Mikey Fremer vs Ask Paul

Analog Planet and Stereophile reviewer Michael Fremer tackles the question Paul posed earlier: distortion in vinyl? If you love Mikey Fremer as much as we do, you're going to want to watch this video. Classic!
Have you gotten your copy of the Audiophile's Guide to setup? Make magic with your system using this guide and CD.
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[@nathanevans6277]

25-30yrs ago I owned a high end CD player, Pioneer PD91 (£900 new). I had auditioned many players before I purchased it and it beat all comers, even machines costing more than three times as much. I was totally into CD and had a large music collection. One fateful day I visited a friend and listened to his vinyl setup. Pink Triangle Export, Rega RB250 and Audio Technica OC5 run into a Rotel preamp. It totally blew the Pioneer out of the water. I immediately went out and purchased a decent deck of my own and have barely played a CD since. Luckily a local second hand record store did me a deal where they swapped my CDs for the same albums on vinyl at no extra cost, often I got two records in exchange for one CD. Imagine that happening today.

[@vicweast]

I love Michael Fremer's reviews. I love my PS Audio gear. Two icons.

[@freekwo7772]

He speaks 100 mph but you can't stop listening him. Distortion or not 😂

[@eskamobob8662]

The audible distortion is to prove his point

[@gyrgrls]

He spews nothing but a distortion of reality.

[@AF-rd2vf]

Mike is the best.

[@SantanKGhey1234]

i stopped listening to him after one sentence

[@andydogdixon1]

You brought an album to Audio Advice “Music Matters” show a couple years ago in Charlotte and played it in a small room and we all just about fainted. No one could leave that room until the manager came and said we’re closing the store and turning out the lights. I’ll never forget us six guys with you in that room and that music that was produced. Thank you! Please please come back to Charlotte soon! Best, Mark

[@danielrhoden2973]

What an audiophile calls an upgrade, an engineer calls an eq change!

[@ynnektrub1]

Great!! Thanks for this. My two favourite audio gurus!

[@mesonto]

Fantastic bit! Loved the enthusiasm.

[@worldhouseremixservice5962]

Thank you for your time. Very inspirational and educating!

[@Jeffrey91423]

Awesome analog vs digital explanation! Thank you Michael Fremer!

[@carlfuggiasco7495]

Great to see you doing a presentation again....so miss these bits!

[@freepress8451]

Michael has also gone quiet on the Analog Planet channel, an upload per month

[@laika25]

Wow, lost track of time n watched the whole thing. Fascinating. Thanks Paul (and vinyl friend).

[@dbasarich]

Great video! Not often that someone posts or even knows about Analog to digital in real terms. I do A to D since 2000 and it opens up a whole new perspective on listening to and comparing music quality.

[@henni1964]

I am a vinyl guy, bought my first LP's in the eighties. Fortunately I never got rid of them. What the technology of today gets out of the grooves amazes me. To put it plainly: you don't need very expensive stuff. A vintage (rim drive) turntable in good shape, a nice cartridge (jico sas needle is a budget tip) and a modern tube phono preamp. This will in my subjective view outperform any commercialy available digital format, including streaming of course, with ease ... just give it a try. Does vinyl ad distortion? Who cares, if even DSD doesn't come close. Once you have fallen in love with vinyl, you will start to collect it. 😀❤️

[@engineeringvision9507]

Nostalgia isn't associated with objective science

[@passengerseed]

>budget tip >almost 300 bucks

[@henni1964]

@@passengerseed We are talking about thousands of bucks for ultra high end mc cartridges. In comparison, for what you get soundwise from the jico sas, it's budget imho. My latest tip would be the Audio Technica AT VM95ML for around 160 bucks.

[@henni1964]

@@engineeringvision9507 Correct. But if objective science doesn't sound good to your ears, you have a problem. Otherwise of course, all is fine. So be it, I don't care.

[@theragingdolphinsmaniac4696]

"Don't let anybody tell you what to think, but I'm going to tell you what to think..." WTF is that? There are so many variables in the signal chain, that there IS NO MAGIC BULLET TO GREAT SOUND. Once you get past that, mastering plays a major role in sound quality. Even if you have a great system, bad mastering makes all that time, effort and expense a total waste. I have records that sound amazing and ones that sound like crap. I have CD's the sound great and ones that sound like crap. SO, listen and collect whatever makes you happy, and ENJOY THE MUSIC!

[@armandorancano6415]

As they say in the computer world, garbage in, garbage out.

[@ToadStool942]

I think Mikey was applying the ol' "audiophile" psychology. It's so engrained in some, they're beyond realizing they even do it.

[@UberPilot]

@@ToadStool942 The problem is red book is a glass ceiling. On a great system vinyl and tape leaves it behind.

[@ToadStool942]

@@UberPilot Actually, you do err. The glass ceiling is not with redbook or most any reasonable format but rather with the playback system itself. But you're close. Well, not really. :)

[@UberPilot]

@@ToadStool942 Name the CD player that will beat a hi end table. Doesn’t exist. I’ve seen the best one made demoed and than he put in the LP and crushed it. Show me a CD that will beat the Flock of Seagulls (first pressing) when it comes to rhythm timing and pacing. Doesn’t exist. Some day.

[@kimoarmstrong3519]

Now we need a video explaining what to look for in a quality turntable.

[@ford1546]

it is cartridge that makes sound and is the most important thing on a turntable you ask me. There are wires directly from the needle housing to the rca plugs without any electronics. a very good turntable without a good cartridge does not give good sound. so the cartridge is the most important thing on a turntable

[@AnalogPlanet]

That's why there's analogplanet and Stereophile!

[@thedogefather]

@@AnalogPlanet Have you heard a Tru-Glider standalone tonearm from Integrity Hifi in Canada yet?

[@60zeller]

Already a bunch of those. Including some from this Guy

[@kimoarmstrong3519]

@@60zeller everybody has a reply. I can't find the videos you speak of.

[@aaronross3747]

Love Michaels choice of vinyl 👌 Dr Lonnie Smith.

[@mcramp20]

Never thoughtI would do this! As a kid I was given Manilow Live I ve listened to it for years on all types of turntables maily lower end equipment I still don't own anything considered hi end, but I have to admit I do listen to it on Spotify and still find myself choosing the LPs (even after all the years of playing them and mishandling them incorrectly) to listen too first there's just something missing from the sound. So if its due to distortion, ok!

[@laurentzduba1298]

I do find it weird that as far back as 1987 and until now, there are still people who believe that anything with over 0.1 % total harmonic distortion autoatically is "bad sounding". Most of the time without even listening to the actual amp in action.

[@QoraxAudio]

Same with wow and flutter. If w&f is over 5% people automatically say it's "bad sounding".

[@laurentzduba1298]

@@QoraxAudio Without (hopefully cheap) turmtables with high wow and flutter, there would probably no genre of music known as Funk.

[@reidenjanndejesus8559]

That was informative sir about vinyl vs cd's. I never knew it all along.. And you've got a great collections, I guess it has a great value now a days.

[@christopherluckenbach1200]

Gotta love Mikey’s passion. ❤️

[@aitchr8770]

Mikey pleasure and informative as ever!

[@henni1964]

Mikeys stories, hilarious as ever! 🤣 Love the vinyl sound of my Transrotor ZET 3/Audio Mods Classic II/Audio Technica VM540ML/Graham Slee Reflex M2 "Era Gold" system much much more than any digital format btw. 🙂

[@ralphfurley123]

Wow, that was a fast 19 minutes! I was captivated! ☮️🖖🏽

[@thegrimyeaper]

Groundhog Day?

[@ronaldjennings8057]

Soon as this Emma Demi gets over Mikey can't wait for the next videos that you put out miss you a lot God bless🙏🎸🎵🎼

[@richardshippful]

That is the calmest I have ever seen Mr Fremer. All of my (very few) LPs sound very crisp and clean, but a few REALLY pop out a super detailed sound stage, and shimmering voices (human and instrument). I like the interface with Vinyl, but I listen to Digital on Thumb drives in my car. I put on my Pink Floyd Wish you were here LP, when Shine on you crazy diamond plays, David Gilmore's guitar just sings, and the room is filled with the music. Some other LPs sound good but not magic, but I have not had a CD come alive like PF WYWH, or Diana Krall VBof. I am sure that a very high end transport and well mastered SACD might equal what I here. I have a pretty basic system Rega Planar 2, Sprout 100, Elac Debut 2.0 B6.2 (on stands) Infinity subs.

[@dzenacs2011]

Aha. Cause you are vinyl fan and spend zero money on good cd player and finding good cd releases?

[@rabarebra]

" LPs sound very crisp and clean" Hahaha, no no no no no. I have pretty good vinyl setup, and even just as good setup for digital. Digital always, ALWAYS outperform the vinyl. That these guys claim to hear the difference, of course they do, this is super easy, because it is super easy to hear how lo-fi should sound. Get real!

[@RoaroftheTiger]

All of this is "recording dependent". As each recording , does have it's own signature; regardless of the format. We're just hacking thru the Audio Jungle, in the hopes of finding some "nuggets" of "real music".

[@edthefirst2859]

Yet, you still have to get up every 18 minutes to turn the damn record over! Primitive!

[@RoaroftheTiger]

@@edthefirst2859 - "Oh ! the Humanity ! " lol

[@savcimurat2720]

hi paul, i have jack outputs from my keyboard and connected an xlr adapter to use it directly without a mixer, could it be that this suddenly boosted my volume or does it seem like that? Greetings

[@kjbunnyboiler]

I thought we were getting some comments from Michael Fremer? There appears to be a long haired hippy in his listening room🤣🤣🤣🤣👍🤣

[@jackwezesa1081]

I met you back in the 70’s when you were on WBCN ! I have your comedy LP also. Great videos also!

[@gilbertlessard4380]

Funny seeing that PS Audio pre-amplifier. My first ‘audiophile’ pre-amplifier was a PS Audio ‘The Source’. I sold it in 1996 to a young VP of Banco Popular in Quito, Ecuador. The sound was so impressive, he just had to have it after listening to it along with the rest of my sound system. BTW, at that time, I thought PS audio meant Power Supply Audio, because the power supply was a separate little unit with an external transformer. Good memories...

[@ec168]

Dear Paul, is there any chance that I can buy a copy of signed the-audiophiles-guide-and-reference-disc by you? Thank you. Regards.

[@ronaldmcdonald2456]

Yep, there are people you can listened to forever. Fremer fascinates.

[@taatsiaqchemnitz3341]

You are a walking wakeup call 😄 Michael Fremer you are a joy

[@johnmarchington3146]

He did mention the dCS Scarlatti DAC briefly but, before that, I wondered if it was a fair contest as I got the impression - rightly or wrongly - that he was happy to spend an arm and a leg on a turntable, arm and cartridge and perhaps rather less on a really good digital playback system.

[@florianhofmann7553]

Right he is. Just recently i built an amplifier designed by Nelson Pass, where you can tinker with the distortion profile. For me the right amount of 2nd order distortion sounds so much better - it´s just insane. It is measurable and very clearly heard. Just try it for yourself - you won´t regret it.

[@josenebrus8183]

Awesome gentleman 😎👍

[@freepress8451]

My two favourite audio KZbinrs, I have followed Michael for several years, think we exchanged emails a few times and he seems a great guy, lost count of the recordings he has introduced me to.

[@matthewv789]

Miles Showell is indeed super nice. He took the time to give some very helpful answers to questions I had.

[@daemeonreiydelle4783]

Great info. Made me laugh and learn. Fellow old farts. Shockingly right about the power thing. Not sure why the xfer switch caused the signal injection (crosstalk?) but I run full wave inverters here due to utility brownouts. Too many refrigerators, printers, even a stove, failed due to switching power supply transient amplification issues.

[@cesarcaro6767]

Fremer makes very good points, especially about production / recording choices often deliberately involve tubes. I think he's right that people often pretend to be purists but then neglect to include the complete audio chain. I also agree that vinyl can sound incredible, perhaps even better than singe-rate DSD given the right material (and an absurdly hi-fi vinyl setup). Nevertheless, some material is better suited to digital than to vinyl, particularly music that is very difficult to track in the sub-bass regions. Of course, we must also acknowledge the deleterious effect of wear upon high frequency fidelity, however gradual and subtle. All that notwithstanding, my biggest reason for loving SACD is actually the incredible resolution and soundstaging possible with a good multichannel setup. Vinyl might sound subtly better on some material in some cases, but multichannel hi-res has 2.5 times more information than stereo, added nonlinearly with all the phase information included properly. There is no adequate comparison between pure DSD 5.0 multichannel and the best stereo vinyl can achieve -- they are totally different experiences. Of course, most people pour oodles of money into achieving the best stereo playback possible, but an excellent DSD multichannel experience can be had for mid-fi money that is in another league. Granted, people who are only interested in rock, pop, etc. will be hard-pressed to find any true DSD multichannel recordings, but for classical, there's no competition.

[@maxhirsch7035]

My experience partially parallels yours. In most genres I generally prefer the sound of lps on my turntable setup up to the same recordings on my SACD/CD player (a comparably high-end player to the turntable/tonearm/cart setup), regardless of the digital format- whether it be rock, jazz, 'world music,' R & B, or the like. For large classical orchestral recordings, however, I often prefer the digital format, especially SACD, in re. to its potentially greater nuance in presenting the 'high density' of musical info in such works, plus the intense dynamics and extended frequency range of such recordings- especially since for vinyl to reasonably compete in this genre it generally needs to be a higher-quality recording and better-condition lp (and most used lps bought online or in stores are just not in such great shape). My SACD listening is all in stereo, as that's my setup, so my preference is not based upon the multi-channel capability of various classical music SACDS.

[@absoluteaudio0028]

2 Brilliant Hi Fi gurus, most enjoyable vid

[@genehart261]

It looks like the transfer switch installed in Mr. Frehmers house was wired with aluminum wire. I am aware that most electrical distribution is done with aluminum conductors however, in this case I wonder if this has been part of his problem?

[@tomhirschel8524]

Digital needs somehow needs to add 0.5 or even 0.3 Digital are just 1 & 0's . Then you would get the reverb & eco into the sound. - 0.3 - 0 - 1- 1.3 ..vinyl recordings accidentally did it. That's why digital is SO complicated. They are forever trying to get something back which isn't there . I maybe simplifying things a bit. CRAZY ! Look at the price of the Techdas Zero turntable......And digital too! MSB Select Dac etc..... Crazy prices... Thanks Peter & thanks Michael. It would be nice to come back in 500 years time,and see what's around. The Tecdas Turntable & MSB Das will be in a museum somewhere...

[@rayfromw65thst]

Excellent!

[@zackw4941]

Can we download these demo files somewhere and hear them for our selves? I've heard very good vinyl and then compared to digital, over Bluetooth and the digital was still hands down better. And I even like an analog sound. In my own system I have an R2R DAC, pure class A solid state amp and a quality tube amp as well. Not that it would be practical for me to setup a vinyl system and library, if I wanted to, but at the moment, I really don't. I'm not putting down anyone who prefers vinyl though. It's different and if it sounds better to you than it's better for you. It is also a much more involving, tactile experience and I completely get that.

[@TheRollingStoness]

I love ripping Vinyl to DSD...the music has no digital harshness or brightness but still has that Vinyl warmth...just my ears, happy ears.....no vinyl inconveniences ...

[@Geerladenlad]

I wonder if Michael has ever tried any other flagship digital audio players for example the Cayin N8 or the Lotoo Paw Gold Touch? The Cayin N8 has vacuum tubes in it.

[@AnalogPlanet]

I own a very good DAC/SACD player with no tubes in it.

[@Geerladenlad]

@@AnalogPlanet I commented that because you mentioned that you use an Astell and Kern player.

[@stephent.shearin8822]

I love that deck Michael has in the video, it probably cost more than my house. But, I bet it sounds pretty, pretty, pretty nice!

[@marknachmias423]

What is it?

[@fb30xhk]

I think it’s the TechDAS Air Force Zero, possibly the most expensive turntable on the market, at around 500.000$

[@joyoffilming9500]

One of the best listenings to Lou Rawls's Tobacco Road I ever experiences was when I was 18 (in year 1980) during a girl firends birhtday party - her mother had put the original record on the turntable of a B&O system - I was flashed right away and got addicted to Lou Rawls since then. Nevertheless, I never took the effort of stepping up to true vinyl - my turntable is in its original shipping box in the basement together with about 100 records. Instead, I am streaming (pls forgive me for my favor of convenience). Despite an old and quite cheap USB DAC for my PC I use a tube amp and a nice fully analog studio device to add some kind of analog distortion, the SPL Qure. To be honest, I am quite happy with this setup, knowing well that there are far better systems out there.

[@SubTroppo]

Bingo! I've still got that McCartney album from when it came out in the UK. However, I don't have the hifi to match, or the ancillary devices and listening room either. (Exit stage left to buy lottery ticket.)

[@thomasmleahy6218]

* I've just been Fremerized!! Thank You, Mike. *

[@DSupremeLounge]

Awesome. Thanks

[@vrm86gt]

Totally makes sense that every step of recording etc adds distortion.

[@francoisroberge5882]

Right on Michael.

[@gtxguy]

Have been a big vinyl fan since the 70's,I have Tidal streaming and I still like my vinyl first.

[@edthefirst2859]

Not me. On tidal no pops and tics and having to turn a damn record over every 15 minutes!

[@epgawt]

Not an easy task to explain my view about Vinyl / Digital, but let's go. When I really started with vinyl, not long ago, around 7 years or so, I used to buy every cool one I could think of, but with time I began to filter, and reduced the scope to those that were the closest to the masters, simply because I realised I preferred to ear the real thing that was recorded, to feel closer to the creation, and I love that feeling. So, first point to me : Fidelity. Not every record sounds good, of course, so, since another preference of mine is to ear great sound, I added that filter to the search. For example I don't care if it is the first pressing of Ramones, I like the music but not the sound, so I won't invest time and money for that, on the contrary, I have two copies (one sealed) of Eric Clapton's MTV Unplugged, I hope you get my view. Second point: Great sonic experience During the process of improving my staff at home I learnt how important is a set of speakers (Dali Opticon 6), a dedicated amp instead of an A/V (Emotiva XPA Gen 3), a good set of speaker cables (recently doubled the AWG and the result was spectacular), and a nice Preamp instead (again) an A/V (Emotiva XSP-1), sorry Paul, PS Audio is still out of my budget ;-). Sure most of you know people don't understand that, I do know. All that machinery has nothing to do with vinyl, I know, but it matters, whatever the format you like if you don't have a minimum to appreciate it there is no point to talk about any format, I'll come to this point later. BWT I have a RME ADI-2 Pro fs as dac and an Origin Live TT with a Dynavector 10x5. So, Third point, capable machinery. I apply both Fidelity and good sound filters to either vinyl or digital records, of course in both formats I have incredible experiencies. But here comes the fourth point: path. I have LPs in both formats, and my preference is always the vinyl version, the analog path. I don't know how is the digital version generated, and I don't understand why they sound so different, but this is my experience. Remember, filters applied and music played in the same system. So, given my conditions (fidelity, sound quality, machinery) and experience, my preference to reproduce my filtered music is through the vinyl path. And last but not least, the RME is both ADC and DAC, so I use it to digitize my best LPs, getting a very very very close sound between both formats, so much that I also prefer my vinyl digitized content to their digital editions. As somebody else said, and I agree, it is a matter of personal preferences

[@josephsequeira8020]

what make is that turntable, and which cartridges does MF use?

[@stimpy1226]

A year after Michael recorded this video which he use the term “sterile“ with regard to digital recordings, I started to use the same term never hearing this video until now. I thought I was a lone voice crying out into the wilderness but I see that Michael uses the same term popped into my head just recently. I have to say it sounds somewhat erie

[@LeonPhythian69]

I think now that we are seeing a lot more 96/24 type material coming straight from the artist there is less of a battle, obviously initial production and recording choices plus mixing and mastering choices lend to final quality outcome, but essentially printing to vinyl which I still love, (there's just something about holding it) is still imparting a level of bit reduction and compression to it that detracts from the original recording that's just physics and shouldn't really be in question, then you could argue that most streaming platforms add compression and reducing a recording to CD quality also sqdishes it, add to that most people listening environments ooms are not treated correctly so peeps are then battling with that issue. But I'll never forget actual listening to a lot of high quality 96\24 digital records in my first mastering studio and I can say with all honestly that I had never heard those tracks properly before, 100% tiny details that just were not there on previous listens, but then are most people going to spend upwards of 50\60k on speakers and room treatment to enjoy their audio? Probably not, so what ever the factor I guess what ever makes the listener happy is ok.

[@JCW-jx6ld]

Both you guys are a great listen

[@AnalogPlanet]

Let me 'splain: when my battery powered preamplifier is "off" it produces a hum through the speakers. I turned it off and shot the video not paying attention to the hum. Listeners heard it. Paul EQ'd and reposted the video so now there's no hum but I sound like I'm in a tin can....it happens.

[@johnsweda2999]

That's why my comment disappeared I left you. I was wondering have you tried the new valve amplifiers switch mode power supply on the Manley Labs amplifiers on the lathes, it's much superior should give a better sound quality on the lacquer. Did you say you had a transformer before on your mains? you should use two site transformers and some run capacitor, 1 transformer at 5 kVA second one at 3.3 kVA both with 5 run capacitors at 100uF at 440v in parallel on the primary coils, outputting 32 amps. To your equipment. And use dedicated lines for neutral and earth and have a suppressor on the Earths. And make sure the site Transformers are filled with transformer oil

[@VandepoelM]

whats up with that reverb/echo in his room, never heard anything like that.

[@Novilicious]

I was going to put in a generac generator in my home but now I’m steering clear of it!

[@leonjew9071]

I love Michael Fremer! Now I'm going to check out the PS Audio power plant...for that plug he gave your P15 and P20, you should gift it no charge to Michael!!!

[@edthefirst2859]

I liked when the ps audio power plant was affordable... now it’s CRAZY expensive!

[@armandorancano6415]

Married to a home inspector, I have seen firsthand the flaws in most homes electrical systems. No problem running a toaster, but not a high end audio system. I agree that a regenerator is more expensive than perhaps it needs to be, but think about the cost of bringing in a dedicated power line. The better your gear is the more it will benefit from clean power. Maybe you are among the lucky few who already enjoy relatively clean power. I bought a P15 and have never regretted it.

[@SwirlingDragonMist]

Let’s put the records mentioned in the description please, thanks.

[@MarkDavidMcCoskey]

Quite the record collection...

[@kerbyfab]

That turntable 🤤🤤

[@randybradley4151]

My son just walked in the room and thought this guy was Jerry Springer and then about 10 minutes later my wife comes in to tell us that supper is ready and said the exact same thing.

[@ssgeek4515]

All I know is the human hearing range is not liniar so the lower end is less sensitive to us. We naturally emphasise this part to give it warmth that's why we naturally find records nicer.Digital removes unwanted noises but also the subtle nieuances of the recording

[@myronhelton4441]

dolby noise reduction removes good music.

[@williampearson4968]

Second time around is the charm! Paul McGowan vs Michael Fremer ---- Who's going to win? DSD or ANALOG? Are they both right? or simply enjoy the music! Both guys have super wonderful systems. Michael's LP turntable system costs as much as his house. Advantage ANALOG.

[@JoseGarcia-oo4mc]

Excellent

[@ianship5058]

Thank you I always knew Vinyl was better

[@guystewart9554]

our brain is wired for survival to be able to detect real. Real is always distorted by everything else. clean up a track for accuracy and you remove a bit of real. plus, we all experience real a little differently. I really enjoyed this, thank you.

[@TorToroPorco]

In my experience most digital downloads from the major labels are lacking compared to a good digitized vinyl playback. I’d be happier if the labels offered downloads of digitized vinyl. Also the resolution matters with digitized vinyl, 192KHz is noticeably better than 96Khz if the playback gear is of sufficient quality.

[@MaterLacrymarum]

When you write that, what you're actually asking for is a well mastered copy of the music. A lot of pop music is horribly produced, with masses of compression used. Ideally we'd a flat transfer without that compression. Why settle for a Vinyl rip that is compressed?

[@TorToroPorco]

@@MaterLacrymarum The dynamic range of vinyl is less compressed than the digital downloads due to the physical limitations of cutting the grooves on the vinyl. But it’s more than just compression there’s actual sonic information that’s lacking from the digital downloads in many instances.

[@MaterLacrymarum]

@@TorToroPorco Indeed - however the fact remains, Vinyl has less dynamic range than a digital recording is able to do. Further, don't compare apples and oranges. Commercially released chart hits, put up on streaming and downloads, are not targeting audiophiles, or even play back on hi-fi systems. From an audiophile perspective, they've been ruined by poor mastering (compressed). I agree. But they're the worst the format has to offer. All Vinyl, ad far as I know, uses RIAA equalization and Curve, for example. You can certainly find instances where compression on digital recordings is over-used. I'll give you an example right here - Alice Cooper's new CD is DR5!!! But I avoid such things - forewarned is forearmed. Compression of this sort is far less of a problem with Jazz and Classical.

[@gsj8793]

I have both and play both, high res digital through a decent DAC and vinyl on a good system. From my experience, you have to spend way more for a great sounding turntable, tonearm, pickup-system, needle, phono-preamp, aso. to get close to a well mastered and great sounding high res digital recording. Only if you then spend even more on your analog audio equipment, you will surely surpass any digital format in sound quality. So, one must compare the cost of a good DAC to the cost of a good TT with a good system in the same price-range. In that case I believe the digital system will blow the analog out of the water. Spending 3 times the money on an analog system will then again surpass digital. Like to hear your thoughts on that......

[@keithmoriyama5421]

Audiophiles are always listening to the final product. The magic actually happens four stages before during the initial recording process. If I recorded a program completely digital (with the exception of analog preamps and limiters which are often standard procedure) then mastered it on to vinyl, this guy would say the record sounds so much better. What made the records of decades ago sound so good was the extremely high amounts of distortion introduced into the initial recording process 'off the floor.' A single input strip of a Neve 1073 composed of lead can weigh 10lbs-- that's a lot of distortion. Finally, the REAL distortion comes with the magnetic tape recorder itself. It's huge and that's what makes it sound great.

[@NickP333]

This vid is giving me deja vu. Or, is this real life Groudhogs Day? I still think it’s great and am a huge fan of Mr. Mikey Fremer, so I’m not gonna overthink this one....

[@jeremytravis360]

Same with me. Perhaps he didn't feel fully represented yesterday.

[@amitraam1270]

Just a glitch in the matrix.

[@jeremytravis360]

@@amitraam1270 OMG You don't mean "Distortion" We can't have that.

[@scottyo64]

When I saw this pop up I was thinking haven't I seen this already?

[@NickP333]

@@jeremytravis360 Always fully represent twice, regardless of how one’s first representation went. (or so I’ve heard) I think? I dunno. lol

[@adrianfox4995]

Great to listen to Michael, always a source of great knowledge, sadly I do not have several houses to spend on a turntable (hoping my existing machine of many years keeps going!!). Should one infer from Michael's talk that perhaps all the "Modern" Re-Mastered Albums have at some part of the process been through a Digital process ??

[@itsjim2875]

Yes, probably. Any LP or remastered LP since about 1979-1980 is likely to be digital. As I recall, the first digital LP released in the U.S. was Ry Cooder's Bop til you Drop in 1978.

[@astertm99]

Look at all those records!!! I know this is only a small part of his collection.

[@ranbymonkeys2384]

there Cologuard samples

[@tonesbones502]

Micheal is fantastic. They seem to have quality, authentic characters down at Stereophile

[@SuperDaddyruss]

The antidote about the listening party..the first time someone really hears Good imaging no matter the medium they call feel its the greatest they have ever heard..... I do love a good record and in love a good digital hell idgaf I just love good sounding music. Especially with tons of layers. ..... Have a good one guys

[@Joshualbm]

Crazy, man.

[@maaxsxzone2914]

Deja Vu, Dear Paul.

[@savagefrieze4675]

I have a problem with the video: can’t afford the space for the vinyl library let alon the library itself. In other words: many of us need high quality recordings that take little physical space. Streaming services make a great deal of sense. I do wish they sounded as good as the original quality recordings.

[@maxhirsch7035]

I'm not surprised that the group Mike Fremer invited over to his house experienced the LP on his turntable as sounding substantially better than a top-of-the-line digital setup- but I'd bet that none of them ended up buying a turntable and going at least somewhat analog afterwards (Though I hope I'm wrong about that)! Sadly, people don't seem to value great sound much nowadays, which is sad, because it's like great smell, great taste, great sight, and great sensations- it's really visceral and pleasurable (one of life's great pleasures IMO) if you open yourself up to it (or simply notice it from the start).

[@PanAmStyle]

Mikey is the best!

[@kalijasin]

Back in the day they added distortion (scratches, clicks, buzz, etc.) to make things sound more real or less artificial. Radio stations did it all the time as did DJs.

[@stevensmith8793]

1 Michael Fremer video = 5 Ask Paul videos!

[@zerocapacitance1]

It is true that vinyl has the potential to sound better than super audio CD as a recording format but comparing apples to apples for the price point of the playback unit is where the question stands.

[@aussie_philosopher8079]

This is a actually true even in hi res but using adaptive, reconstruction filters, interpolation and accurate clocking it gets reduced massively.

[@jamiemcneil9462]

Wow .. Just Wow.

[@paulwibb.8944]

Did the sound change,,,,?,, its hurt my ears now,,😲

[@johnsweda2999]

Yep Paul adding distortion for the fun of it it's good he's not a mastering engineer

[@pnojazz]

But Mike couldn’t be more correct. Anyone who believes that digital is near vinyl hasn’t listened to a decent vinyl rig. I’ve listened to vinyl for 50 years. And still going strong. Vinyl rules!

[@Jrscarratt]

I hate the fact that so much modern vinyl comes from a digital file when the original recording was analog

[@hello-pq5pj]

And worse. I've seen video of the master 1 inch stereo analogue tapes in the pressing plant converted to 96khz before cutting the laquer. How dumb and what missed opportunities

[@darfmanfragen]

classic on vinyl is the biggest no go EVER

[@irashapiro9189]

I've read through all the comments at the time of this post. Some of you get it but it seems as though most of you don't. I know Mikey can be long-winded as can Paul. Primary point taken to this video is: if you prefer streaming hi-rez do it, if you prefer listening to CD`s do it and if you prefer listening to vinyl then do it. Mikey prefers vinyl as do I. It's not about which format is better or why this format is better than that one. It's about which one you prefer. In the end, it's all about the music.

[@DocJJohnson]

Marvelous

[@stuartayrton3217]

That's better, no hum this time !!

[@Paulmcgowanpsaudio]

Yes, I managed to remove the hum. Not sure where that came from. Thanks for noticing.

[@playbackvintagehifihunter9669]

Maybe too much distortion? Lol

[@StellarAudyssey]

@@playbackvintagehifihunter9669 he's cutting the audio direct to vinyl

[@paulgaerisch7041]

He makes a good argument for vinyl. The only advantage of digital is low noise and it’s immunity to most outside influences( pops and clicks, rumble, tape hiss.). I can tell you that lossless digital is way better than mp3 crap they give us. Why Amazon and iTunes can’t give us lossless or dsd formats is a crime.

[@cubinn149]

Ya i use power conditioning and a very noticeable improvement u need emi rfi filtering with low impedance