Vinyl, it does sound better than cd..

[evo6tme]

Not being a scientist i'm proberbly wrong , but our ears have evolved over millions of years listening to analog and now we listen to a cdp which has a digital bit in the middle. Now my old ears seem to be able to hear that digital bit (dac) .

Remember the film the fly ? put a pure source in one end and any impurities mix and you get,well a fly !!!. Not quite the analegy i wanted to make but u get my drift , if a dac cant read data in makes it up, using a program to guess closly what it thinks is right. vinyl will just reproduce what it reads walts and all .

On cd kate bush , the ninth wave, hello earth sounded great .But on vinyl the same track sent shivers down my spine. End of storry as far as i'm concerned as music is about emotion not data reading .....

Oh yeh my first system about 20 years ago had both cd and vinyl so i am neather young or old.and have speant all my adult life with both formats,

also if anyone is interested i have a thorens td166 mk2 with new belt and new ortofon om20 sitting round after upgrading to a gyrodek ......

 

[Tear Drop]

An interesting article on the whole analogue vs. digital debate http://www.musicangle.com/feat.php?id=106

 

[Anonymous]

It is interesting but it's a reprint of an article that's 10 years old. I don't think anybody would disagree that CD was very raw when it launched. Even the article makes reference to the fact that it was improving all the time since launch. The stuff about DAT is a pointless sidetrack in thie context of this thread as is the Minidisc stuff. Minidisc has mercifully dropped out of the mainstream.

The writer even points out he was asked to write an article about the downside of CD (note - not a balanced article)

When we as consumers buy music we have a choice. We can buy good vinyl (if we can find it) or we can buy good CD's. What do I mean by good - I mean well made by sound engineers who know their business. My own collection is about 60% - 40% CD to vinyl. I have some recordings in each medium that are complete and utter dogs. In fact one of my current quests is finding good recordings of all of the jazz tunes I enjoy the most to make a sort of masters collection. Irrespective of where I find then they will all be transferred using a lossless format onto a HDD so I can listen to what jazz I like when I like rather than picking a track from this and that album.

Luckily as I have old standard issue ears I am unable to tell if the original source was analogue or digital, if it was remanstered from A to D or god forbid, if some sound ape has cut an A track from a D recording.(and -yes that did happen more than you might think.) What I can hear all to clearly with the old SIE's is poor recording technique, it stands out head and shoulders above the meduim used.

 

[Anonymous]

I enjoy the sound of a well set up turntable and the ritual involved in playing an LP. ÿBig shiny discs are sexier too!ÿ

However, the ÿcare and storage of LP's is a concern, surface noise will always be a distraction that increases as records are played, small mishaps can have large consequences and even with the best of care vinyl wears and deforms as it is played. ÿ

I tend to agree that orchestral music is much better on CD than vinyl.ÿ

Finally I personally believe that very good CD reproduction is available on a very tight budget. To be honest I've yet to hear what I would call even satisfactory replay of vinyl at the same sort of low budget. ÿYMMV.

 

[chebby]

I broke a personal rule today and with some success.

Rule 1 = No classical on vinyl.

I wandered into a charity shop because I saw a rack of LPs. Most were pretty shoddy but a few of the classical LPs were pristine looking and had Nagaoka type inner sleeves. (A sign that the previous owner cared for them). I selected three that I liked. (Elgar, Vivaldi & Mozart) for 75 pence each.

I took them to a local second-hand record shop that offers a Keith Monks cleaning service for £1 a side. (Including new anti-static liners) So the total 'damage' was three nice classical albums for a total of £8.25 in pristine shape, professionally cleaned (just in case of hidden nasties) with decent anti-static inner sleeves.

They played fine when I got them on the Rega. I listened at a reasonably loud volume so that I could gauge surface noise (barely any) and other irritants (none).

I am very pleased and quite astonished at the beauty and 'meatiness' of strings (solo and massed) compared to CD and how engaging it is. Full bodied stuff, leading to at least a couple of impropmtu 'air conductor' moments !

This was probably a one-off and if I am ever tempted again, I will still be careful to pick only pristine looking disks and to pay for the added insurance of Keith Monks cleaning before playing.

On a different note, I am awaiting 'The Killers' Sawdust double LP, brand new from Amazon, to arrive tomorrow.

 

[Anonymous]

Isnt amazon great? I got paul weller's 22 dreams double lp, u2 1990-2000 lp, coldplay viva la vida and the beatles love album, all from deliverd from amazon in a couple of days!

 

[Clare Newsome]

Amazon is excellent - too good, sometimes, in fact, which is why I turned one-click ordering off (was buying way too many albums...)

We recently ordered one of the Johnny Cash/Rick Rubin LPs and it arrived in perfect working order, but with a slight mark on the disc. I sent it back and got a replacement by return, no questions asked.

 

[chebby]

Well Clare, I have just ordered Amazon UK's last in-stock copy of Johnny Cash's 'American Recordings' on vinyl. You see how much I trust your taste?

(I hope it isn't the one you sent back.)

I needed something, acoustic, vocal & simply recorded (by somebody I actually like) that has some genuine emotional clout (i.e. by someone who is old enough to shave, for a change). I think this should fit the bill.