[Bob in St. Louis]

That will just make me want to spend money on records. 

[lonewolfny42]

That will just make me want to spend money on records. 

Used records are cheaper than Cd's Bob....

[toobluvr]

That will just make me want to spend money on records. 

Used records are cheaper than Cd's Bob....

And lots of new vinyl is the same price as CD......11 to 15 dollars.

Check the online catalogs:  Music Direct, Acoustic Sounds, Elusive Disc, Lost Highway, etc.
Even Amazon has lots of vinyl!

 

[ricmon]

Last night's listening session nailed it for me.  After a few tequila pineapple cocktails I didn't care what format the music comes was in.  As a matter of fact I can't remember if the last thing I listen too was vinyl or cd.  bottoms up 

[toobluvr]

Last night's listening session nailed it for me.  After a few tequila pineapple cocktails I didn't care what format the music comes was in.  As a matter of fact I can't remember if the last thing I listen too was vinyl or cd.  bottoms up 

Ahhhhh, the cheap tweek...guaranteed to make your system sound better!

Choose your poison!

        

 aa

[James Romeyn]

Last night's listening session nailed it for me.  After a few tequila pineapple cocktails I didn't care what format the music comes was in.  As a matter of fact I can't remember if the last thing I listen too was vinyl or cd.  bottoms up 

Won't help me maintain my girlish figure ....but what the heck: RECIPE PLEASE!!!!!!!!!

[DTB300]

Thanks for clarifying. So far IMO, the most impressive digital recording music label has been Chesky. Unfortunately, they have stopped producing LPs and now only produce CDs. Although I say the sound is impressive, it's a bit "in-your-face" and to me it still sounds digital and not as involving.

Chesky and their CD/SACD only releases - wish they had some more artists I liked. 

I thought I remember reading a post somewhere from Michael Bishop (Telarc when they were still around) where Telarc did ALL their new recordings (not sure of length of time this had been done) in DSD regardless of the final destination.  Since a company would has a DSD recording, I doubt they would also do a non-DSD one too - cost prohibitive?   Wonder is these NEW vinyl releases even mention if they were DSD originals or not?  So, some new vinyl releases may have originated from digital though thought to be analog all the way.  GASP!@!@!   

For remasters, they are hit and miss for me in regards to sound quality.

But I try to listen to vinyl setups any time I can and I am still looking for that "got to have it" feeling but have not heard it yet.  Some have been nice sounding, but not live without it stuff.

[woodsyi]

Dan,

When I get my phonostage back from upgrading, I will invite you over.  I have been going around E-bay collecting all the recordings of my favorite Diva on records.  I found some rare ones in France and Germany.  I have this La Traviata http://www.amazon.com/Verdi-Traviata-Hybrid-SACD-Giuseppe/dp/B0002CX4R2 on SACD, CD and vinyl.  You can hear them all if you want.

[DTB300]

When I get my phonostage back from upgrading, I will invite you over.  I have been going around E-bay collecting all the recordings of my favorite Diva on records.  I found some rare ones in France and Germany.  I have this La Traviata http://www.amazon.com/Verdi-Traviata-Hybrid-SACD-Giuseppe/dp/B0002CX4R2 on SACD, CD and vinyl.  You can hear them all if you want.

I have this one:  http://www.cduniverse.com/productinfo.asp?pid=6029859&style=classical  I will have to look for that version one day....

But is your vinyl version of these three originally recorded in DSD??  That is what I am curious about with Vinyl.   That discussion is tiring to me, and like I stated before, I am not here to say this format is better than that, we each have our preferences and should just enjoy our music and the ability to sit and listen to it.

Formats can sound completely different based on how they are made, mastered, produced etc., and each format does not dictate it is better just because of the format.

BTW, you still running your Oracle TT setup??  Heard one at CommandAv a couple of months ago.

[doug s.]

You're just out to cause trouble these days with these loaded questions.

Yes, given the same recording, I greatly prefer CDs over vinyl.

turkey, why do i sometimes get the impression that some of your posts yust attempt to inflame?     it is truly hard to imagine anyone, who when listening to decent winyl and digital front ends w/the same recording in these two formats, on the same system, who would prefer the digital.  you are the first i have ever heard say this.  even folks i know w/o analog rigs readily admit the superiority of winyl when a-b'd in such a manner.

there are only a few times where i have had the opportunity to compare winyl w/digital, on the same actual recording, per above scenario.  every time the winyl sounded better, hands down.  w/the digital, it was a mite tighter in the wery low bass, but the winyl was yust so much more musical, top to bottom.  including the bass.  it was yust more palpably real.  recordings that i specifically remember include ry cooder's buena wista social club, and patricia barbour's modern cool and cafe blue.

there is one case where i prefer my cd over my winyl - santana's recording of caravanserai.  i have bought several copies over the years, all have bad surface noise.  this was true of the first copy i bought, years ago, when this first came out.  which is sad, really, cuz the cd remaster is really quite compressed.  it's only cuz i have a dbx 3bx dynamic range expander that i can put into the signal path thru a tape loop, that makes the cd listenable.  otherwise i would put up w/the surface noise...

there's also another case where i bought the winyl issue instead of the cd, cuz i read that the cd was so badly mastered & compressed that it ruined the recording.  unfortunately the album was also horribly compressed.  tho i have never heard the cd, it's hard to imagine it could be worse.  once again, my dbx 3bx makes it listenable.  coincidentally, it's also a santana recording - supernatural...

ymmv,

doug s.

[Browntrout]

My setup is good enough to hear the failings in the equipment used to record the music and the unatural effects of multiple microphones in a space or the 'cut and paste' sound that characterises a mixed recording. I can go further into percieved detail concerning weather, I realise it is probably impossible for some of you to believe me when I say I have had fairly certain perceptions of temperature and humidity or time of year for a recording from the sound of the ambience. The position of doors, windows, the floor materials and height of ceiling but occasionally I can hear the position of the equipment used to make the recording. Sound is perhaps the most honest sense, more so than sight.
             Truely the best sounding recording is achieved with one or two microphones, valve equipment and an audible noise floor together with a good microphone distance from the instrument, the instrument was actually designed to be listened to from a certain distance and close micing gives the incorrect impression of the instrument.
   There is no other purpose in me writing on here than to share my experiences in hifi. I only share them to help others, I would be lying if I said cd's can sound as good as vinyl, because they cannot. I know, I've been there and done it.
   My stereo is single source, two channel, SET from top to bottom and cost about £25,000 (well spent) and no digital format will ever sound as good.
 

[twitch54]

             Truely the best sounding recording is achieved with valve equipment and an audible noise floor

Really now.....................hmmmm   


   

I would be lying if I said cd's can sound as good as vinyl, because they cannot. I know, I've been there and done it.
   no digital format will ever sound as good.

You may have been there .....done that..... but trust me young man by your quoted statement above you've never listened to a top notch digital front end.
Now granted your entitled to your opinion as I am to mine, but by what you have said, myself and plenty of others know differently ! 

[TheChairGuy]

I pretty much agree with browntrout...except I'd phrase one particular phrase differently:

"No digital format sounds as good today, but the power of tomorrow can never be discounted"

Frankly, not too many folks listening to digital that've heard a well-tuned vinyl system disagree sonically....but when convenience is factored into the equation, a different result is often applied.

John

[avahifi]

I would prefer vinyl a lot more if I could get my Denon DL103 phono cartridge repaired at a reasonable price in a reasonable amount of time.

I wrote to the guy in the USA who is supposed to be able to do this but no response at all.

It is pretty silly to have to send a phono cartridge off to Europe and pay $300 or so for a stylus replacement.

Any reasonable suggestions?

I borrowed a friend's Denon in the process of playing with a moving coil RIAA phono preamp experiment, and although it was more refined than my Longhorn Grado, it was lacking in dynamics, bass, and just plain musicality.  It looks like a great candidate for a Longhorn Stabilizer Bar, but I can't do that on someone else's unit, I need to have mine working again.  It needs a new stylus assembly, as is it is broken off flush.

Regards,

Frank Van Alstine

[konut]

 I can go further into percieved detail concerning weather, I realise it is probably impossible for some of you to believe me when I say I have had fairly certain perceptions of temperature and humidity or time of year for a recording from the sound of the ambience. The position of doors, windows, the floor materials and height of ceiling but occasionally I can hear the position of the equipment used to make the recording.  

I can tell what the singer had  for lunch............the previous day.  aa

[rajacat]

I pretty much agree with browntrout...except I'd phrase one particular phrase differently:

"No digital format sounds as good today, but the power of tomorrow can never be discounted"

Frankly, not too many folks listening to digital that've heard a well-tuned vinyl system disagree sonically....but when convenience is factored into the equation, a different result is often applied.

John

John,

I'll have to agree. I can't recall the last time I've heard a very well setup vinyl system. My rig is still hampered by a starter grade cart so my opinions on the quality of vinyl vs. computer audio aren't to be considered definitive. However my digital setup is fairly good but definitely not SOTA.

 I think that it would be interesting to have a computer audio/vinyl shootout. Certainly the Modwright Transporter and the various Empirical Audio devices would be the obvious choices on the digital format as well as Bolder Audio's latest modifications of the SB and Duet. I suspect that a SOTA vinyl rig wouldn't be hard to find although transporting the 300 lb. piece of granite that it's sitting on could pose a problem.

I suspect that vinyl would win but not by much. The gap is narrowing and the convenience of computer audio is very enticing.

-Roy

[geowak]

Chairguy

This is an interesting question.

TONEPUB (great comment)
Having a great CD player and a great turntable, it depends on the mastering...
I've heard better presentation on both, just depends on the recording.

MY EARLIER POST
I will say the engineering and production quality varies by a very wide margin from CD to CD and that is what makes a bigger difference. A bad CD will sound very poor on a quality playback system and thus conversly, a good CD will sound fantastic on that same sound system.

HAVE YOU CONSIDERED?
How well do you hear? I mean many of us have hearing loss across a certain band of frequencies. Can you hear those differences between vinyl, CD, or other sources?

[bummrush]

MY EARLIER POST Very Happy
I will say the engineering and production quality varies by a very wide margin from CD to CD and that is what makes a bigger difference. A bad CD will sound very poor on a quality playback system and thus conversly, a good CD will sound fantastic on that same sound system.   Previous from Geowak...... Man you are 100 % correct on that paragraph,while i will say i feel i have 2 above average cd players,both sure show the differences on all cd's played.And some are good ,better and everything in between.

[TheChairGuy]

Chairguy

HAVE YOU CONSIDERED?
How well do you hear? I mean many of us have hearing loss across a certain band of frequencies. Can you hear those differences between vinyl, CD, or other sources?

Yes - absolutely....I'm well aware of my finite time on earth and that despite my best efforts at keeping healthy, the inevitable nonetheless is occurring within

But I try gamely to keep it at bay. To whit....

I'm 46yo this year, 5'9"/160 lbs, glucose fasting excellent (a test for pre-diabetes), HDL, HDL/LDL ratio and total cholesterol = 137 = excellent (excellent regardless of age). I had a 4 vial complete blood test a week+ ago so that's how I know.

I sleep a solid 7 hours nightly and work from home (relatively stress free). I do some yoga and play basketball - I'm quite a bit fitter than most of my peers.

I get regular (Chinese medical)  1x monthly massages and chiropractic adjustments 4x yearly (or, as needed).  I do not drink, or take drugs, recreational or prescription, of any kind (anymore...I certainly did love my weed a decade ++ ago )

I never played in a band or been subject to particularly loud noises for any length of time that might have damaged my hearing (to my knowledge)

All of this is relevant to how well one hears.  So in partial answer to your question....I hear the way a pin drops on various formats. And, on vinyl, the pin sounds most real to me

If anything as one ages, the relatively poorer treble from redbook should be less noticeable.....and I'm about as discontented with it today as I was 5 years ago.  Nonetheless, the advance for redbook playbook has gone a lot further than I ever thought it would, and at much lower prices, it is nonetheless an inferior sonic format to vinyl. 

I'm sorry of that offends anyone's sensibilities - it's what I hear and I'm not going to censor myself from saying so. 

Again, my comment is that of today...I cannot predict what changes there might be tomorrow.  For me, and for an increasing countless others, vinyl is a great format...and CD is (mostly) merely a very convenient one.

Nonetheless, if you are truly happy listening to whatever you have in your place....that is ALL that ultimately matters. I don't listen to vinyl for your enjoyment - it is solely for mine

John

[TONEPUB]

My setup is good enough to hear the failings in the equipment used to record the music and the unatural effects of multiple microphones in a space or the 'cut and paste' sound that characterises a mixed recording. I can go further into percieved detail concerning weather, I realise it is probably impossible for some of you to believe me when I say I have had fairly certain perceptions of temperature and humidity or time of year for a recording from the sound of the ambience. The position of doors, windows, the floor materials and height of ceiling but occasionally I can hear the position of the equipment used to make the recording. Sound is perhaps the most honest sense, more so than sight.
             Truely the best sounding recording is achieved with one or two microphones, valve equipment and an audible noise floor together with a good microphone distance from the instrument, the instrument was actually designed to be listened to from a certain distance and close micing gives the incorrect impression of the instrument.
   There is no other purpose in me writing on here than to share my experiences in hifi. I only share them to help others, I would be lying if I said cd's can sound as good as vinyl, because they cannot. I know, I've been there and done it.
   My stereo is single source, two channel, SET from top to bottom and cost about £25,000 (well spent) and no digital format will ever sound as good.
 

I'll happily disagree with that...

I've got a decent analog front end (Spiral Groove SG-2/Dynavector XV-1s/TriPlanar/Nagra VPS) and a pretty good digital front end (Naim CD555/PS555) and while in an absolute sense, the analog offers up more music, all things being equal, I've heard my fair share of recordings where I preferred the mastering of the digital recording and felt it was more lifelike.

I certainly enjoy the Naim enough on a daily basis that unless the recording on LP is truly superb, I'm very happy with the CD, sometimes more.