Can someone go to one source format and be happy?

FrantzM · Sep 20, 2016

microstrip said:
Ron,

IMHO we have as much controversies in vinyl as in digital ... The big advantage of vinyl controversies is that they considered subjective preferences and no one asks for proof and measurements!

Agree up to a point (you knew this was coming

)

Digital vs Vinyl ruffles feathers and you see people coming at each other with daggers and venom ..

digital vs digital or vinyl vs vinyl not so ... Those are more gentle: After all they're on the same side of the aisle and don't want a bloody civil war..

bonzo75 · Sep 20, 2016

FrantzM said:
Agree up to a point (you knew this was coming )

Digital vs Vinyl ruffles feathers and you see people coming at each other with daggers and venom ..

digital vs digital or vinyl vs vinyl not so ... Those are more gentle: After all they're on the same side of the aisle and don't want a bloody civil war..

Well, single teenagers cannot say my girlfriend is better than yours, and married men generally don’t say my wife is better than yours.

Point is, both camps are not debating, but only one of them is getting laid

FrantzM · Sep 20, 2016

bonzo75 said:
Well, single teenagers cannot say my girlfriend is better than yours, and married men generally don’t say my wife is better than yours.

Point is, both camps are not debating, but only one of them is getting laid

I don't get your point

I have both format and prefer digital. At one point I was an analog proponent. No more

There are LP in my collection that I don't care to get in CD format... When I need to listen to them I unearth the LP and play it. IF the albums is in CD format then it is the CD I play. Truth to be told there are numerous instances especially when the source is analog when the LP in its original form AAA is better to my ears than the CD . I do however find some gems that I prefer in digital. The Mercury Living Presence CDs come to mind.

Johnny Vinyl · Sep 20, 2016

To the OP's question....YES, it is completely possible to enjoy only one format on one's main system. I made that commitment several years ago and I have no intention to change it. Vinyl is my format of choice. Some might say that I'm limiting my access to new music, as there is more music available in the digital domain, but I can't listen to it all anyway and thereby wouldn't discover much more. There is enough new music available on the vinyl format to satisfy my needs, plus there are thousands and thousands of used album titles readily available that I haven't even discovered yet. I don't personally feel I'm lacking for anything.

Have I given up on digital? Absolutely not! I have a very decent selection of FLAC files on my PC and a couple of hundred CD/SACD's that I also listen to.....just not in my main system.

JackD201 · Sep 20, 2016

FrantzM said:
I don't get your point

I have both format and prefer digital. At one point I was an analog proponent. No more

There are LP in my collection that I don't care to get in CD format... When I need to listen to them I unearth the LP and play it. IF the albums is in CD format then it is the CD I play. Truth to be told there are numerous instances especially when the source is analog when the LP in its original form AAA is better to my ears than the CD . I do however find some gems that I prefer in digital. The Mercury Living Presence CDs come to mind.

I have some MLP LP reissues that are total duds. Original presses are very hard to find near mint and even noisy ones can cost a bundle. I could live with the CDs as well.

marslo · Sep 20, 2016

For me one of the great pleasures of our hobby is to listen do different sources and formats.
I agree with the opinion that the kind of music we listen to may influence the choice of the source, but I like my Living Stereo sacd collection played with La Fontiane CDP as well as native DSD files from Lampi DAC and my collection of vinyls.

But if I could afford only one source and format it would be digital and files, especially because of hires pcm and native DSD.

Ron Resnick · Sep 20, 2016

microstrip said:
Ron,

IMHO we have as much controversies in vinyl as in digital ... The big advantage of vinyl controversies is that they considered subjective preferences and no one asks for proof and measurements!

I think I mostly agree with you. Still I feel that controversies in vinyl about such things as direct drive versus belt drive seem less consequential than controversies in digital about such things as Redbook versus high-resolution formats. (I appreciate that that may not be a great analogy.)

Al M. · Sep 20, 2016

Ron Resnick said:
I think I mostly agree with you. Still I feel that controversies in vinyl about such things as direct drive versus belt drive seem less consequential than controversies in digital about Redbook versus high-resolution formats. (I appreciate that may not be a great analogy.)

To me as a music lover there is no controversy: Redbook carries many millions of titles, hi-res a few thousand or a few ten thousand at best. Game, set, match. High-res is irrelevant.

Given that CD can sound excellent, beyond our wildest dreams decades ago, makes that even more so. And implementation trumps format. Redbook on the best digital playback will handily beat hi-res on lesser players anytime.

bonzo75 · Sep 20, 2016

Al M. said:
To me as a music lover there is no controversy: Redbook carries many millions of titles, hi-res a few thousand or a few ten thousand at best. Game, set, match. High-res is irrelevant.

And given that CD can sound excellent, beyond our wildest dreams decades ago, makes that even more so. And implementation trumps format. Redbook on the best digital playback will handily beat hi-res on lesser players anytime.

The two are not necessarily mutually exclusive, and the last sentence is your assumption.

Al M. · Sep 20, 2016

bonzo75 said:
and the last sentence is your assumption.

No, I've heard it. And it just confirms what many digiphiles have said all along over the years.

bonzo75 · Sep 20, 2016

Al M. said:
No, I've heard it. And it just confirms what many digiphiles have said all along over the years.

So you heard Challenge Classics and Channel Classics DSD? And you realize that you don't have to choose between them and PCM, you can have both?

Al M. · Sep 20, 2016

bonzo75 said:
So you heard Challenge Classics and Channel Classics DSD? And you realize that you don't have to choose between them and PCM, you can have both?

It seems you are missing my point.

edorr · Sep 20, 2016

Al M. said:
Given that CD can sound excellent, beyond our wildest dreams decades ago, makes that even more so. And implementation trumps format. Redbook on the best digital playback will handily beat hi-res on lesser players anytime.

It is shocking how far 44/16 has come and on 2 channel for me format/resolution is indeed irrelevant and content rules. Case in point, my two favorite Patricia Barber albums are "Verse (available in DSD)" and "Mythologies'. There is close to zero SQ differentiation on my system.

MCH, different story. No 2 channel can compete with well recorded native MCH content (Channel Classic, 2L etc.). However, here obviously availability of content is an issue. I default to MCH for 90% of classical. I also listen to rock almost exclusively as ripped Blu Ray live concerts video.

bonzo75 · Sep 20, 2016

edorr said:
It is shocking how far 44/16 has come and on 2 channel for me format/resolution is indeed irrelevant and content rules. Case in point, my two favorite Patricia Barber albums are "Verse (available in DSD)" and "Mythologies'. There is close to zero SQ differentiation on my system.

MCH, different story. No 2 channel can compete with well recorded native MCH content (Channel Classic, 2L etc.). However, here obviously availability of content is an issue. I default to MCH for 90% of classical. I also listen to rock almost exclusively as ripped Blu Ray live concerts video.

Exactly. Anyone can survive on 1 medium. We can survive on Bose audio if required. But if someone wants the best quality of, then 2-ch digital for classical cannot reproduce a lot of the good stuff on good quality vinyl or good quality MCH classical. At the same time, there is enough of good 2-ch material, some people are pure vinyl, and those like Kal Rubinson are pure digital MCH

Audiophile Bill · Sep 20, 2016

I am definitely a multiple source man, enjoying vinyl, digital streaming (Tidal), ripped files, YouTube, dsd, hires, bluray etc.

I feel some mediums favour some recordings more than others.

Cheers

microstrip · Sep 20, 2016

bonzo75 said:
(...) But if someone wants the best quality of, then 2-ch digital for classical cannot reproduce a lot of the good stuff on good quality vinyl or good quality MCH classical. (...)

jn229 · Sep 20, 2016

Vinyl only in my system, one table with one arm. I have a CD player sitting in a box, on a shelf, collecting dust. Do not feel like I'm missing anything.

FrantzM · Sep 20, 2016

microstrip said:

+1 ...

Fidach Lad · Sep 23, 2016

Yes, I don't plan to depart from digital 44.1/16 with a NOS Dac. I currently have an Audio Note (UK) AN CD4.1x one-box player on my main system. I am switching from a Wavelength Proton Dac to a Wavelength V2 Brick with the linear, regulated power supply on my computer audio system for headphone use and summer place. AN(UK) was meant to come out with a ladder Dac line to replace their current line of NOS Dacs, but it hasn't happened yet. I am thinking about eating my way up the Wavelength USB Dac line for my main system, if AN doesn't go to ladder Dacs.

FrantzM · Sep 23, 2016

Hi

Came to realize that the OP simply display our OCD.. Our collective OCD. If you care about music then you just listen to whatever provide you with the kind of music you like. We OTOH are in a perpetual FOMO-state (Fear Of Missing Out for the non-millenial among us

). OCD by any other name.
Speaking strictly for myself... I am training myself not to dwell too much on the medium but on the music .. So I am (slowly) accepting, Spotify...
I listen however to Tidal and , Files and very rarely Vinyl depending on mood and on availability. Most often I succumb to the OCD and it has to be CD/Files (ripped CDs) or Tidal...

Can someone go to one source format and be happy?

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