The eternal battle between vinyl and digital audio, part II with Diana Krall.

Hello and welcome to my new post. It has been a while, due to new day job my time and energy is limited.

As I said at my previous post regarding the new Jico stylus, the sound coming out from my vinyls is superb again, so me and Panos decided to repeat the comparison test between vinyl and Hi Res FLAC files at my system. But before reading further this post, I strongly recommend you to read first this older post, it has a lot of useful theory and thoughts that won’t be repeated here.

So, Panos brought the record we have selected for this kind of test (Stan Getz / João Gilberto Featuring Antonio Carlos Jobim ‎– Getz / Gilberto, Verve Reissues / Quality Record Pressings / Analogue Productions B0015625-01) at my home. Unfortunately, an A/B instant comparison blind test by simply changing the pre amp input is not possible at this case, since the phono and the EMU 0404 USB are giving different volumes. So what we did was to prepare both media, listen to one of them, adjust the volume and listen to the other one as fast as we can.

The conclusion we got was the same like last time at Panos' system; we could fell that the sound is slightly different, but there was not such a thing as a winner. Both media provided equal amounts of listening pleasure. There was nothing to complain about with either of them.

Some weeks have passed, and I was desperate to buy a new record in order to enjoy the Jico. Panos told me that Diana Krall had released her new album "Turn Up The Quiet", so I decided to get it in vinyl. It is a good album, totally different (thank God) from her last one “Wallflower” which I didn’t like at all – to be honest I deleted it. So, her music is good again and the Verve “Panoramic True High Fidelity” recording sounds amazing. The record is absolutely flat and very quiet. Side D is blank and can be used for anti-skating adjustment. It is a reference sounding album, but as it usually happens, a theoretical question was born again: should somebody get the vinyl or the Hi Res FLAC version? 

The digital and the analogue containers of the soul of music. In this case, music comes from Diana Krall.

Of course, very often the answer will depend from your system. If you feel that your system has a stronger analogue end, get the vinyl. If your system has a stronger digital end, get the FLAC. But in my case, the system has both ends at top level and it has proven that it can handle both media well. So, happy system owners that feel the same about their systems, what version should they choose?

Before proceeding with the results of the obvious test that is coming, let me add another thing: Vinyl offers better pride of ownership than the immaterial FLAC file; you can look at its’ beautiful big sleeve, hold it at your hands making sure it is yours, show it to your friends etc. Vinyl playback is like a ritual compared with FLAC playback. But vinyl requires your attention and care; keep it clean, store it safely, change side even if your g/f has just climbed on you wearing a short tight dress. Some people do not have the patience to treat the vinyls right and still at some point get a scratch noise... On the other hand, some will find the procedure of turning on a PC, turning on the USB DAC, starting Foobar2000, connecting their Foobar2000 app to the PC etc. more boring than throwing a record to the turntable.

Back to our test: as you guessed we did the same test, in the same way – we just used Mrs. Dianna for this case. The digital alter ego of the record was a 24 bit 192kHz FLAC.

Conclusion was again the same. We repeated our listening session several times, trying to find the winner but as it happened with Getz / Gilberto, we could sense the sound was a little different, but no clear winner. It was a great experience listening to both media. I felt that the vinyl was a little “warmer” and the FLAC was a little more “spacial” but Panos did not agreed with that and I have to accept that my enthusiasm for my new Jico stylus can make me a bit biased. So the answer to the initial question “which media of the new Dianna Krall album should I get” is rather simple; Verve has done an excellent job with both media, get whatever version you want without feeling any regrets!

First time readers of this blog who would like to ask “on a limited budget, should I built an analogue based system or a digital one”, please find all the answers at this post.

Oh, another thing. If we pass the Okki Nokki record cleaning machine that is doing an excellent job in cleaning very dirty and very old records (or even new ones, we have found that even new Audiophile records need cleaning), take a careful look at this little fellow below.



This Audio Technica is a must have accessory.

I am using it for dry cleaning only and it is the first time that I found a product that actually cleans (and not just spreads) the dust. Absolutely recommended!

Once again, happy listening!

Chris