I did a little searching on the subject matter and it seems that for the most part people are polarized on this issue. I didn't realize this. Some take the line that digital is better in all aspects while others believe that vinyl is, but there is also a general consensus for many that say it depends on the quality of the recording whether it be digital or vinyl.

I'm not sure whether the all digital only people make this claim of superiority for all CD players or whether they are making reference to state of the art digital playback equipment. I do find it interesting that many reviews of higher end digital systems are said to sound more analog.

As for vinyl affectionados, there seems to be no end to ways of improving the vinyl experience through equipment upgrades as if there is something wrong with analog.

For the remaining group that believe it depends on the quality of the recording, I believe they are standing on the strongest foundation just from the fact of the garbage in garbage out principal. Part of this line of reasoning is due to the fact (as I understand it) that recording engineers use a great deal of compression on CD's, but not so much on vinyl. Back in the 70's I only had one record that was compressed and that was done so they could fit more songs onto the record (K-TEL). To me, and in comparison to all the other records in my collection, it sounded lifeless (bland), so I think they may be correct.

As you know I bought a turntable because the CD copies of my old favorite records were a shadow of what I remember vinyl to sound like and I wanted to reclaim what I had lost. Most of the CD copies were unlistenable. The life was sucked out of them and they hurt my ears.

Up to the point prior to getting the turntable, I had/have CD's that I thought were fantastic sounding and many that were not. For the ones that were not, my biggest complaint was that they hurt my ears to listen to them. Then sounded strident. In the past, I had purchased outboard DAC's (up to $1,000) to improve this condition, but while there were some improvements, the stridency remained. I assume that even though I failed, there are DAC's that could have made the difference, but I was tired at throwing money at this problem.

Fast forward to today...

Keeping in mind that my equipment is different than in the past, I bought a number of records for my turntable. Some of them were the same ones I had back in the day. Surprisingly, many don't sound the way I remember them, not as clear. The jury is still out on this, but I have to say that the cartridge I am using is probably 25 years old and that may be the cause, a new one is in the mail.

With that said...

There is one record that really stands out, but it is much newer than than the 70's records and that album is Willie Nelson “Always On My Mind”. I also have the CD. In a nutshell, the record is much better than the CD in every way imaginable. I will attempt to describe the differences in terms of why the vinyl is better.

First of all, there is more space around the instruments and voices so it is much easier to hear everything in the soundstage. Everything at the back of the (virtual) stage is more defined. All the instruments sound more real in a way that digital has only hinted at. Strings are more vibrant. Comparing strings on this record to the way they sound on the CD is like comparing a really good piano to the synthesized sounds of a decent keyboard. Voices, in comparison, sound more natural. I could go on, but even though I've listened to the CD hundreds of times, I could never have imagined what I hear from the record. It's night and day. Ultimately, there is still room for improvement, mostly concerning clarity in terms of live sound.

I used to think that my best CD recordings were better than any record I had heard, especially the soundstage. Now, it's the other way around. This record under review is the best sound that I've heard in my home. In no way am I saying that this is better than CD's on state of the art digital equipment (I don't know), but from a budget standpoint, this vinyl has taken the top spot.

Musing on this issue...

Technically, CD's are vastly superior to vinyl. I've listened to some very good systems with state of the art digital front ends and there is no comparison to what passes as digital front ends in most homes. So what I've come to believe is that a decent turntable with a very good recording is ultimately superior to a very good recording on a CD played back through an average CD player and even lower priced DAC's.

Until actually tested in a direct comparison, I will assume for now, that the very best analog system is equal to the very best digital system. From the standpoint of an average consumer with affordable gear, and assuming equal quality in recordings, I have to think that vinyl is superior.

Well, that's it...