Is vinyl really for me?

[Al ears]

Aside from 'thin' pressings, a decent vinyl system should be as musical and 'transparent' as a decent digital system. Inner Groove Distortion in my experience is highly cartridge-dependent (assuming proper alignment).

I agree with the suggestion above regarding listening to a good set-up to see what you are missing and whether it is worth carrying on with. If you have a nearby Richers, they should have a top-end Project turntable with a 2M Black on it. The best phono stage in your local Richers will be inside a Roksan Caspian or K3. So get them to hook that lot up and have a good listen (ignoring their attempts to tell you that Cambridge Audio do a better amp). For a start, you should hear IGD disappear - I get zip, nada, zero out of my Hana SH.

And if that doesn't work for you then no worries - it should be the music that counts not the shape of the bit of plastic or silicon that contains it! Just get a good CD player or streamer and keep on trucking.

Good suggestions up to a point. I think you will find the Roksan Caspian amp doesn't have a phono stage.

 

[good_enough]

Blak.

 

[jacobmorrison]

Thanks for your replies. The site's spam filter blocked me after I posted the question and it's taken until now for me to be unblocked!

I will have a listen to the next level kit to see what i've been missing. I'd love to hear the clearaudio and VIP decks but there are no outlets in manchester with decks in stock for audition. The more esoteric brands like Well Tempered and Audionote as well as Michell and Linn are available for a listen though. We'll see if its worth the financial sacrifice.

I do think that reviewers of turntables should take greater account of how well the decks deal with poorer quality vinyl. Every review I read uses audiophile reference recordings to get the best out of the decks, which is fine, but unless we're expected to feed these decks an exclusive diet of this kind of stuff then it's only half the picture.

 

[MajorFubar]

I do think that reviewers of turntables should take greater account of how well the decks deal with poorer quality vinyl. Every review I read uses audiophile reference recordings to get the best out of the decks, which is fine, but unless we're expected to feed these decks an exclusive diet of this kind of stuff then it's only half the picture. 

If you’re in the market for a thoroughbred sports car you want to know how well it goes round a track or at least the twisty B roads, not to read that its ability to carry four peasants and a bag of potatoes down a potholed cobbled backstreet in Naples is inferior to a 2CV, so we've docked two stars.

I do hear what you say though, but surely the greatest turntables will still get the best out of the worst pressings in any case.

 

[alchemist 1]

Linn also hadn't fundamentally changed its product since 1972 either, but because it was British it was a 'classic timeless design'

I've always thought Linn was Scandinavian, because of the name (and 'Sondek' sounds Scandinavian too). You Learn Something Every Day (TM).

Och aye.......''see you jimmy'' .........*smile*

 

[Forever Young]

Sometimes I need a break from vinyl records. I think the same things. They vary so much from record to record. On top of that, you've got all the messing around, cleaning, turning over, storing. I go through phases. For convenience, I use my PC with my DAC. I still play records and CDs because it's a different experience. If I'm drunk, the pc is best, because I can't ruin anything. I always come back to the records for the sound of certain things. Some things will just never sound right on digital. While I get a lot of enjoyment from my turntable, I wouldn't want it as my main source. My advice is forget about it for a while. It'll draw you back in. You'll get the urge to listen to something specific on vinyl and you'll be off again, enjoying it, without necessarily needing to change anything.

 

[stereoman]

Guys to be honest with you. I went this price / performance ratio path. And for the first time I bought a TT. Teac 300N - and I need to say that I'm really glad how it all works. I use Vinyl for the same amount of time as CDs. The sound is really great - I only get occasional warped records from shops ( but really 1% of all my shopping ) so no frustration so far at all. I even wonder how other more expensive decks can sound so much better as my already sounds really good. Now I am only waiting for the first AT95EX needle as an upgrade for 33€. So it does not have to be any frustriation at all. I think that Vinyl is not for someone who have a tendency for "clean" listening as Vinyl always will sound a bit distorted, hissing, popping but this is the beauty of it sometimes. Either you like it or not.