Only thing worse than collecting vinyl is collecting vinyl and having another adult write a word on it. Hanging it on the wall should be illegal

Steve Martin talked about this fad decades ago.



"Now I have a googlephonic stereo with a moon rock needle. It's OK for my car, but I wouldn't want it in my house."

I started buying vinyl about a year ago. My aunt gave me a box of about 60 old albums and since then I've bought all my new music on vinyl.

I have always loved album artwork and the physical feel of looking at the liner notes while listening, so that appeals to me.

On the sound side I do think it sounds different to me. A lot of vinyl comes with a digital download of the album so I've listened to a lot of albums on both and vinyl does sound a bit warmer or richer to me.

Overall though I just enjoy supporting artist I love and enjoying music. Vinyl has added to my enjoyment the last year so that's all I care about.

It is fascinating to me how much people care about this. I've got no skin in the game. I buy little music and won't pay for streaming. I can't imagine aiming for a more expensive way to listen to music. I'm not an audiophile, but audiophiles do hear nuance that people like me do not hear (or perhaps don't care about).

My one comment on those debating the science. Those arguing for digital seem to be asserting that any sound produced on vinyl COULD also be produced digitally. Without studying the science in detail, it makes sense that this is true. HOWEVER, those creating digital sounds are not trying to match the sound of vinyl; they are aiming for something different (whatever their chief sound goals are). So while it is probably technically possible to make digital sound identical to vinyl, my guess is that literally no one is doing that.

Thus someone listening to the same song "perfectly mastered" in each format would potentially hear them differently. Some will listen to both formats find they like vinyl better. This is not necessarily because vinyl is inherently better, but because those creating in the different mediums have different sound goals. And because they are made to sound different, some people will prefer the sound of one over the other.

In general, it seems that those who hear a difference and have an opinion like vinyl better. Again, this is probably not because of how well digital can match vinyl, but because that isn't the goal of digital.

Just my thoughts.

Listen to some old blues records or even early Black keys and White stripes albums on vinyl and tell me there isn't more hair on their balls. It's a bad analogy but the only way I can describe the difference.

An almost entirely blue thread

I have about 1,500 vinyl albums boxed up in the basement. I did convert them to CD and then digital a few years ago. I also looked at getting the necessary equipment to play the vinyl albums again, but in order to get sound quality (in my mind) equal to the digital the cost was pretty high. I do have phenomenal tube amplifier and pre-amp sitting unused so I'm just talking about the cost of a phono amp and turntable. I actually had my wife, who isn't obsessed about my music at all, along with me to listen to various turntable/amp combinations and she thought vinyl sounded as good as digital at around the $15K mark.

I obviously grew up listening to vinyl, but I just can't get myself back on that nostalgia train. I have done a bit of studio work for a few groups and it's funny to listen to the in-studio playback (typically from a digital or, much more rarely now, tape source) and how good it sounds and then transferring that to vinyl. It's going to lose something. Older music that was recorded to tape sounds a bit different than digital, but the vinyl is still a transfer and not as good as the source. I do have a few 'recorded direct to vinyl' albums and that's probably the purest vinyl experience as there is no translation loss, but there are other issues with that process. Listening to vinyl and digital on a $100K system is pretty much a wash for me and knowing the vinyl will degrade over time with each playback means that I would get only a few listens before the imperfections make themselves heard.

I certainly don't begrudge anyone wanting to listen to vinyl, though, and this is just my opinion and I'm not passing judgment on anyone other than myself.

Are you looking to sell your collection?

My wife would probably like that, but it won't be sold. Too many memories and and maybe when I'm retired and the kids have moved out I'll listen to the collection again.

For old vinyl, here's how quality was in the '70s and early '80s:

US - poor
Canada - awful
Netherlands - great
Germany - really good
UK - good
Japan - best

I have a Japanese pressing of Abbey Road and the early CD version couldn't touch it, but the remasters have passed it. Getting Japanese vinyl was not always easy and it was always great when I was able to secure a copy. Import rules back in the day were strange, but the quality differences as noted above were more than marginal. Getting a pressed in the Netherlands record was always a treat.

Personally I don't own or buy much music. I enjoy music, but at this point digital is fine.

Now books are a different matter. Do I want all my books in paper? No. I download digitally for books, but if I like a book I am going out to buy a paper copy to re-read. Last year I gutted my book collection, because a lot were books I rarely read and they most of them were not special to me. So if I buy a physical book it's got to speak to me.

I can see this with people who love music. Sure you can buy it digitally, but there is nothing to physically hold onto and appreciate. I haven't bought a CD in ten years, but vinyl is still around how many decades later?

Just because you don't get it doesn't mean you have to knock it.

The simple answer OP is

Everything old is new again.

You get it.

An individual's choice in media has to do with personal preference.

If you believe the analog sound produced by vinyl is preferable to current digital technology, I won't argue with you. That comes at a cost. Vinyl requires a lot more maintenance and care to keep it sounding good. As as seen in the posts above, some people don't mind splurging on high end analog equipment. If you enjoy that effort to maintain that sound that's cool. If you do it to impress your friends, you're either gullible or you need new friends.

For Joe Six-pack with a slim budget and an active lifestyle, the choice is pretty clear. Digital comes with a lower cost, low maintenance, and adequate quality that most people tolerate.

What about half-Japanese vinyls? They do it to me every time

Diggity said:

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What about half-Japanese vinyls? They do it to me every time

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You are the epitome of public enemy.

My brother is an audiophile and born in 77.

I guarantee he would not think a vinyl on an old 70s player is not going to sound good.

But on his system, he thinks it sounds great. It also maybe a lot higher quality equipment than what some 25 year old hipster is buying. That **** is pricey as hell.

Pinkerton references saving an otherwise unproductive thread

Callate Donnie said:

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Diggity said:

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What about half-Japanese vinyls? They do it to me every time

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You are the epitome of public enemy.

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Why you wanna go and do him like that?

I've never seen CDs offered with different sound qualities. Where if you pay an extra $100 you get the "premium sound version". You saying you have one?

In reality, we have no control over what source and equipment was used to rip audio to the CD. They can plaster "remastered" and "premium sound" all they want and know that nobody is going to sue them if it doesn't sound good enough. The clearest CDs I own are Enya CDs that are DDD (digital all the way). They are off much better quality than the expensive Led Zepplins I own that were promised to have the greatest sound EVAR.

It sounds like you got a very high end system. However, the system I have at home is no slouch. I got vandersteen speakers, for example. Most people don't know what those are, but I imagine you do.

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Steve Martin talked about this fad decades ago.

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Believe it or not, I have that album in my collection. It's still in excellent condition.

Hey Nav said:

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Steve Martin talked about this fad decades ago.

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Believe it or not, I have that album in my collection. It's still in excellent condition.

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I listened to the Cruel Shoes bit for the first time in 35 years recently. Underappreciated.

Lt. Joe Bookman said:

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Callate Donnie said:

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Diggity said:

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What about half-Japanese vinyls? They do it to me every time

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You are the epitome of public enemy.

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Why you wanna go and do him like that?

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Why don't you come down on the street and dance with me, bruh?

aTmAg said:

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I've never seen CDs offered with different sound qualities.

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Go to some sound engineer / recording forums and browse. Learn how different versions of different CDs from different production companies can vary in quality. It is a thing.

Go pick up a MoFi Gold disc, Master Sound, or SACD.

aTmAg said:

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I got vandersteen speakers, for example. Most people don't know what those are, but I imagine you do.

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I do. The 7s are some of the best speakers I've ever listened to. You need a small nuclear reactor to push them. The kit we listened to had 2 D'Agostinos on them. Ridiculous amount of money on a rig, but sounded pretty rad.

rhutton125 said:

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An almost entirely blue thread

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What does the blue post even mean?

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got vandersteen speakers

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Me too!

Decay said:

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T1 lines are better than fiber because they bring warmth and natural bit errors to your data

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My house is wired with a T1 line. I had never heard of anyone doing that until we bought this house.

it depends on the vinyl and the cds.
Sometimes when being transferred to digital it is compressed and the end result is a source (cd) that sounds less dynamic. But that is on a case by case basis. Not all. Regardless you don't have to flip the cd every 20 minutes. Or change tracks because it's skipping. And you don't have to worry about songs being edited to fit on vinyl or song sequence (concerts) being changed to fit on vinyl.

If all cds are unlistenable on your system but vinyl sounds great then there is something wrong with your system.

I switched from solid state to tubes a long time ago and don't plan on going back. My wife cannot stand the sound of solid state amps. It gives her a headache. I am not as adamant, but solid state gear gives me "listener fatigue". Plus tube amps are relatively easy to build so it is a nice hobby.

When we were at the local audio show (with very high dollar systems) she commented that she could hear the difference between vinyl and cd, but when I asked if I should change to vinyl she said no it wasn't that big of difference. So for her the format is less of a impact on sound than the type of amplification (tubes vs solid state).

And the end of the day the music system should be treated as a system and that includes the room. The matching of components is important. And your system only has to sound good to you (and your wife).