I've ben doing this for a looong time, but the other night had yet another one of those jaw-dropping revelations that was also incredibly discouraging for both me, as the owner of the studio/gear, and the artist who was having his music recorded.
I was recording directly to 1/2" tape thru the console and multing to the computer as well. Once again, the difference was not only dramatic, it was heartbreaking. We've all just gotten used to the sound of digital and appreciate its convenience. I am using "hi-quality" converters (name starts with "A") but the sound coming off the tape machine was just so much better in every way. The digital version sounded awful as we switched back and forth. Interestingly, after I transferred the analog mixes thru the Korg DSD recorder, the sound quality was almost fully retained. Yes, we could pick the two apart, but the difference was both subtle and totally acceptable. (Someone develop a multitrack DSD machine!)
My workflow and space limitations do not allow for me to run a 24 tack machine, although I would buy one tomorrow if i was only doing records. So what is the answer? I've worked on RADARs before and thought it sounded pretty darn good., but have not A/B'd directly with other converters- which, with my poor memory, I must do. Are there converters that retain more of the sound or is it really just the nature of PCM conversion that fails to capture it fully? It's not that analog adds anything, it's just that digital fails to capture it. Getting the DSD really opened my eyes (ears) to this.
David