Two years ago I still had good eyesight. I had no idea what was in store for me over the next 18 months. I was diagnosed with Dry Macular Degeneration back in 2012, and I faithfully did everything two specialists told me to do. Still, by the fall of 2019, the doctors told me that I am now legally blind, and for the last two years, I have been on an audio journey from analog to digital.
The picture above shows what my reference system used to look like. As you can see, I was very much an analog guy. Duke, the terrier in the picture, joined me in my passion for spinning records.
As my vision deteriorated, I ruined three of my favorite and very expensive LPs because I couldn’t see the spindle and dropped them. Then I wrecked the cantilever on my DS Audio Master1 optical cartridge. It was becoming very stressful and expensive to listen to LPs.
As I shared in my last three reviews, I began a journey to find a digital source that was both musically and emotionally satisfying. It didn’t have to be as good as my vinyl system, but I did want it to be lots of fun to listen to for long periods of time. You can read about the culmination of this search in Parts One, Two, and Three of my recent Innuos Statement reviews.
The Struggle
It was a very difficult struggle for me to give up on listening to LPs at home. At first, it was a struggle to see if I could enjoy music from a digital source. Then I struggled with how to give up reviewing turntables, tonearms, and cartridges. It is what I’m known for. Thank goodness our new reviewers are more than capable to replace me in this area of reviewing.
The real struggle, honestly though, is that it is heartbreaking to get rid of my LPs. I found it very hard to part with music that has brought me so many years of joy. Becky pointed out that our two sons will have no idea what to do with my LPs when one day they are left to dispose of our things. So, I started by getting rid of the newest LPs. As the collection has dwindled down, however, it has become more difficult to part with some of them.
Just this past week, I removed most of the LPs that I had posted on Audiogon. They will go back up again when I figure out what to do with some of them. For example, how can I part with an original mono recording of the Beatles White Album that’s been played until it’s practically worn out? The same goes for my early-issue Cat Stevens albums and many others. I still have 500 to 600 LPs that are in really good shape. I just need a break from selling them for a while. It’s amazing how my heart is tied up in these old pieces of vinyl.
Moving Forward
Here’s a picture of my now all-digital reference system. We will post a better picture soon. The speakers are the ElectrostaticSolutions QUAD ESL 57s powered by a pair of Butler Audio MONAD 100 monoblocks. I also have the LTA MicroZotl 3 preamp, the PS Audio DirectStream DAC, and the Innuos Statement. All of the cabling is Audience FrontRow. The power distributor is the HB Cable Design’s Marble PowerSlave.
Reviewing the Innuos Statement with three different DACs was a real learning experience. I’ll be honest, I never expected to be able to get the kind of musicality I am enjoying from the Innuos Statement and the PS Audio DirectStream DAC. So here’s what I learned from this digital adventure?
Progress in Digital
Twelve years ago I reviewed the Audio Note DAC Five at $40,000 for Dagogo. Then and now a level five Audio Note digital system makes beautiful music, but it is very limited with no USB input. In that review, I also interviewed Peter Qvortrup, founder of Audio Note (UK). The subject of the interview was how digital and vinyl playback compare.
At the time, Peter painted a pretty bleak picture of where digital playback was headed. He said, “Digital cannot resemble the original because of the inaccuracies introduced at the point of entry in the digital domain. The errors and omissions introduced by all current and past methods of conversion are so great that, at best, all we get is a cardboard cut out of the original.”
Then, I was in total agreement with Peter. In that same interview, he mentioned that his team was just beginning to recognize the importance of the transport. I have a friend who has an all Audio Note system. He uses the top of the line transport with their Level III DAC.
I think that we have discovered now that the piece of gear that delivers the information to the DAC is more important. Thus with innovations such as the Innuos music servers, we now know there is much more than cardboard cutouts in those ones and zeros. Personally, I think one of the weaknesses in the earlier models was in the silver discs themselves. Peter, though, has certainly overcome this with many of his CV playback units.
More Music
Discovering how much more information exists in those ones and zeros leads me to accept the sound of hi-rez formats, especially DSD. It has simply been amazing to hear what digital reproduction is capable of with pure DSD files. Don’t think you have to have super hi-rez files to enjoy music on this system though. It is very satisfying simply streaming from Qobuz.
Speaking of Qobuz, during this COVID-19 pandemic, I have had much more time to listen to music. I have discovered a lot of new music by way of Qobuz. Not that there is a benefit to losing my sight, but if I still had my vision, I would never have invested in a digital system that is good enough to enjoy all of this new music.
Which is Best, Vinyl or Digital?
I know that’s the question many of you want me to answer, so let me give it a try. The simple answer is digital, not because it is better, but because I don’t get anxious using it. If I could still see, I would have never given digital this much time. I would still be spinning records. In the end, I have a digital system that I find extremely emotionally and musically involving and satisfying. I can listen to it for hours with no listener fatigue.
As for Duke, while he misses watching the records spin, he mostly enjoys spending time with his human!
