To nail my colours to the mast...I'm a vinyl man first and foremost, for all the time-honoured, over-documented reasons.
But unlike 90% of vinylistas, I went thru many years where my CDs sounded better than my LPs, indeed I de-programmed from the blind belief that digital was always worse, and indeed came to, and to this day still do, contend that the best digital runs vinyl close, beats it in some areas, and indeed cd can be hugely engaging, with no "but if..." caveats.
So far indeed, that my cdp performance spurred me on to maxx out my analog, and now I have great sound from both formats. For my part, the difference in preference is now more down to mastering choices (my Miles "Nefertiti" on lp slays cd, his "On The Corner" romps it on cd) than any more esoteric reasons of vinyl not being a chopped-up waveform, or cd not being limited to only 70-90dB dynamic range.
A great example of my format agnosticism was Blue58 playing a 96kHz version of Nina Simone thru his SGM server, and to this day it gets my vote as most alive piece of music I've heard on a stereo...my vote for digital as a vinyl man.
So, for my part, digital and vinyl now converge in many ways. My cdp is so archetype-free, so tone dense, so timbral faithful, that other than the very worst cds, I never miss my tt when playing cd.
Of course this extends to other great digital.
And my analog setup, in conjunction with the greatest tts out there, really outperforms on micro resolution, bass extension etc, ie where cd traditionally excels.
I feel there is a true convergence of the best of analog and digital that never existed in the 80s or 90s, or even early 00s.
However, as this convergence is establishing, there is a parallel divergence, and its centred around how the best cutting edge digital, and analog, deal with masterings of varying quality/provenance.
This was brought into sharp focus by my time at Blue58 with his newly-acquired Extreme streamer.
So much music on it had all the hallmarks of not just great digital, but the best analog. It's eerie near zero noise floor surely only rivalled by the uber echelon of tts with air bearings, air LT arms. I've "heard" (or is that "not heard") the Vyger tt with multiple levels of air isolation, and the Extreme felt like the nearest digital equivalent. From this silence arose massive resolution including the kind again reserved for the best analog, ie micro cues, studio acoustic, filigree shimmer. Again, the Extreme seemed like the first digital to proudly walk amongst the big beasts of analog. I'd be hard pressed to differentiate low level resolution of the Extreme from the great demos I've been at of SME 20 and 30, Vyger, GP Monaco 1.5, Bergmann Sindre.
And of course, the whole listening experience has to spring from resolution. On this checklist, Extreme seems a radical breakthrough product.
But where I believe there is a divergence, and ironically it's fuelled by Extreme's uber resolution talents, is that where vinyl, incl high resolution examples like Vyger etc, sound stellar on stellar mastered vinyl, vinyl sounds across the board so much warmer and more immersive on mid-fi masterings. I've yet to hear a top tt not allow stuff like 70s Miles Davis, prog and fusion, 80s and 90s metal, to sound immersive and textured/palpable, even if not uber impressive.
When I visited The General to hear Vyger/Red Sparrow/Mayers/Azzolina Sferas tt/tubes/horns system, and we played my compromised Rush and moderately flatly recorded Weather Report, the sound bloomed in the air. Better recorded stuff sounded stratospheric, as you'd expect from a great tt.
Play these mid fi masters thru the Extreme, and the game is up Lol.
Now, my initial conclusion is to agree with owner Barry and designer Emile, and another owner who posted a long review of the unit...Extreme just says it as it is, if the message is unpalatable, don't blame the messenger.
But how can this stuff sound so much more enjoyable, and with just as much detail resolved, on a top tt?
And thus, my question is posed...top analog and digital closer than ever on the things they said in 80s could never be achieved on digital...but this very breakthrough on digital possibly creates a divergence on which medium is palatable across the range of masters out there.
(One caveat...I'm not picking on Extreme, a few months back I heard a custom server with bespoke OS, and the same attributes audible).
Top digital and analog...closer than ever, but greater contrasts developing.
