I have been struggling with this for years, very much in agreement to Innocent_Bystander’s reply. The amplifier is not what you should be looking to change.
By and large, streaming is sounding more like analogue, and analogue is sounding more digital as time marches on.
The crux of the matter is how hi-fi equipment has changed during the analogue/digital transition,so keep all your components (which includes stands, cables and the room itself) in balance. Pay special attention to interconnects, they can make substantial differences.
The only reason to have an analogue player is because you may have a large record collection. New vinyl recordings are digital in any case, not much point paying £40 for a record when Qobuz/Tidal are around.
I have two systems (2 houses). One has a Chord Hugo2 and LP12, the other an old NDX. Both systems and both formats sounding similar now to a point where the equipment disappears and you just get lost in the music. Sorry to say there is a lot of misplaced upgradingitus. Try tweaking cables, stands, auditioning super luminas and place some rugs!
I’ve got a good collection of records and although there are re releases of some albums digitally mastered they still sound far better than streamed when replayed through the analogue turntable.
Obviously original master tapes used are better but the playback system has its advantages.
That’s a very sweeping statement, Jim. There’s ‘streamed’ and there’s ‘streamed’. In other words, there are many different interpretations and approaches. I have quite a good turntable and a reasonable streamer. I’d agree that they sound different, but I couldn’t say one is always better.
Hi Clive.
In my case it’s always better but the point of my comment was that even digitally mastered records sound better “ or different “ if you like when played back on the analogue source rather than a digital one.
Yes it might be a replay quality imbalance but my choice and enjoyment is the same.
The huge efforts that many go to for the analogue sound in streaming is amazing it seems to be the holy grail so why not keep it that way.
You can’t make a silk purse from a sow’s ear so why try just enjoy it for what it is.
I was with you until that last sentence. The sound may be, usually is, different and then its a personal choice as to which you prefer.
When the source is recorded digitally, as with most studios these days, is analogue via turntable not then degrading the source, or is non conversion from digital to playing via digital, keeping the original silk purse?
Hi Bruss
Rightly or wrongly just as I hear things but the analogue sound is the different I prefer and seems to be the goal for most.
I understand the original mixing process but it just depends on the playback source one might prefer given the choice.
The way things are these days and this hobby being more a generational thing then availability will probably turn out to be the buying factor.
The generational thing is probably relevant to the vast majority of ‘listeners’. Even my generation (age 68) struggle to understand my spending habits on hifi.
I guess for me I ditched my LP12 shortly after cd’s became available. Ever since, digital done well, has been my thing. The P8 I run sounds really good. In fact almost as good as my streaming solution.
I’ve got a reasonable collection of records and indeed CD if not available and I get pleasure from both but I do prefer the record over the file even if it’s the same one.
The holy grail seems to be to get the digital source to sound “ like “ the analogue one as the title of this thread suggests.
If only you still had the LP12
Best wishes to you.
Early digital was very harsh sounding (at least to my ears), and analogue sounded better. Vinyl also had it’s negative aspects, but I could live with them better than the harsh sound off early digital. Digital improved over time, to the point where I felt the two were equitable, though certainly not identical (and of course different mastering being perhaps the norm, sounding identical would be rare, even if the rest of the processes had absolutely no effect on the sound.)
Recent advances in DACs have, certainly to my ears, made digital generally sound better than vinyl, provided that the recording itself has not been bastardised, as happened in the so-called “loudness Wars“ where dynamic range on CDs was artificially highly compressed for commercial reasons.
I think the search for “analogue sounding“, as opposed to vinyl sounding, at least for some of us can be restated as a search for natural sounding, which the early digital failed to achieve but with a good DAC is now achievable, and on which the vinyl medium and replay process places greater limitations.
Hi
I agree with all you said until the bit I quoted.
I think that this very process is what compliments the sound that people aspire to.
Nothing is perfect it’s all a matter of the compromise we are most comfortable with and the collection of media owned or available.
My comment was based on the thread title and in my opinion they still sound different in different ways.
It’s only my interpretation and opinion of the question.
Thinking out loud.
‘About two years ago I had the Linn Keel subchasis and armboard installed and to be honest found the results so clinical and cold that I reverted to the lower level Kore’
Amen to that! I’ve had the same experience.
The old skool sound, when Naim/Linn/B&W were friendly to each other, was fuzzy, warm and probably not terribly accurate, but it was a whole lot more fun and engaging. Violins sounded like they were played on a wood instrument and not a taught wire.
Back to the original post, streaming is not going to mimic vinyl, and nor should that be the goal. Hi Res has brought streaming to a point where it compares very well with analogue sound. If you are old and have a large vinyl collection (like me), digital will not stir your soul in the same way. But my experience recently is streaming is finally more than equal to vinyl sound and just as musical.
