Analog vs. Digital Sources

Everyone seems to have an opinion on this topic. Whether you are a hardcore analog listener with a multi kilobuck turntable system or still plugging along with a 50 year old Garrard, many fans have their reasons for liking analog more regardless of the clicks, pops and inconvenience.  

The same holds true for digital, some choose the latest greatest DAC while others are fine with a basic midfi cd player. Many people who have owned and listened to dozens of systems agree that there are certain aspects of sound reproduction that a quality analog system is able to convey that digital systems come close to but still to this day do not fully accomplish. There is also no denying that the sound quality gap between the two has narrowed to as almost be indistinguishable as of 2024.

What is noteworthy is how close a modern digital system of fairly modest price, say under $5k can come to the sound quality of an elaborate analog rig costing far more. I am someone who has the misfortune of being around in 1980 for Sony’s ‘’perfect sound forever’ and while the potential was obviously there, the sound quality of the first players along with the horrible first transfers of great recordings to cd was painful to anyone who knew what good sound was at that time. The first transfer of Springsteen’s Born to Run to cd was so bad I literally switched back and forth between the cd and an lp playing at the same time to make sure I wasn’t losing it. And yes I had three different cd players to try this on, it was the cd transfer, trust me.  Ten or more years later the same but “remastered” cd’s sound quality was extremely close to the quality of the lp. I firmly believe that no one who could hear the difference between an 8 track and an lp was test listening these early transfers, it was just get it to market as fast as possible. Thankfully digital has come a LONG way since then.

Musicality is a term tossed around frequently by analog proponents.  I hope I am not wrong in assuming musicality means such things as tone, soundstage depth, timing, pace and rhythm. Real instruments sounding real as well as realistic human vocals. Many digital systems of the last decade or so such as the reasonably priced Denefrips Pontus II and Terminator as well as many others, are coming very close in these areas to the best analog rigs. I have personally not heard that special digital system that gets the upper bass, lower midrange area quite as full and real sounding as the best analog systems but I certainly have not heard the very best digital playback systems that the high end has to offer. Based on what I have heard digital comes very close but does not quite portray larger acoustical instruments like the grand piano, cello, bass violin etc, with that three dimensional, in the room with you feel that a great analog system can. A capable digital system is probably out there, I just have not personally heard it yet. That being said, I am currently listening to a Pontus II and haven’t fired up the turntable in ages, so the convenience factor of thousands of albums available on a server combined with a quality modern DAC giving 90-95 percent of what the analog rig delivers minus the clicks and pops, well convenience wins over fiddling with a turntable and cleaning albums for this guy.  

I would like this section to be an open, constructive discussion on all topics analog and/ or digital where we can respect others opinions and all learn from each other. Opinions are just that, so before insisting that someone is wrong, start with “based on my experience and preferences I will have to disagree” and go on to give solid logical reasons with references to back up the claim.

 If you are like me you have wasted way too much time reading through other forums where two self- proclaimed experts go back and forth for pages wasting everyone’s time. We can all do better than that. Each of us has a different hearing frequency response curve. My own hearing tests reveal a significant dip around 2,000hz. Not sure if this is from 35 years working in a noisy factory, or dozens of concerts, shooting guns, running loud equipment or what, but pretty sure some of it comes from standing 5 feet away from a double Marshall stack being played way too loud! Now you know why I need to feel not just hear my music. Old 80’s metalhead, Gen Xer, you get the picture.

 Not only that, but we all are listening for certain things that are different than the next person. We all have different cues that we use to decide if we like what we are hearing or that makes this piece of equipment sound more real than others. This makes listening subjective which means no one is really right or wrong, it all depends on many factors that are unique to the individual. Relativity and all that happy jazz! 

Having solid experience with analog going back to the 70’s and having heard and owned some pretty remarkable analog systems, if I were in possession of top-notch turntable, I would not be ready yet to ditch it to go fully digital. If nothing else, I would be inclined to keep it as a reference while trying out different digital gear. If you are like me, you have let a certain piece of gear go after deciding some new piece is better only to regret it later.