[Phil G4SPZ]

I think even the most hardened devotees of 'vinyl' accepted that the digital encoding, storage and reproduction probably represented a step forward. Hence 'digital' became a byword for top-notch audio quality, and the word became more widely associated with good quality. Since then, however, digital technology has been hijacked by ruthless cutting of bandwidth and cost to the point where the phrase "digital rubbish" is frequently heard, especially when describing cheap electronic consumer goods.