Why does digital music appear to be so unpopular among audio aficionados? I've recently discovered vinyl records and although I'm no expert, I think music sounds richer on vinyl. The sound most closely resembles live music. I don't understand the appeal of CDs (they scratch/skip) or tapes (rewinding nightmare and they warp). Likewise, I don't understand the dislike of digital music which sounds the same as what you'll hear on CDs and tapes. What are my ears missing?
Strum Drum Messages: 229 Registered: November 2017
Master
Now, I'm not certain here, but I believe digital music misses the complete sound wave and the elevation can lead to digital noise. I guess it lacks depth overall.
I don't know what the difference is, either, but from what I've read about digital music as compared to vynil, I think Strum Drum has a point as a vynil record is an analog recording, while digital recording doesn't capture the entire sound wave.
gofar99 Messages: 1955 Registered: May 2010 Location: Southern Arizona
Illuminati (5th Degree)
Hi, An endless argument. I personally prefer analog sound, but not necessarily because digital is inferior. There are differences. Most analog music is on either vinyl or tape. Both media are flawed when compared to high resolution digital. More noise, more distortion and usually less linearity. However a vast percentage of my music collection is analog. Nearly everything recorded before the advent of CDs was analog. So anything that is from then (from that time period) regardless of what format it is on now will have the flaws of the original recordings. Good record playing systems can play a record many hundreds of times without noticeable degradation. Poor systems get few plays before damage to the disk occurs. Digital copies ought not ever degrade...at least in theory. In the early days of CDs there were problems with the sound quality. Various audible issues were common. Since then things have improved dramatically. Current high resolution recordings played on quality gear are quite excellent. IMO it is pretty much indistinguishable from the real thing in most cases. So while both are now mature methods for sound reproduction they do sound differently. It somewhat goes back to personal preference. BTW my personal preference is for all tube electronics as well. That too is a somewhat similar situation. I believe that the basic premise that audiophiles don't like digital music is not true....at least for high resolution recordings. For low resolution ones like MP3 it may well be true. I admit to using some in the car....never in the main system.
Bruce, you always slay with some indepth responses. I think there were issues with quality back in the early days of CDs, but things seem ship-shape to me these days. I don't ever feel like my digital music experiences are bad; they're very good in fact. I understand the appeal of vinyl but as you mentioned, it's all about personal preferences and I just tend ot lean more towards digital music...just because of the ease of consumption.
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