Will Vinyl Make A Comeback? (page 2)

IP_SEC

Naw vinyl is as dead as the CD is becoming.

True a vinyl rec is much more hi-fi than a cd but a cd has better sound quality than MP3. Look who's winnin. Crappy MP3. Its a matter of convenience.

There is a ressurgence of interest in vinyl among audiophiles and to meet this demand vinyl records are being produced again in many parts of the world. It will always be of interest to audiophiles, and comparisons to wax cylinders etc. are not in the least valid. The difference between wax cylinders and other early reproduction mediums and CD reproduction is enormous, but the difference between vinyl and CD is being, and has been argued about since the mid 80's. Most audiophiles prefer the warmer and less brittle sound of vinyl.

I use both. I have over 6,000 LP's and around 2,000 CD's and interchange these mediums with ease, though my preference is for vinyl which played through a good system imho has a sound without comparison. What I do not use are mp3's, Ipods, etc. etc. which could never stand comparison in an audio listening test to either CD, or vinyl.

You have to pay good money to hear good vinyl sound, but once you have it will not be forgotten and other mediums become instantly less attractive.

HS

brinjen

You have to pay good money to hear good vinyl sound, but once you have it will not be forgotten and other mediums become instantly less attractive.

That's the angle I was thinking from hilary_step

The main advantage CD's have had is not getting scratched or worn while played, but if you can play a record the same way....

There's quite a number of bands that still insist on having their releases on vinyl, as well as CD. As vinyl has a broader sound wave, CD's are compressed.

hillary_step

Brinjen,

The main advantage CD's have had is not getting scratched or worn while played, but if you can play a record the same way....

Yes, that is true, though if you look after vinyl it can last. I regularly play the vinyl first pressings of 'East West' by the Butterfield Blues Band and 'Folk, Blues and Beyond' by Davey Graham that I purchased in 1966 when I was an infant and they are both still free of any surface noise.

I have a Linn Sondek Valhalla LP12, but if you want to go upmarket try this turntable, at a mere $140,000 :

Leolaia

I want to get a vinyl copy of Red Hot Chili Peppers' Stadium Arcadium for precisely the reason just mentioned, it avoids the audio compression that imho turns songs like "Snow (Hey Oh)" into mush. I think that is now the true virtue of vinyl these days...it gives you the dynamic range that is crammed out of existence in contemporary studio mixes intended for CDs. Which is ironic, considering how CDs have a superior capacity of dynamic range than LPs.

monophonic

sounds like an important product and too many people don't realize that there are a ton of great vinyl releases that have never or will ever be re-released onto cd b/c music is a business and it's all a numbers game.

sure, you can get every sound the beatles ever made, even john making a fart in a amp, but punk singles, old blue grass, there's so much out there that is still vinyl only.

i'm very happy about the turntables w/ usb connections....i might have to buy that to rip some of my vinyl collection that hasn't been released to cd so i can throw them on ebay for $$.

Peppermint

The reality is a belt driven, well engineered turntable outperforms musically any CD player at it's price level and most above. The problem is one of function. People want to control music throughout the house now, they want it on demand wherever they are, this is only successfully done digitally. Also with the advent of home cinema people expect multi-channel playback. Hillary_Step, I think it's time you thought about adding a lingo to that set-up.

hillary_step

Peppermint,

The reality is a belt driven, well engineered turntable outperforms musically any CD player at it's price level and most above.

Yes, I could not agree more with what you say, though some CD players are designed to produce a more 'vinyl' like sound. I kave a Kinergetics CD player that provides an excellent playback, though you need to part with $3,000 to buy it. I also have a California Labs, and Creek CD player, both well respected for producing a warmer less 'digital' sound.

Speakers are of ultimate importance, and as I build my own I am able to tailor the crossovers to produce a neutral sound which is why my preference is for monitor speakers in a multi unit design. I prefer the sound of full range transmission line speakers with no inteference at all from crossovers for general use.

People want to control music throughout the house now, they want it on demand wherever they are, this is only successfully done digitally.

As I said on another thread dealing with a similar subject, I would rather have no music than distorted music. MP3 downloads, for example, are an insult to my ears.

Leolaia,

Two excellent resources for vinyl are David Stacks website Musickstack : http://www.musicstack.com/ and Gemm http://www.gemm.com/. You probably know these anyway.

Cheers - HS

PrimateDave

My first "real job" was in a record factory in Carrollton, Georgia, back in the 1980s. When I went to work there it was called CBS Records, and by the time I left it was called Sony Music. Of course, by that time records were really on the way out. I started off in the record pressing department repairing the presses but eventually wound up in the cassette tape duplicating department.

Vinyl records have their advantages, to be sure, and I used to have a collection of them. And then I gave them away. Oh, well.

Anyway, for those who prefer the analog sound of vinyl and would like to get that sound out of your CD collection, here is a little device that may help. The accompanying article also has a good explanation for the technically minded as to just why CD's can sound harsh compared to analog recordings.

Does any audiophile here use tube amps?

Dave

hillary_step

Primate Dave,

Yes, I have a tube amplifier, a McIntosh 2105 which I play into a pair of Bipolar TLb Transmission Line speakers. Very sweet sound.

The filter you linked to looks interesting. Have you heard it?

HS

Will Vinyl Make A Comeback?

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