SoftwireEngineer wrote: > I think I am in the 'hi-fidelity' camp on this. Yes, the term audiophile > has become associated with 'euphonics', over a period of time. I do > think though that vinyl lovers do not necessarily fall under that > euphonic category. I have a MMF-5 turntable and I feel it is one of the > most transparent sounding sources I have had. It is very difficult to > get that kind of transparency from digital. I think it is mostly related > to actually recreating the sound physically (you can hear the sound when > you are close when the amp is off) and just picking it up and amplifying > it - more like a mic feed. Some say, it is not a accurate reproduction, > but if you take a same analog recording - one cut to LP and another > sampled, I think you might prefer the LP, for a reasonably priced > system. > Similarly, some feel that 'solid-state' does not truly recreate the > waveforms like tubes and have a preference for the thermionic emission > of the tubes. Apparently, any distortion the tubes create is > harmonically related and is not damaging. After a while, people just > start preferring the distortion itself and go after 'euphonic > colorations' in their system. > In my case, I have the 'listen from another room test'. Can I tell what > is playing outside, another room is a real instrument or not ? For eg, I > hear somebody playing the drums in a distant home, when I am going for a > jog. No mistaking a real direct sound. Of course, it is difficult to > recreate that with audio equipment, different musical instruments > product different frequencies, but a speaker has to produce them all (of > course, you have woofer, tweeter etc still). > I think everything in the chain in a stereo system contributes/affects > the sound. I like to keep it to a minimum. I ran with my Panasonic > digital amplifier for quite some time and then 'upgraded' to the TACT. > For others, who like to use DAC/amp, I suggest going after a preamp-less > system if you can deal with the number of source. Many DACs now come > with preamp capabilities (source selection, volume control) and while > doing doing DA, it can also do the volume adjustments and hence reduce > one component/connection in the chain.
Thanks for the comments SoftwireEng. Good comments about the vinyl. Although I personally have not bought any vinyl since about 1987, I can certainly appreciate how good it sounds when I'm visiting a high-end vinyl room. To be honest, I don't know if I've ever been able to say it sounds that different from a well mastered CD/high-res though... I know vinyl lovers have often said the sound quality is hard (impossible?) to achieve with digital but I've not been convinced of this yet (maybe I haven't heard a good enough setup). I tend to be easily annoyed by surface noise, clicks, pops, static. I also remember being annoyed when I used to buy new albums and finding little scratches and warping upon opening the package :-( As an aside, I think vinyl needle drops can sound fantastic! For digital releases which are poorly produced like Red Hot Chili Peppers' "Stadium Arcadium" (thanks to Vlado Meller - master of volume knob at '11'), the vinyl version is the only one to bother with. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Archimago's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=2207 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=98057 _______________________________________________ audiophiles mailing list [email protected] http://lists.slimdevices.com/mailman/listinfo/audiophiles
