The 20 year cut off is about right when most major studios had completed the transition to digital boards and recorders. However, even before then, since the 70's most commercial recordings were already being processed with compression/expansion, dolby, dBx, aphex, etc. so that the dynamic range of the signal could "fit" on the limitations of tape and then it was processed some more to get it to vinyl.

Neil is known for being a little outspoken about digital . . . ;) I'm always reminded of how Neil's dad once told him that he was happy about the reception a new song of his was getting on the radio airwaves . . . "A Horse With No Name" . . . :D

Man that takes me back. I had to check. 1975.

Na na na na na na na na na na na na.

Jorg

As usual, I admit to not reading most of the posts in this thread. Mainly because they would be opinions and therefore worth nothing to anyone except the poster. ;) I will say that we have had this discussion before and no conclusion was reached. (Imagine that!!)

Now, with that said I will remind everyone that my thread titled "I'm Learning To Listen In Digital" covered everything you needed to know about music appreciation. To sum it up for yall, analog is great but once you start hearing in binary (ones and zeros) you will have crossed into the century we're now in, I forget what number that century is though. I think it's 20 something. :D

A nice Nottingham Analog table with a nice Grado mahogany cartridge will do the job. ;)

You can get better performance out of your redbook CD's these days by purchasing a player which upsamples. It basically interpolates using pretty sophisticated algorithms and makes 44.1 Khz sound like a tin can. The Cambridge Audio Azur is a pretty affordable way to do this.