I worked in radio JUST before CDs took over. It was definitely more fun and more tactile.

You should listen to a good, properly set up system, because you clearly have no idea.

I agree. OZ has been in a proper room.

Speaking of awesome things on vinyl: www.theghostlystore.co m/collections/music/products/com-truise-wave-1-ep

Vinyl is supposedly superior, but Pain is kinda right in how it won't really matter on over compressed rubbish.

Oh he's totally right about the content of the records. also it's not going to sound so hot on that turntable, especially because I doubt he'll be changing that needle regularly (not that it matters much with that kind of needle, but by the time he wises up and gets a better turntable his overcompressed crap records will be worn out, overcompressed crap records).

But yeah, vinyl on a good setup (which you can piece together for between 0 and 0 if you go the vintage route and do your homework; my setup is respectable and was around but it took a few years and quite a few bought-and-resold things to get it together, and I repaired a lot of free stuff myself to keep the prices down. Still, even paying for possible service or repairs some AR2ax, a solid 80s Marantz reciever and a decent used turntable should only be a couple hundred apeice tops, and you'd be paying ten times that to get into anything modern that could compare and it's like entering a whole new world of awesome sounding music.

But that is a lot more than a turntable, OZ. The whole analog chain is dedicated circuitry, and what you hear coming in to your ear is a result of each of those elements you list.

Can you articulate why you think the CD is so inferior to Vinyl? Outside of compression and production issues that are no fault of the format itself.

To me it's just immediately apparent when I listen to it, a CD is like looking at a picture on a two dimensional plane whereas a record (or better yet a 1/4" tape but good luck on building any kind of collection of tapes) is like looking out of an open window.

As far as hard science, there have been a few studies over the years but the most recent and conclusive I know of is this:

http://phys.org/news/2013-02-human-fourier-uncertainty-princip le.html


tl;dr the mathematical models that defined the "limits of human hearing" when CDs were developed were utterly inadequate. 24/96 audio is a much closer contest (but still doesn't approach wide tape formats). CD is pretty much what it was marketed as in Europe: an upgrade to cassette for casual listening.

Anyhow, I'm more visual than verbal and don't explain this kind of stuff very well, if you're interested in a very good (if a bit out of date) technical discussion of digital audio from one of the earliest adopters and an absolute wizard of it, get yourself a used copy of "Mastering Audio" by Bob Katz.

Dig around the Tape Op blog for a lot of strongly wrded, flagrantly pro-analog rants, too.


"But that is a lot more than a turntable, OZ. The whole analog chain is dedicated circuitry, and what you hear coming in to your ear is a result of each of those elements you list."

Every single thing in there that isn't the turntable or the phono preamp secion of the amplifier is the same whether you're listening to records or CDs. The only variable is your playback medium and the quality of the player (and good luck getting D/A converters for under a few hundred dollars a channel that are a fair comparison with a solid turntable with a decent, mid-level cartridge on it (not even a big ticket item; sure you can pay as much as a used car for a needle, but you can get a couple totally good ones for around and all sorts of great stuff in the 0-0 range; on my system the best sound I get comes from the cheapest cartridge I've ever bought, it just happens to pair very well with my weird, mid 70s tone arm).

Anyway, the biggest factor BY FAR is the quality of your speakers and the second biggest is the acoustics of room you're in.

I grew up with vinyl & truly never gave a shit what they sounded like. Christ, the SMELL of it brings back more memories than the sound does.

OK, but you initially claimed a preferred embodiment, the Marantz and whatnot. Perhaps I misunderstood. You mean with an A/B switch we can hear the difference.

Assuming both CD and Vinyl are mastered the same ( but are they ever? ) what else could contribute to the sound? I suppose there could be mechanical coupling between the channels because of the way the needle works, as the two channels are not completely orthogonal. Also, there can be coupling between the speakers and the turntable for similar mechanical reasons.

It may be that you prefer the ambient surface noise over the content: I remember being let down on first hearing a CD player. It seemed like we had to turn the volume up very much to make it "loud". It took a while to disassociate the hiss from the content.

I await the followup video where our hero discovers that other great use for vinyl album covers.

The expense and effort isn't worth the return on investment (how much you enjoy what you're hearing) to me. I've seen absolutely insane setups, mostly involving turntables from Germany that you suspend from the ceiling and hang a huge weight below the platform to prevent vibration. Then there's the whole fact that unless you pop for a laser-based system, you're degrading the medium every time you touch it, play it, or don't store it properly.

It's just not worth it to me, and I don't get a lot out of such setups. It's the same way that when I go to see a movie, I'm fine with stereo sound and a 2D screen. Surround sound and 3D don't make the craft on display that much better for me.

I just threw that stuff out as examples of stuff that is a really good value and can be resold at cost or better. A CD based setup would benefit from it too.

SteamPoweredKleenex, all that stuf fis WAY beyond the point of diminishing returns, you can get a really nice setup for very little if you take your time.

I'm pretty happy with what I'm using now, and the only thing I paid for at all was the turntable and for a kit to replace the surrounds in my speakers (not counting the needle, that's about a year), and I'd put it up against anything under a couple thousand that I've heard. An audiophile would scoff at it but that's as much about prestige items as it is about any kind of significant improvement in sound quality. I just like listening to music, and I especially like it when it's reproduced well enough that it can actually fool your brain into thinking you are in a different physical space.

But music and sound are a big part of my life so I put a priority on that, if you don't care then it's probably not worth the effort (but I'll still privately feel a little sorry for you because MUSIC IS THE BEST).

I prefer analog AM stereo over HD-AM stereo! I recently got a C-QUAM stereo exciter and it's pretty cool. It's the kick I've been on in the winter when I have more time to work on electronics.

Boom

Also consider that there is a ton of music out there that is only available on vinyl, like an old Eddie Peabody record I found that is just amazing and can't find a digital equivalent to.

This thread is why people like Deepak Chopra own 5 mansions.

Audiophiles: more longwinded and obsessive than bronies.

yeah really, next OZ will be telling us to make sure to buy the gold-plated jacks with the gold wiring. it sounds to me like those who spend the money on costly surround sound setups care more about how great their music "sounds" than how great the music itself is. it's the equivalent of cleaning out your car's exhaust and feeding it 91 octane fuel, only you're the only one who knows this, so you're the only one to appreciate it when you drive yourself and your s.o. some place.

I am also curious to learn more about this "polishing" he did.

They love him. I lifted this video from the coowner of a hipster record store. They all think this is great.

Lucky for me I've felt old since puberty so I usually don't even notice anymore.

I already feel that way when I find a real phonebooth with doors. I know someone who was trying to make a list of all the working phone booths left in the US, there aren't all that many.