There has been some discussion lately about listening to vinyl rips through the latest generation of DACs. The idea is that the newest DACs are so transparent to the source that listeners cannot actually distinguish between the digital replay of the vinyl and the original vinyl itself. For the moment, and for the sake of argument, let us assume that this is the case.
Ideally, and in theory, the vinyl rip, or perfect digital copy, is played through a transparent digital source in a system. We can now hear the sound of certain combinations of cartridges/arms/turntables/phono cables/phono stages without physically having the gear in our system. This would seem to be a great tool for evaluating the sound of analog components.
We assume that a vinyl rip tells us what the gear used for the rip would sound like in our system and room context. However, we cannot also make assumptions about how the same gear sounds in the original system in which it is actually located. That system has different amps, speakers, and cables, and it is in a completely different room than ours. So we should conclude that the vinyl rip sounds different in our system than the actual LP sounds in the other system.
I was reminded of this today when I heard a vinyl rip in an extremely transparent system with one of the latest DACs. The rip sounded unconvincing. I do not really know why, but the voice was completely different from how this singer usually sounds. The pitch was off as though the turntable used for the ripping was being played at too high a speed. Strange. I wonder how different it sounds in the original system in which it was ripped or why it really sounded like this. Perhaps it was up sampling in the replay chain. I really can't say.
Furthermore, as technology improves, ADCs get upgraded and the vinyl rips will sound better. DACs continue to improve also. So how perfect is the copy and how transparent is the replay if the equipment to make them will be better next year? They can not be perfect copies now or played through completely transparent DACs now if they will be upgraded in the future.
I have directly compared an analog recording to a native quad DSD recording of the same performance. They did not sound the same, and I preferred one to the other. Analog and digital still sound different.
In theory, a vinyl rip could be a great way to listen to music and it could be used as a convenient tool for evaluation equipment. But I do not think that we can tell what a particular analog source sounds like in its own setting by listening to a vinyl rip of it in a different system context. And, next year, another vinyl rip made on the same system will sound different if newer ADC s and DACs are used to make and replay them.
What do others think about vinyl rips?
