I bought when they were quickly disappearing and doubt that they'll ever be used up. Digital is King by the 9/10th rule, but analog is a worthy advisary if matched with the right equipment. BTW, the BEST audiophile systems I've ever heard have been all hot-tube systems (I'm using solid state; got a wife and family to support). Once you've experienced a truely high end audio system, you are ruined for life for anything else. BTW, all compressed digital sucks (IMO, of course). Cheers!

[edDV]

Digital is the now and future but I still like to crank up the reel to reel tapes and LP records to duplicate the historical sound and saturated distortions.

"Cranking it up" in analog beats digital. Isn't it supposed to distort?

This is similar to the "film look" vs. "too clean" video arguments.

[dcsos]

As someone who's heard Juicy Lucy..
Just wanna say Jake and the Family Jewels (?)

Analog using digital equiptment ..
Thorens..Revox...QuadAcoutic amp & Altec A7-500 "voice of the theatre"

Audigy 2 Sony Dat with SPDIF & Mp3 gear galore


When old timers complain about MP3's compresion just tell them it sounds better than those damn audio cassetes they used to lissen to in the 80's & 90's anyway!

[MOVIEGEEK]

When old timers complain about MP3's compresion just tell them it sounds better than those damn audio cassetes they used to lissen to in the 80's & 90's anyway!

I have to agree that the prerecorded cassettes were crap but I would buy the LP and put it on metal tape and it sounded great,the bass response from vinyl is much better.
We still discuss media quality except back in the day the question was "metal or chrome?".

[piano632]

Anyone for a $42,000 turntable?

http://www.ttvj.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=8&products_id=444

Hey, it gets a 5-star value rating!

[Nitemare]

The road I take to work every day is riddled with potholes. My 6 disc cd changer doesn't handle this too well so I still put music on cassettes for rides to work. No skipping, every time.

Once I hit the highway, I fire up the CDs. Not having to fast-forward or rewind because I'm not in the mood for a song is a huge bonus.

I'm 50-50 on this one. Love digital, still have room/need for analog.

[BJ_M]

Anyone for a $42,000 turntable?

http://www.ttvj.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=8&products_id=444

Hey, it gets a 5-star value rating!

there are better at only half that cost

[NiteLite]

I vote "Both". I use mostly digital but for music I still say nothing beats a well mixed 6 channel analog DVD-A / SACD.
For sure they depend on the Mixer and Sound Engineer of the product.
Sure some mixes stink but a well mixed sound from a person that enjoys the music himself on DVD-A or SACD cant be beat! And they are alive and doing ok. If people "really" enjoyed quality and, yes, "fun" sound a player would be included in the rack.
Only downside is I had to buy 18 quality cables for the hook-ups. (12 out - 6 in), but there are other options...combos, etc....
Had both for several years and made lots of people spend money after demo'ing.
IMHO
NL

[dadrab]

I normally leave discussion on the polls alone, but this one's near and dear to my heart.

I still own 1,400 records and probably will until I pass into the great byte-bucket beyond. To me, they represent a childhood, youth and young adult life of browsing little shops on hidden avenues to find that one store housing a real treasure. No internet back then. You couldn't just "go find" what you wanted. One really had to search. The joy of the "find" and the anticipation of the first listen is what it's all about

I too have many treasures that will never see a commercial pressing to CD, so I've been converting vinyl to disc for about seven years now and have gotten pretty damn good at it. Many of the discs I burn retain the "warmth" of the vinyl, but have the annoying pops and clicks removed through the magic of good software.

I have to say, I prefer digital. Music was not meant to be muddied with clicks and pops. Those who argue differently - well...I take exception with you. And, I've had those discussions with the "vinyl purists." They don't hold water...

UNTIL

...they get the MP3 compression part of the arguement.

Does MP3 have a place? Why certainly.

Do MP3s have a lossy sound when played through speakers? Yep. Sorry to break the news to you.

My ears can hear a difference.

But, a good old WAV CD? They're hard to beat

[SingSing]

Only Digital music sound better in digital.

Acostic music including voice, classical... sound better in Analog.

[träskmannen]

If I really want to listen to the music actively I go analogue. I prefer the sound from my LPs to the sound of the same recording on CD. Why? I can't say. Part psychology and part habit I guess - I am so used to how some of my records sound that even a better, cleaner version of the same recording would sound wrong to me. I guess I sub-consciously expect the LPs to sound better...

I will never play music on amplifiers corrupting the signal by giving fake "concert hall sound" and other unnecessary effects if I can help it.

On the other hand I play CDs on a daily basis, you can't beat how handy it is and although I prefer LP I cannot say I dislike CDs - they sound great. MP3 is good enough for the car, with all the noise from the road, the wind and the engine masking the shortcomings of the compressed format but I see no need to play it at home. It will never sound better than a CD so why convert it?

[ozymango]

I'm a technophile -- I love it all!!!

Tube amps are cool (they're pretty to look at when they're on), but to me they just ain't worth the investment in electricity and tube replacement costs. Not for day-to-day use, anyway, though I love my RCA Regenoflex radio from the 20's, it's a serious work of art. Now if I could just find something besides talk radio and Mexican pop music to listen to on the AM band!

I love digital images but there'll always be a place on my shelf and in my heart for a big stack of film negatives and old 8mm and Super 8mm movie reels. And I've found that digital and analog live quite nicely together.

And did you know this is the fiftieth anniversary of the first digital image? The guy who did it now lives in Oregon, not far from where I live, how cool is that?

Back in 1957 Russell Kirsch asked “What would happen if computers could look at pictures?”

From the headlines:

The ghostlike black-and-white photo only measured 176 pixels on a side—a far cry from today’s megapixel digital snapshots—but it would become the Adam and Eve for all computer imaging to follow. In 2003, the editors of Life magazine honored Kirsch’s image by naming it one of “the 100 photographs that changed the world.”

Kirsch and his wife Joan, an art historian, now reside in Oregon. Together, they use computers to analyze paintings and define the artistic processes by which they were created. Son Walden—whose face helped launch the era of computerized photography—works in communications for Intel following a successful career as a television news reporter.

In an interview with him in the local news, he (Kirsch senior) said that he used square pixels because he was in a hurry and just wanted to see some quick results, and that everybody since then has copied his mistake! So he feels bad about that.

[TheFamilyMan]

Live.

Amen, brother! Unfortunately my living room isn't big enough for that

[SingSing]

Live.

Live is classified under analog.

[edDV]

Live.

Live is classified under analog.

Everything but the keyboard and drum machine. Anything sampled is native analog.

[John]

IM all digital now, even transfered all my cd's to usb hard drive, but I love the sound of vynal, I like to get my turntable out on the occasional sunday afternoon and crank it up,you cant beat the sound. oh that pure raw sound, think i will go get it out now.

[TheFamilyMan]

What if digitial equipment is used for the live mix? Live is live, even if pre-recorded material or digitially created sounds are used in the performance. It's the recording of the live music that falls into analog or digital reproduction realm.

[edDV]

True, all microphones are analog.

Back in the early CD days, they made a big deal of AAD, ADD, DAD, DDD etc.

First letter is the live recording format (usually multi-track). Second letter is mix format. Third is the distribution format.

Even DDD discs had analog michrophones and probably analog acquisition equalization.

16bit digital audio is constrained for dynamic range. 24bit for acquisition and mixing is fairly recent.

[akrako1]

While I'm on the fence in the whole digital vs. analog debate... but there's something to be said for a physical, analog media - ie vinyl. Unless you reconvert your entire digital collection to the newest technology available, you might not be able to play your media in 50 years - or maybe even in 10 or 20. What if you stored up your oldest mp3's onto 3.5" discs? Could you even find a drive to read it? Hopefully you didn't pick MP3Pro, ATRAC, or another proprietary format that didn't take off.. What do you think will happen in another 10 years?? Hopefully, the tech companies will continue to build some backward compatibility into their products (you can still play cd's on a BR machine), but how long will that continue? It seems SACD and DVD-A are being phased-out.. how you gonna play 'em? or a DAT? Granted analog tape has been phased out, even though you can still buy players/recorders, but if you use the test of time as a gauge, vinyl is the winner - and probably will continue to be supported.

I'll go home and put on a virgin-vinyl copy of some new LP, and realize the benefit. (and yes, a lot of todays artists - the ones worth anything - tend to put out vinyl as well as digital). A clean piece of vinyl on a nice deck blows away a cd. Natural sounding and bright, it sounds much more like the instruments are in the room with you. "warm" is how some describe vinyl and tube gear. I'd rather call it a 'natural' sound, but "warm" does work to describe the difference vs. the "cold" digital.

Another way to look at it... what the "resolution" of CD? one 'bit' of a .wav has a height (1/2^16), and length (1/44,100 of a second long)... What the "resolution" of vinyl? The size of the vinyl molecule/atom.