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What I can say about that

I'm not really going to add up to the excellent arguments on analog vs. digital already posted here, but I can shed some light from my own point of view.

I like to think that, working on the IT industry, I'm pretty hip to the so-called "digital distribution model" of the music biz - I even got an iPod recently. However, I'm not willing to trade my LPs and turntable for a bunch of digital files on what is basically a very expensive digital Walkman. Why? Because sonically and in terms of excellence and experience, it just isn't the same.

My stereo isn't exactly a state of the art thing, but I do notice how the sound of an LP played on my tweaked Music Hall MMF-5 basically mops the floor with its CD or (shudder!) AAC equivalent. It just sounds more full-bodied, spacious, and "human" - CD's have always had this cold, clinical impression in terms of sound that, while it reproduces a musical performance to a T, it just seems to suck the soul out of the music.

Adding insult to injury, most pop titles produced today sound like they've been engineered by monkeys. In contrast, some of the best-sounding recordings of all time were produced in the late 50s and 60s. That's a major reason why most CDs suck - because fine sound engineering seems to be a lost art. Most teenagers today don't realize the amount of musical crap (both conceptually and in QA) the industry feeds them on a daily basis.

I have yet to hear how a CD sounds like on one of those players with a 4-figure price tag, and I'd surely be impressed. But in any case I can't afford one of those, so what's the use - and even if I could, I'm highly skeptical it can deliver the same kind of rich experience analog has to offer. Sure, it takes true commitment to get the best of analog (all those hardware adjustments and special sleeves and cleaning stuff and humongous sizes) and it will most likely remain being one of the roads less traveled. But for anyone looking the ultimate in sound, the effort ultimately pays off a lot of times over.



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