Comparing quality on vinyl with Digital

The fact that this is an audio fan website pretty much means format opinions will weigh heavily one way or the other. The average music purchaser knows as much about formats as they do about cars; put a key in - the engine goes.

 

And those same people, at least from my POV, have dropped both for downloads and streaming. And, going back to the original post, SACD's wasn't even a blip on their radar.

 

Sorry to keep quoted your messages but this is pretty interesting. I was just a kid when everything switched. I never even thought about one being better or worse all the way through mp3...I just enjoyed the music.

Five years ago when I first got into vinyl and went into my local hi-fi store, they asked me what I was looking for a in a 2-channel setup and I remember using that cliched "warm" term and sometimes I still do but it really isn't the best word because it's limited in it's description and cd is not "cold."

I spent about a month researching and going back to that store and then I laid down what was a huge sum of money to me - my entire bonus from 2008. It was the best decision I ever made with bonus money.

But what I am starting to see is that my eyes are opening to many different things and while I prefer analog and vinyl, I try to remind myself to never limit myself. Life is just too short.

 

I am often just amazed at how great most ECM cds sound to me. There is certainly a trick they know about that many don't.

 

My Otari MT-15 does a pretty decent job of it at 30 IPS. I know because I was mixing to it this afternoon, and digitized the finished work back to 24/96 when I was done and checked the result. The test tones looked very pretty.

 

Look at Mr Shaws website where he plays tone from LP.
As I explained in my posts ,I loved analogue tape
But never vinyl, I had a Linn LP12 (and a Technics SL) so Im experienced in forms of turntables and the precious cartridge
Its merely that we have gone beyond that stage of engineering
Solid state playback of a file is now a benchmark.

 

30 ips Otaris take on site maintenance to achieve this Sid, my Nagra VI doesn't.
Roger

 

I have Abercrombie Timeless on LP and CD—it makes a good A/B comparison.

 

I started out as a "CD guy", spent a lot of time and money on the best available masterings for each album I bought on CD, and my Linn Ikemi CD player was no slouch.. I was pretty much happy with that for many years until one day I started thinking it would be interesting to have a turntable for those albums that were never released on CD or that simply didn't exist with good mastering on CD. So I bought myself a Rega P3-24 with TT PSU and a nice "high grade" MM cart, spent very little money (compared to the cost of the Linn Ikemi CD player I had) and I thought at the time it would be my "secondary" source...

Well... I remember the first sonic experience I had with that P3... I bought a used Pink Floyd Wish You Were Here LP (late UK pressing actually) for some 10 bucks (euros) at a local record fair, and the way it sounded on my system just blew me away! I mean, this was just some random LP I picked up for cheap... not the result of months of research as usually I did with any CD. Immediately I questioned myself why on earth did I spend hundreds of euros on a first press japanese CD (the famous 35DP 2 tracks mastering that was the one to get at the time, probably still is) when I could have bought the LP for a fraction of the cost and still get even better mastering and sound reproduction? What was I doing with my money, buying these silly tiny silver discs (which I could just download anyway, for free, if I wanted to) with small artwork, for huge ammounts of money, when I could just get real discs, with analog sound that can't be easily replicated or downloaded, large original packaging with great artwork and readable lyrics, and most often than not, great masterings usually better than anything else available?

So, that did it for me... a few more similar experiences, even with contemporary releases such as Radiohead or Sigur Rós, were such eye openers about the potential I had been denying myself for so long (afraid of all the vinyl related problems many people talk about), that I decided to quit CD and digital completely and direct my research time and my money to something that, for me, is much more worth the effort: vinyl records. I sold all my CD's and all my dedicated audio digital gear... (today I have a universal player Oppo 95 that I can use if I must play some digital source). And soon after that, I upgraded my analog gear to meet my "first source" quality standards...

Not only it increased my musical pleasure with better sound, almost all my music benefited from better masterings, but I now feel the value of my music collection and I'm not quuestioning where my money just went... it's here, it's solid, it looks and sounds great! No digital media could give me the combination of value and sound quality I get from vinyl. The tangible "reality" that vinyl is cannot be turned into bits...

For me there's no questioning, based on my experience, I find the technical flaws associated with digital music reproduction to be much more intrusive and hurting to my listening experience than all the technical flaws associated with vinyl playback. Nothing is perfect, I just choose the flaws I like best

Vinyl sounds better and gives me a better sound experience that allows me to enjoy music even more. Even if all the numbers in the world said differently (and they don't), I would still go with what sounds better to me. Many other people feel the same way and follow their ears. Exactly as it should be... not what we're told it should be

 

Haven't read through the whole post yet; but, first thank you S.H. for Post #5. I don't know you; just know of you, of course; but, if you were standing next to me right now, I'd bear hug you like Smokey The Bear.

For me:

Vinyl
DSD128 or 24/192
24/176.4
DSD64 or 24/96
24/88.2
24/48
24/44.1
16/44.1

Regretfully, 16/44.1 (due to the proliferation of CD-R players) still makes the most sense to me as an affordable, portable, recordable (throw away) medium that still has pretty good sound quality and none of the issues of trying to take vinyl or reel to reel tape on the road. I don't like taking my high res rips/discs out of the house either, unless it's to a "music club" meet.

 

You are assuming groove noise is not band-limited.

 

What are you talking about?

 

Snap!!!!

 

Is this Aristotle, Descartes or just crazy?

 

Too many things that are somewhat common in high end audio are borderline silly.

Things were not like that years ago.

Several things are based on no real science or real electronics, and are based on "Invented" explanations of why things "might work".

 

repeating vague assertions does not add clarity to your post.

 

You sound like you are out of touch with what is really happening, with what advances have been made in the last 10 years. You are living with a memory of how things may have been for you, that were not for many others; and projecting that forward as how it is for all audiophiles today.

 

π

 

mmmm apple π

 

Part of the trick is, keeping quiet about their engineering practices. ECM forces us to listen to the music without the intellectual clutter of sampling rates etc.

 

I think that is the huge variable though. I have heard several ( but not enough ) tables and carts over my 25 years of being into vinyl, and most had a distinct voicing and sound. Often the treble would vary a lot, or have some tilted up upper mid range sound etc.

I never had anyone tell me their vinyl playback was colored, but obviously MOST must have been, if they all sounded immediately different to me.

The only cart I owned that I thought was close to neutral, was my old Shure V15 from the early 90s.

My ortofons OM series were clear as a bell, but had a rising top end that was also at times a bit annoying .

 

Kevin, here is an idea, add some substance to this claim and let's see if we can get a meaningful post out of it. Here are some suggestions

I wish the "hobby" or whatever it is, would try to become more sensible.

Too much stuff is on the fringes, and defies any logic.

Give us examples and show us how significant their presence is to the hobby as a whole.

Years ago,

When. What years are you talking about?

things were good sounding, even great,

What gear and recordings would you be refering to? *What specifically was sounding great?*

but logic and science dictated how things were designed.

Examples. What gear was being designed and how was it dictated by logic and science? What gear is now being designed without that same logic and science? Please try to relate this to the bigger picture of audio as a hobby both then and now. Tyr not to cherry pick the exceptions.

They did not look for solutions to problems that did not exist.

Who? What problems? Be specific.

Fill in all this missing info and you will have a post with substance. Without that your post means nothing.

 

OK now I am just offended. How many times have I told you my high end vinyl playback gear is euphonically colored? So i am nobody? ouch

 

Scott just as many times as you have Ragged on posts of mine for not being to your liking.....haha love it