[FullRangeMan]

How about you springing for a ticket to Houston and being my guest for weekend.  My CD player is sub par, but, not to worry.

Thanks Jim, you most kind. I appreciated your patience.
If I improve my English enough and make a trip to your country I will inform you.
My fault of always try getting the best of everything is a problem, I apologize to vinyl fans.

[jsaliga]

Your English is plenty good enough...and there's no need to apologize to vinyl fans.  Choice is a wonderful thing! 

--Jerome

[FullRangeMan]

Your English is plenty good enough...and there's no need to apologize to vinyl fans.  Choice is a wonderful thing! 

--Jerome

Thanks. Iam refering to my spoken english that not good.

[Bob in St. Louis]

Neat thread. I'm new to vinyl and am struggling with it. I do like it very much though. I have heard amazing music from records, and am trying to get to that point.
So far, I have yet to get "there" with my system. It's mainly a financial issue. So I guess the one thing I hate about vinyl is that it's too dammed expensive to do correctly.

Bob

[pumpkinman]

Neat thread. I'm new to vinyl and am struggling with it. I do like it very much though. I have heard amazing music from records, and am trying to get to that point.
So far, I have yet to get "there" with my system. It's mainly a financial issue. So I guess the one thing I hate about vinyl is that it's too dammed expensive to do correctly.

Bob

Bob, you still have Taylor Ham right ??

[Bob in St. Louis]

  Periodically, yes. 
In fact....Me and some internet dudes will be BBQing some in just over a week from now.

[raysracing]

I didnt mean for this to morph into what it has, only that if you care about your records then coming home with records unlike a CD or a mp3 download sometimes you cannot listen to your new records. For example I still have not played my new albums.  I did wash them and put them in new sleeves before heading out of town for a race today though. Getting closer to hearing the new National album on vinyl!

On the Brushes I have used Discwasher brushes for decades with the D4 solution, but I have been using it without the solution since cleaning with a Spin Clean and occasionally treating some of my collection with Gruv Glide. I just got a carbon fiber brushfrom Audioquest and the records look so clean and do not seem to pick up dust as they play, unlike the Discwasher system which might add static t the record.

SO very happy with the carbon brush.

[raysracing]

Neat thread. I'm new to vinyl and am struggling with it. I do like it very much though. I have heard amazing music from records, and am trying to get to that point.
So far, I have yet to get "there" with my system. It's mainly a financial issue. So I guess the one thing I hate about vinyl is that it's too dammed expensive to do correctly.

Bob

Bob everything I own in stereo is cheap and cheeerful.  Message me for my inexpensive system choices which I love.  I get so much music, detail, bass, etc. out of my records for what I have invested I sometimes feel like I am cheating. I have learned so much here to from neobop and many others. IT is easy to make mistakes in your set-up and the online stores can sometimes be misleading to get the sale.

[jarcher]

I didnt mean for this to morph into what it has, only that if you care about your records then coming home with records unlike a CD or a mp3 download sometimes you cannot listen to your new records. For example I still have not played my new albums.  I did wash them and put them in new sleeves before heading out of town for a race today though. Getting closer to hearing the new National album on vinyl!

On the Brushes I have used Discwasher brushes for decades with the D4 solution, but I have been using it without the solution since cleaning with a Spin Clean and occasionally treating some of my collection with Gruv Glide. I just got a carbon fiber brushfrom Audioquest and the records look so clean and do not seem to pick up dust as they play, unlike the Discwasher system which might add static t the record.

SO very happy with the carbon brush.

That's what I need - one of those carbon fiber antistatic brushes. Seen them @ needle doctor for $10.  I think I had one long ago, and probably for the same reason : the discwasher corduroy type brush is really terrible.  Better than nothing I guess if you're going to use it with the liquid - though I suspect even water and a clean paper towel would be better.  But as a dry brush it's the worst - just shifts / accumulates the dust in a row, and causes the record to static stick to the mat causing it to seriously attract dust on the other side when you pull it off the mat.

Scotty here at AC uses the In the Grove Record Cleaner that looks like a lint roller (same idea, but washable vs throw away sticky paper).  Seems to do a good job.

[vinyl_lady]

I have both the AudioQuest carbon fiber brush and the In the Groove. Both work really well. I use the In the Groove to pre- clean the dust off of lps before cleaning on the Loricraft. I use the carbon fiber brush before each play. As the record spins I slowly move the brush off of the record while maintain contact and then twist it upward as I remove it from the record. Does a great job.

[simoon]

The thing I hate most about vinyl is that records I really want to get into my collection are ridiculously expensive. Original vinyl copies of some of the rare Italian, French and Spanish prog go for $$$.

As far as the 'digital vs analog' debate goes, I am a fan of both mediums. I am probably about 70% digital, 30% vinyl listener.

Most of my classical listening is on vinyl. This is where vinyl sounds its best to me. I seem to be able to flesh out the sound of orchestras and chamber ensembles better than with digital. I also get a greater sense of hall ambiance and instrument placement.

As far as noise goes, I have no problems listening 'around' the noise.

Although this is an imperfect analogy, would you rather view the real painting of the Mona Lisa through a piece of glass with some dust specks, or a clear digital reproduction?

[rollo]

Well, if this is turning into a vinyl vs. digital debate then IMO that is a horse that has been beaten to death several times over on audio forums.

Where those discussions break down is that people tend to see the formats as the only difference and all other things are taken as equal.  In addition, no one is immune from their own biases.  For example, I have a strong preference for analogue recordings, and I believe that analogue recordings sound better on analogue formats such as open reel tape or vinyl.  Is that a fact that analogue is better?  That is debatable, but I accept that my bias strongly impacts what I hear and how I judge sound quality.  If you are predisposed to prefer analogue recordings the way I do it will be a pretty large mountain for digital to climb to overcome that bias, I don't care how good the system is.

I also believe that the single most greatest determinant of what you hear is the quality of the recording itself as the original tracks were laid down and mixed.  The best way to improve your sound is to improve the quality of the recordings you are buying and listening to.  Doing this takes a lot of knowledge and experience, regardless of which side you are on in the analogue/digital divide.  And not everyone will have the same experience.  For example, one of my focuses in vinyl is classical music recordings made in the 1950s and 1960s.  I have a considerable collection of vintage RCA Victor, Mercury Living Presence, Decca SXL, London ffss, and Deutsche Grammophon vinyl pressings.  I love many of the RCA recordings, but in my experience RCA Shaded Dog pressings are a bit overrated when it comes to the quality of the record pressings.  I find they have more surface noise than I would prefer, and they also have more than their fair share of pressing defects.  On the other hand, Decca SXL and London ffss pressings are consistently superb and very quiet.  In addition, Decca produced consistently excellent sound quality and had some of the most talented recording engineers in the business.  But someone else with similar tastes and experience as mine may not agree.

The loudness wars really started to turn me off on CD audio, and I came to view 16bit/44.1KHz digital audio as the format optimized for mobile devices.  I have no interest whatsoever in listening to music that has had the life compressed out of it.  But having said that, I do have some very nice digital recordings.  Most of them are high res 24bit/192KHz, DSD64, and DSD128.  I don't necessarily feel that more bit depth and higher sampling rates equates to better sound, but I do think that higher res digital recordings are better mastered and do not suffer from the same Tom foolery that plagues CD audio.

--Jerome

Agree 110% that the quality of the recording is the key to musical enjoyment no matter what format.  Was just trying to remind all apples to apples as far as comparison of CD/LP is concerned, that's all. Owning both a state of the art CDP and TT setup it becomes a matter of choice over better when the recordings are well engineered.
     Learning about recordings is a must for the serious listener. Not all recordings both digital and vinyl are the Cat's meow. BTW also use a VPI 16.5. No LAST for me. IMO causes more harm than good. According to Peter Lederman of Soundsmith that is. Peter recommends a small amount of Blu-Tac which one can drop the stylus on to. Removes everything and renders the stylus squeaky clean. Try it very affective.
    Back to topic. Nothing, Nada other than being just lazy at times getting up every 20 minutes or so.


charles

[Wayner]

I agree with Charles 110%. Crappy recording on any format . Good recording (especially on vinyl) is always fun. Occasionally, I have a record on that simply puts me in a state of dis-belief, as to how the hell the black pizzas can sound soooo awesome.

Wayner

[raysracing]

Again to quote or paraphrase Lederman on the topic of records: "they should not work." So like Wayner I am always surprised, even on my equipment how amazing they sound, how open and airy and how well placed the music can be.

[WireNut]

Putting them back in the sleeves/album covers.

[Guy 13]

Hi all Audio Circle members.
One thing I don't like is the cheap sleeves that sometimes comes with the vinyls.
On the other hand, one thing I like more over the jewel cases of the CD s is the large jacket of the vinyl. With nice pictures sometimes on both sides.

Guy 13

[neobop]

Hate vinyl? 
I love my vinyl tablecloths.  One has little red and white squares and the other is black and white squares for more formal occasions.  Both easily wipe clean, but might smell funny if you don't use a scented cleaner.  I hate when they smell bad.  It's unappetizing.

The plural of vinyl is vinyl.  You mean records as opposed to a record?  Is this about vinyl as the material a record is made of, or about records in general?

Vinyl is great stuff, not only for tablecloths but it makes records a viable medium.  Ever since the days of shellac records the phonograph and tape recorder have been the best way to reproduce music.  Still is.  Vinyl might require some effort to press, but it's resilient.  When the groove is deformed it eventually goes back to its original shape.  What's not to like?  It's not the fault of vinyl if a recording is poor quality or it's pressed badly, or abused.

They (Sony and Philips) tried to replace records with an inferior digital medium.  All the marketing in the world could only keep records out for a short while.  The simple fact is that records and record playing equipment are not only still around, but flourishing.  Why?

"You can fool all the people some of the time, and some of the people all the time, but you cannot fool all the people all the time."
Abraham Lincoln

To sum up:
1) Take care of, and cherish your vinyl records if you're a music lover.  They're better than sliced bread. 

2) If you're using the sponge in the sink to wipe your vinyl tablecloth, you might want to use a scented cleaner also, for odor control.

neo     

[andyr]

Although this is an imperfect analogy, would you rather view the real painting of the Mona Lisa through a piece of glass with some dust specks, or a clear digital reproduction?

It's not just an "imperfect analogy" ... it is a completely a-over-t analogy!    What I would have said is:
Would you rather view the real painting of the Mona Lisa or a (digital) photocopy?

The thing I hate most about vinyl is that records I really want to get into my collection are ridiculously expensive. Original vinyl copies of some of the rare Italian, French and Spanish prog go for $$$.

Yes, unfortunately vinyl is generally more expensive than digital

As far as noise goes, I have no problems listening 'around' the noise.

I suggest you need to get a wet/vac (or ultrasonic) RCM.  Then, most of the time you shouldn't hear any "noise". 

Regards,

Andy

[simoon]

author=andyr link=topic=117251.msg1231887#msg1231887 date=1370683692]
It's not just an "imperfect analogy" ... it is a completely a-over-t analogy!    What I would have said is:
Would you rather view the real painting of the Mona Lisa or a (digital) photocopy?

Not sure what an 'a-over-t analogy' is?

I suggest you need to get a wet/vac (or ultrasonic) RCM.  Then, most of the time you shouldn't hear any "noise". 

Got one. Works great.

But buying used vinyl, no matter how clean it gets, there will still be some clicks and pops.

[rbbert]

There's really only one thing I hate about vinyl, and that is that all too often the best masterings are reserved for LP's, often from digital masters, and yet no hires digital form of those masters is ever made commercially available.