Can digital compete in sound quality with vinyl?

[blacsno]

Originally Posted by Antonmb

I don’t believe, with today’s technology, that either format is inherently better - a personal opinion of course, not a statement of fact - but I think the idea that analog is better because our ears are analog is what’s called an association fallacy: because A is true and B is true, A must equal B - or something like that.

Here’s another side of the same coin: digital is nothing more than analog data with discrete intervals - a model. Our ears are analog, but the inner ear converts sound to electrical impulses - analog data with discrete intervals - and sends them to the brain for interpretation, so maybe the whole hearing process is analog to digital. But that’s no more relevant than the argument that our ears are analog.

De gustibus non est disputandum - there’s no arguing with taste, or as my father used to translate it, “you can’t argue with Gus.”

That was a very nice response! Well DONE!! I totally agree with you on your points. My thoughts are based on this premise...... I've been converting my 8k+ LP collection to digital going on 12 years. Hey... It could my setup at home!? But the LP version always sounds just i tiny bit better than the digital copy. So if I sound jaded its because I'm comparing the source LP versus the digital copy. I'll say never say I made a clone!! I even dabbled in creating LP's to DSD files process. That venture got me close to making a clone. Yet with insane file sizes and no editing software that I could afford. In the end the DSD file was still just a copy! Yes.... I understand the music today can be created entirely digital without the slings and arrows of analog. But if one wasn't present at the time of mastering how could the end user know it was better/equal than the analog performance?

So that is my truth from a certain point of view!!