Upgrading DAC section vs entering the world of vinyl?

With the lps you have a double enjoyment: when you receive and discover your purchased lp, and when you first listen to it.

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I had nearly same concerns about investing on vinyl player and records and while I am a newbie I can share with you the some advices given by two friends of mine :

  • The first one is a vinyl collector from the 70’s and he was skeptic. He told me that if I already had a collection of Vinyl investing in a decent system was a very logical decision, otherwise it doesn’t make sens. First because digital is very convenient today and I would not have any improvement by buying vinyls that weren’t initially recorded in 100% analogue system (so at least 40’s old). It could be good reedition but no new albums. Secondly the cost could be huge if I want to start a new collection from scratch.

  • The second one is a sound engineer. He explains to me that the lack of dynamic of the vinyl makes it not very suited for classical music. He explains to me that the most important wasn’t the support but the quality of the recordings and concluded that I could find wonderful and terrible recordings and sounds takes in both vinyl and digital (it seems that early recording had a problem of balance : some instruments are audible from the right speaker while others are audible from the the left one).

So I guess the answer depends on the following factors : what kind of music you are listing to ? do you already have a large collection of vinyls or are you intending to start one ? Are you ok to listen to albums released before the 80’s ?

I can add that vinyl collecting needs some competence, for the same album you can have multiple versions that sounds very differently. Some actual released and rééditions seems to be sourced from cd’s or even MP3’s. So finding the good ones could be time consumer.

If you really like some records and want to have them on vinyl for visual experience, sounds proprieties and occasional listing session, I think it could make sense to invest in a decent and not high-end vinyls system. But starting a new collection and investing in high-end system, I am less convinced.

Sorry for my English and best regards

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@anon56814208 Thank you for sharing your opinion! You gave me some food for thought. Well, I intend to start a new collection of vinyls, since I don’t have one. I listen to hip-hop, RnB, soul, jazz, so I enjoy a lot of old recordings. A lot of my favourite albums are from the 80s and 90s. You mention that most purely analogue recorded vinlys are made before the 80s, but aren’t also a lot of true analogue vinyls made during the 80s and 90s? Yes, finding a proper genuine release would require some investigation and research but that might be also part of the fun even though requiring time and efforts.

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Sounds like vinyl might be for you. As I listen to mainly 21st century rock and some 80s/90s pop and occasionally classical, I’ll stick to CD!

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Hi,

You’re welcome. As I said I am newbie so I can a answer to this question with lot of certitude but what I heard is that classical music starts to be recorded in digital at the very late 70’s and the process went crescendo for other genres in the early 80’s.

For Jazz, soul and classic rock, I think lot of gems were released before the 80’s but for R&B as I think it’s more recent it’s less probable but I am only assuming.

Hope someone could enlighten us about this topic.

Best regards

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Just for reference, some people who prefer vinyl to digital do still prefer vinyl versions of things recorded digitally to CD or streamed versions. And some people who say or imply that they think digitising music makes it inferior have still liked their vinyl when it has been played back through a system that digitises all inputs then converts back to analogue (e.g. Naim Atom and Nova, and some Linn systems). So it would seem it is not the digitising per se that is the problem for them, rather, I think, they simply prefer the sound that the vinyl record/replay process stamps (pun intended!) on it. Other people prefer otherwise. Some equally like both.

Vinyl does of course have the added visual/tactile side to it, which us the one thing that I personally do miss. It is tempting to keep some old albums around for that, maybe a few key ones, to hold and read when putting an album on…

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I would say if you mostly listen to albums made after 1985 approx, I would not bother with vinyl. Because they will sound the same as cds, just transferred on lp. And most nowadays lps are not correctly done.
You will have a cd sound on vinyl with pops and cracks, warped lps…in a lot of cases. And more expensive than a cd or download.
But for all the music recorded before the mid 80’s, the vinyl will sound better in >90% of the time. Of course, in my humble opinion and experience.

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@frenchrooster I didn’t know that true analogue LPs are mainly restricted in the time period before 1985. Yes, I plan to listen mostly to records after 1980-1985.

Even if LPs after 1985 are mainly from CD source they will be still played on a different music source (turntable system vs NDX/nDAC). If my future turntable setup has better SQ, wouldn’t it be worthy still to get LPs (of course at a much higher price). If not better, the sound from the turntable system might be at least different from the digital source. I think this is the other side of this argument, however I’m not sure how much is it worth it. If such LPs are used it may be mainly a visual experience and have different added value.

I made the tough decision to sell my aging RP3 and Naim CDP, and my LPs and focus on only Qobuz as a source.

I am very happy I made that decision and stuck to it single-mindedly, otherwise I’d have 2 or more mediocre sources, instead of one excellent one.

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Maybe a Rega Rp3 / exact/ Rega phono would be enough, for occasional listenings and fun.
With something better, you can have a better sound than your digital rig, but I am not sure you will have a lot good sounding lps after that period.
Try to see if you can find a lot of audiophile remasters, from Pure Pleasure, Analog Productions, Mobile Fidelity…for your albums.
If yes, maybe a better turntable is a good choice.
Difficult to respond, because I am not you…:grinning_face_with_smiling_eyes:

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I noticed I preferred my older LPs to newer ones. A friend reminded that older LPs were recorded as analogue while a lot of recent reissues are from digital remastering. I’m not saying this is a binary assessment but I was “blind” initially to the source of difference.

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Genuine question…whats your contingency if your network or Internet…or even Qobuz …goes down?

Another interesting aspect of this - digital vs vinyl - to consider…

At the heart of collecting (anything) is a deep routed human desire to collect, curate, catalogue and to own. Like stamps, or antiques. People get into these things and collect. So, aside from all the good points about different audible presentation, one of the really positive things about a record collection (and CD collection) is that you actually own the media. For all time. Not rented, leased, licensed or borrowed.

I happen to be really luck that both my adult children are musicians and are interested in music. So, I am content in the knowledge that when I am gone, our record collection of 2000+ albums will continue to be enjoyed as my legacy.

In-the-meantime, I “own” and enjoy the physical media. The very tactile nature of selecting, buying, collecting, curating and using a physical thing. And very much enjoying the different musical nature of vinyl. We have lots of albums on multiple formats. As reported above, it’s just interested to hear the difference. Often, the vinyl is preferred, but not always. (For the record - no pun intended - I also enjoy CD’s and stream too. So, no bias in that regard).

Hope that adds another interesting idea - owning a thing - to a worthwhile debate?

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I am so glad you mention this.

Vinyl is a sum of the whole. The tactile experience adds a lot as well. Collecting then, placing one on the turntable, turning them over. I feel more connected with the music than with digital. Does not mean I do not listen to a LOT of streaming though. It is just that when a record plays I tend to listen to more full albums and rediscover nooks and dusty corners of the music I have not visited in a long while.

I have a lot of new vinyl, which, according to the comments above, should all be from digital source then. But the “decoding” is following a completely different path here. So I do think it is perfectly possible to still prefer the vinyl source still. The result cannot just be exactly the same. For me, when comparing a good vinyl copy to the digital version on my system the digital sounds more clinical, more crisp, more detailed but the vinyl sounds warmer and roomier and in some sense more real.

I read a comment once about vinyl where someone compared it to Agent Smith in the Matrix when he states that initial versions of the matrix was too perfect causing the humans inside to go insane. Perhaps that is the attraction of vinyl. The slight imperfections and foibles that as a whole creates a total package that resonates with something inside of us.

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I agree generally for your post. However don’t forget that in your case you have also a much better analogue source than digital, Uniti Star vs Rp6/ ania pro/ aria.
I buy sometimes new albums on vinyl and some are very well made, even if they are hires transfer on lp. On my system, Nds/555dr/ Melco N1z2/ ER/ lps, the sound is very similar to my Rega Rp10/ Lyra Delos/ ear 912 ( more than half less expensive).
But with true very well analog lps, or Mobile Fidelity remasters, the lp sound is very highly superior to same albums on hires tracks.

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Not arguing at all. Kinda what I was alluding to I guess.

But this makes me think. My Star is converting the incoming analogue signal to digital and then back to analogue. Why would the result then be better even if the analog signal is superior? I assume it would use the same chipsets to do the business. So if it can encode/decode analog so well it should do the same job on digital, especially as I am streaming in already decoded PCM from Roon?

I can’t respond. All I can say is that your Rega analogue source is more on the level of a bare Ndx2 than Uniti Star.

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Not arguing with that at all. Just curious about still hearing the difference on the same piece of of equipment which is the limiting factor.

But despite all that I get enough joy out of vinyl to keep going and not upgrading anything else any time soon.

Of course, my point was not intended to invite you for upgraditis.
And if upgrades should be, it would be more on the digital side for you, and true analog amplifier too.
But it’s not an absolute necessity to enjoy the music.

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Hahaha I am on medication for this! LOL

In terms of relating to the OP’s initial question I’m trying to say that the choice for vinyl is not as easy as “does it sound better than digital” for everyone. It is more a question of does it sound and feel better for the observer and in/on their environment / system / budget.

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