I reckon you can get better sound digitally for your £ than vinyl but I have pretty much stopped chasing the analogue dragon. Would like to have a listen to an SME deck at some stage. The irony is that I can only now afford to buy one yet have little motivation to spend on that side of the replay chain.In a nutshell!
To my ears, digital and vinyl playback are just two different approximations of the truth which are equally valid, especially when you get into the realms of dCS and SME
DACs vs Turntables
- Thread starter hermit
- Start date
I had an audio sector dac, it was a lovely thing. As you say it sounded quite organic (not digital). At this time a lot of dacs had a digital edge/ glare, for want of a better expression, you didn’t realise it was their until you heard the nos dac which was free of this. It sounded amazing with acoustic, jazz, female vocals but coped less well with more rocky stuff. I’m sure dacs have moved on though.
As per your original post, I almost never listen to my streaming set up (pi4, etc) but concentrate on vinyl. The whole process of choosing a physical disc and placing it on a turntable is totally relaxing and that’s what’s most important to me at the moment. I find digital distracting and tend to get bored easily - but then maybe my streamer isn’t up to scratch?
Del monaco
Del Monaco
I think it is the ritual that is the thing with vinyl. You have the covers, the notes, the process of extraction and placement, the almost limitless tweakability. I think a turntable becomes part of the family more than other formats. It’s harder to let go. I know I don’t play my collection as much nowadays but I find it hard to imagine being without it. But I am thinking seriously about this. I also have a lovely classical cd collection upstairs. It wonder if I’m brave enough?
It is down to mindset, there is no reason why you cannot sit down to a full album via a streaming provider. On the other hand I listened to The The - Hanky Panky yesterday & it was a far from relaxing experience. 2 x 10” discs at 45 rpm, constantly up & down to change a record which was hard to take off the platter.
Which DAB tuner is this? I've never had one in the house, only in the cars.
Del monaco
Del Monaco
It’s built into the Yamaha 803D. I did read several reviews that spoke of its merits. I barely use it, preferring FM. I remember the Arcam 10 coming out and it sounded like chattering monkeys in the high frequencies.It seems things have changed for the better. Not bad though. The FM opens the sound more.
Del monaco
Del Monaco
And there are interfaces like Roon that give you extra user experiences.
Robert
Tapehead
Old thread resurrected here but my 2p worth is quite simple.
Mastering is king.
A phone connected to your amplifier via a headphone socket can outperform a £50K vinyl front end if playing a better master.
Set mastering aside, as in both the digital and vinyl version are considered equally good, and everything rests on personal preference. Vinyl and digital can never and will never sound the same. Not possible, so there will always be listener preference.
Mastering is king.
A phone connected to your amplifier via a headphone socket can outperform a £50K vinyl front end if playing a better master.
Set mastering aside, as in both the digital and vinyl version are considered equally good, and everything rests on personal preference. Vinyl and digital can never and will never sound the same. Not possible, so there will always be listener preference.
These Jap boxes can sound pretty good. I think most of the lower end Yamaha stuff is boring but there is a top-of-the-range Yamaha AV receiver in my daughters studio system, driving B&W 705s, and it's very good.
Because vinyl is less likely to reveal the shortcomings of most solo piano recordings?
It seems to be the hardest thing to get right. Along with choral music...
No, because it adds that lovely piano vibrato turntables do so well ;0)
John
Rack’em Up!
I see you can stream that on Spotify, will have to give that a listen.
Del monaco
Del Monaco
I used to own the 501. Very good for its price and never boring. The 803D is a bit of a gem. Always liked the look of it and I snagged it for really good price. It does everything very well and it doesn’t mess with the presentation. It drives my Maggies very well. It’s the best sounding system I’ve ever owned and I’ve been through Naim, Nad, Musical Fidelity, Spendor, B&W etc. Yamaha have pedigree and know what they are doing. As with the AV receiver though, always apply the pure direct button. It does make a difference.
I've one too and for the money it's brilliant, funnily enough the DAB tuner is excellent and I have a Ron Smith FM array up the back garden so I listen to both DAB (Jazz FM ironically enough) and FM radio 2 & radio 4 and the odd time also radio Scotland FM for the football.
I recently bought a Pi 3B and a Topping D 10s for a £99 and it sounds excellent and, to my ears anyway, pretty analogue sounding.
I have a Yamaha Musiccast TT with an AT VM 95ML cart set up too but I rarely listen to a record these days.
I listen mainly to DAB/FM and local streamed music via the Pi>Topping Dac>Yamaha 803D>Elac BS 312 speakers.
killie99
pfm Member
Except when the record has been pressed off centre, not a problem you ever get with digital
hermit
Aye, right.
No. I actually sold the Audiosector and I'm just using the Yamaha WXC-50 on the very rare occasion I listen digitally. I'm skint again now so quite happy with the status quo.
sonddek
Trade: SUPATRAC
I think Dacs have moved on a lot. Back in the day I had a Marantz CD 94, then a Meridian which were highly regarded players. Although my Vinyl rig wasn't top notch ( LP12, Ittok 3, Lingo, Lyra ), I still preferred listening to records although I still acknowledged the limitations ( crap pressings, surface noise, spurious noises, fragility etc ).
My come to Jesus moment was a relatively low cost lampizator ( early days ). For the first time digital seemed fleshed out and believable. I now own an ANK Dac 4 which I built from a kit. It's pretty much more of the same. My other Eureka moment was the realisation of the huge differences in recordings and that many ( not all ) of the original digital recordings and transfers were the best. The Steve Hoffman site has proved invaluable for sourcing or discovering the best sounding discs.
Streaming is a mixed bag, its not always clear what version you may be listening to. A lot of remasters are awful. Rock and pop is badly served from this point of view.
My come to Jesus moment was a relatively low cost lampizator ( early days ). For the first time digital seemed fleshed out and believable. I now own an ANK Dac 4 which I built from a kit. It's pretty much more of the same. My other Eureka moment was the realisation of the huge differences in recordings and that many ( not all ) of the original digital recordings and transfers were the best. The Steve Hoffman site has proved invaluable for sourcing or discovering the best sounding discs.
Streaming is a mixed bag, its not always clear what version you may be listening to. A lot of remasters are awful. Rock and pop is badly served from this point of view.