Is it time to Ditch Vinyl?

Is it Time to Dump Vinyl?

  • Yes. High Res digital streaming is better and here to stay.

    Votes: 22 36.1%
  • No way man. Vinyl is still king.

    Votes: 8 13.1%
  • Embrace all formats, even 8-Track!

    Votes: 31 50.8%

  • Total voters
    61
lovinthehd

lovinthehd

Audioholic Jedi
Doesn't Jack White operate a small recording studio/pressing plant?
 
John Parks

John Parks

Audioholic Samurai
Doesn't Jack White operate a small recording studio/pressing plant?
Yup - Third Man Records. My daughter has been to the Nashville location (also Detroit and London) and says it is totally awesome.
I also happen to be the proud owner of Pro-Ject RM1.3 TMR edition turntable...
1642017232547.png
 
D

DigitalBoomer

Audiophyte
In this editorial, Jerry Del Colliano talks about why he decided to sell his entire vinyl collection.

There are Baby Boomer writers over at Stereophile and TAS pulling out their Jerry Del Colliano voodoo dolls as I type in preparation for this article being published. You see, the audiophile community doesn’t like change. In fact, they despise it with every fiber of their beings. In the eyes of the elders who still control the hobby to this day, poorly performing “vintage” tube amps are somehow better than the most state of the art Class-D amps. Digital room correction (or even equalization, despite EQ being used on every track of every recording audiophiles listen to, as well as on the “house speakers,” in the mastering lab, and beyond) is looked upon as evil, because it uses actual science to measure the physical acoustics of a room, and provides digital solutions that can provide wholesale upgrades. These fly in the face of the “preamp of the week club” or blindly changing out expensive, inaccurate, EQed cables in search of one’s own personal audio utopia. But no one retro move in the audiophile hobby has been more hurtful to the business and broken in logic than the so-called comeback of vinyl.

View attachment 43919


Read: Why I Sold My Entire Vinyl Collection and Didn't Look Back

Do you agree with the author or still a diehard vinyl lover?
In this editorial, Jerry Del Colliano talks about why he decided to sell his entire vinyl collection.

There are Baby Boomer writers over at Stereophile and TAS pulling out their Jerry Del Colliano voodoo dolls as I type in preparation for this article being published. You see, the audiophile community doesn’t like change. In fact, they despise it with every fiber of their beings. In the eyes of the elders who still control the hobby to this day, poorly performing “vintage” tube amps are somehow better than the most state of the art Class-D amps. Digital room correction (or even equalization, despite EQ being used on every track of every recording audiophiles listen to, as well as on the “house speakers,” in the mastering lab, and beyond) is looked upon as evil, because it uses actual science to measure the physical acoustics of a room, and provides digital solutions that can provide wholesale upgrades. These fly in the face of the “preamp of the week club” or blindly changing out expensive, inaccurate, EQed cables in search of one’s own personal audio utopia. But no one retro move in the audiophile hobby has been more hurtful to the business and broken in logic than the so-called comeback of vinyl.

View attachment 43919


Read: Why I Sold My Entire Vinyl Collection and Didn't Look Back

Do you agree with the author or still a diehard vinyl lover?
I enjoyed the article; however, I won't be selling any of my vinyl collection. I enjoy all formats and am moving more and more toward Hi Rez digital recordings. This Baby Boomer is using Roon fueled by Tidal and I have quite an extensive SACD collection.
Keep up the good work!
 
crazyfingers

crazyfingers

Full Audioholic
Last fall I dug my vinyls out of the garage. I haven't counted but they fill 5 "milk jug cartons". Not tons Not minuscule. My main motivation was that they might be worth something some day but also nostalgia and curiosity what I had that I had forgotten about.

I got the turntable out and got a new cartridge for it.

At the moment I may play one now or again but rarely. I am waiting for my wife to give me my old computer back that has a mic in jack so that I can digitize them. Audacity is what I used around 14 years ago when I digitized some. There are several more that I want to digitize mainly for the fun of it. I have a lot of Billy Joel and a few others that I'll do. It's not worth it to me to buy new digital copies. It's more the project that counts.

After that it's all about nostalgia and a bit of curiosity. I'll compare my 1980's era Mobile Fidelity Original Master Dark Side of the Moon vinyl with the CD and also see if I can Audacity the vinyl to a higher quality than CD and see how they all go and if my ears are good enough to tell the difference.

I'll keep the turntable out. But I'll never really go back to vinyl. I prefer changing music with my mouse these days.
 
Mikado463

Mikado463

Audioholic Spartan
Last fall I dug my vinyls out of the garage. I haven't counted but they fill 5 "milk jug cartons". Not tons Not minuscule. My main motivation was that they might be worth something some day but also nostalgia and curiosity what I had that I had forgotten about.

I got the turntable out and got a new cartridge for it.

At the moment I may play one now or again but rarely. I am waiting for my wife to give me my old computer back that has a mic in jack so that I can digitize them. Audacity is what I used around 14 years ago when I digitized some. There are several more that I want to digitize mainly for the fun of it. I have a lot of Billy Joel and a few others that I'll do. It's not worth it to me to buy new digital copies. It's more the project that counts.

After that it's all about nostalgia and a bit of curiosity. I'll compare my 1980's era Mobile Fidelity Original Master Dark Side of the Moon vinyl with the CD and also see if I can Audacity the vinyl to a higher quality than CD and see how they all go and if my ears are good enough to tell the difference.

I'll keep the turntable out. But I'll never really go back to vinyl. I prefer changing music with my mouse these days.
a garage is one of the worst places to store vinyl, at least here in the NE. Humidity can wreck havoc on the LP's causing mold, etc. A 'deep cleaning' will become mandatory !
 
Bucknekked

Bucknekked

Audioholic Samurai
and also see if I can Audacity the vinyl to a higher quality than CD and see how they all go and if my ears are good enough to tell the difference.

I'll keep the turntable out. But I'll never really go back to vinyl. I prefer changing music with my mouse these days.
I used to record vinyl on to tape (I think everyone did when tape came out) and was never happy with the result.
Always some short coming. If you try running your vinyl to digital, please post a result. Let us know how it comes out. I have doubts you could get anything approaching CD quality, much less exceed it. But I've been wrong many times before. Put a post in here and keep the idea alive.
 
isolar8001

isolar8001

Audioholic General
I ditched vinyl in 85'. Never regretted that for a second and never will.
Files only for me now....no streaming either.
 
TLS Guy

TLS Guy

Seriously, I have no life.
I used to record vinyl on to tape (I think everyone did when tape came out) and was never happy with the result.
Always some short coming. If you try running your vinyl to digital, please post a result. Let us know how it comes out. I have doubts you could get anything approaching CD quality, much less exceed it. But I've been wrong many times before. Put a post in here and keep the idea alive.
Well I'm going to take your challenge, which I think is timely.

I have to say that I was taken up short this week in the Twin Cities about all this. The news papers and TV news have been all of a buzz about a 2 million dollar plant to press 23 million vinyl discs a year that has just opened in Osseo MN, just outside the Northwest Twin Cities Metro.

This has been built by Copycat records, based in the suburb of Plymouth in the Northwest Metro. They manufacture CDs, DVDs and Blu Ray discs. According to their vinyl plant manager interviewed on news bulletins, vinyl disc production now exceeds all digital disc production on a world wide basis. They say that their demand for digital disc production is in decline, and that getting into vinyl disc production was an imperative.

Now last time I looked there were about two or three vinyl disc vendors in the Twin Cities metro, all of them looking to be somewhat grungy unwashed outfits. Now, on my research I find there are no less then 20 serious vendors of vinyl records in the Twin Cities Metro. Not only that but more then a few offer turntables, cartridges, turntable set up and stylus replacement services.

So the question to me becomes why? A change on this scale can not come about just form audiophoolery and digital phobia.

This suggests to me that the leaders of the audio and AV industry have made some major misjudgments.

So I hope members really look at this thread and think about the issues this raises.

Back when vinyl was king almost every home had an audio system. In the early years of the CD this remained constant.

Then the audiophhools stated to question the validity of digital audio, error correction and daft pictures of "staircase" waves, and totally misunderstanding dither. The fact is that the audio CD is more then adequate. Its FR is wide enough, and it dynamic range wide enough for all but a minute body of work, largely unheard and unknown by the vast majority of the general public.

The next issue is streaming. In my view this is not handy, especially for presenting classical music, and it has often been presented with less than stellar digital compression. Sure there are high res streams, but it all get complicated. It takes skill to properly download a CD. Even if you do, getting it to play seamlessly often presents a challenge.

Worse we have outfits like Apple Music where you have to subscribe to Apple TV to get decent quality. I can tell you that the quality from apps not on that device is a disgrace. There is no need to this sort of gratuitous corporate abuse.

I think the next issue is complexity.

Wrongly I believe the industry has concentrated on surround audio systems and codecs to the neglect of two channel audio. I think this has been a massive miscalculation.

People do not want the clutter of all of this including multiple speakers in most homes. History shows they tolerate two channel systems quite well.

I would also venture to state that that good two channel bests less good multichannel by a big margin. So most, including probably most members here, would be far better off putting the same dollars into a two channel system rather than 5 to 11 channels. Also I remain unconvinced that multichannel audio has any place at all in the vast majority of homes. I personally would not dream of putting one in a room that was not custom for the purpose. I think most of the public intuitively know this.

It tells me that the industry need to make a massive reinvestment in two channel audio, and I admit that these days it should be 2.1.

Today, I listened to a live concert from the BPO in our in wall great room system. I listened in 2.1. It was absolutely superb, and I could listen easily at concert hall levels without distress.
I can see why my wife likes that system so much. Yes, she really takes ownership of that rig, and thanks me for it continuously. In addition I have found that it really does not matter whether you use it in 2.1 or 3.1 mode. There really is no significant difference.

In that system and our family room system, the center image does NOT collapse outside the center spot. Not at all. I know I will get push back from Shady here, but I can assure the center image does not collapse even wide of the right and left speakers. This confirms my strong view that most need better speakers and NOT MORE speakers.

To cut this long story short, I think this vinyl revival is actually a reaction and protest to audio in the home going way off the rails in the last 20 years.
 
isolar8001

isolar8001

Audioholic General
Well I'm going to take your challenge, which I think is timely.

I have to say that I was taken up short this week in the Twin Cities about all this. The news papers and TV news have been all of a buzz about a 2 million dollar plant to press 23 million vinyl discs a year that has just opened in Osseo MN, just outside the Northwest Twin Cities Metro.

This has been built by Copycat records, based in the suburb of Plymouth in the Northwest Metro. They manufacture CDs, DVDs and Blu Ray discs. According to their vinyl plant manager interviewed on news bulletins, vinyl disc production now exceeds all digital disc production on a world wide basis. They say that their demand for digital disc production is in decline, and that getting into vinyl disc production was an imperative.

Now last time I looked there were about two or three vinyl disc vendors in the Twin Cities metro, all of them looking to be somewhat grungy unwashed outfits. Now, on my research I find there are no less then 20 serious vendors of vinyl records in the Twin Cities Metro. Not only that but more then a few offer turntables, cartridges, turntable set up and stylus replacement services.

So the question to me becomes why? A change on this scale can not come about just form audiophoolery and digital phobia.

This suggests to me that the leaders of the audio and AV industry have made some major misjudgments.

So I hope members really look at this thread and think about the issues this raises.

Back when vinyl was king almost every home had an audio system. In the early years of the CD this remained constant.

Then the audiophhools stated to question the validity of digital audio, error correction and daft pictures of "staircase" waves, and totally misunderstanding dither. The fact is that the audio CD is more then adequate. Its FR is wide enough, and it dynamic range wide enough for all but a minute body of work, largely unheard and unknown by the vast majority of the general public.

The next issue is streaming. In my view this is not handy, especially for presenting classical music, and it has often been presented with less than stellar digital compression. Sure there are high res streams, but it all get complicated. It takes skill to properly download a CD. Even if you do, getting it to play seamlessly often presents a challenge.

Worse we have outfits like Apple Music where you have to subscribe to Apple TV to get decent quality. I can tell you that the quality from apps not on that device is a disgrace. There is no need to this sort of gratuitous corporate abuse.

I think the next issue is complexity.

Wrongly I believe the industry has concentrated on surround audio systems and codecs to the neglect of two channel audio. I think this has been a massive miscalculation.

People do not want the clutter of all of this including multiple speakers in most homes. History shows they tolerate two channel systems quite well.

I would also venture to state that that good two channel bests less good multichannel by a big margin. So most, including probably most members here, would be far better off putting the same dollars into a two channel system rather than 5 to 11 channels. Also I remain unconvinced that multichannel audio has any place at all in the vast majority of homes. I personally would not dream of putting one in a room that was not custom for the purpose. I think most of the public intuitively know this.

It tells me that the industry need to make a massive reinvestment in two channel audio, and I admit that these days it should be 2.1.

Today, I listened to a live concert from the BPO in our in wall great room system. I listened in 2.1. It was absolutely superb, and I could listen easily at concert hall levels without distress.
I can see why my wife likes that system so much. Yes, she really takes ownership of that rig, and thanks me for it continuously. In addition I have found that it really does not matter whether you use it in 2.1 or 3.1 mode. There really is no significant difference.

In that system and our family room system, the center image does NOT collapse outside the center spot. Not at all. I know I will get push back from Shady here, but I can assure the center image does not collapse even wide of the right and left speakers. This confirms my strong view that most need better speakers and NOT MORE speakers.

To cut this long story short, I think this vinyl revival is actually a reaction and protest to audio in the home going way off the rails in the last 20 years.
Well said....a return to simpler roots is what is needed.
The vinyl resurgence is the spearhead of this movement. If it steers more young people into the basic pleasure of just putting on some music on a good basic system and simply enjoying the experience, then all we relished for years is not lost.
 
Bucknekked

Bucknekked

Audioholic Samurai
Well I'm going to take your challenge, which I think is timely.

I have to say that I was taken up short this week in the Twin Cities about all this. The news papers and TV news have been all of a buzz about a 2 million dollar plant to press 23 million vinyl discs a year that has just opened in Osseo MN, just outside the Northwest Twin Cities Metro.

To cut this long story short, I think this vinyl revival is actually a reaction and protest to audio in the home going way off the rails in the last 20 years.
Doc
I love your responses. They are usually well thought out and are supported with great insight and experience.
I don't know why the OP really wants to transfer his vinyl to digital other than he found a couple of crates of vinyl and wants to make use of it. Fair enough. I never had much luck taking my viny to any other format. Just leaving it alone is where it seemed to sound best.

Since you have a lot of experience in mastering and recording in analog, you know exactly why that is. Generation loss or generation creep. Its not a thing in digital land, but it most certainly is in analog land. Taking a finished product, a vinyl record, and copying it to any other format means you are at least N-1 in terms of quality.

The resurgence of vinyl is a surprise to me as well because of volumes. Its not just the boutique outfit with the specialized crowd, it seems to be hitting in volume. New pressings are a thing now. Jack Whites record company is running at full capacity stamping out new vinyl. All my rock n roll guys who are still making new records offer vinyl pressings and often promote the vinyl pressing the most with the digital download and the CD as afterthoughts now. Vinyl is, for whatever reason, making a comeback.

As far as 2.0, 2.1 and 3.1 being the best to sit and listen to, I am firmly in your camp. I experimented with multichannel stuff and ran a 5.1 system for about a decade. But once in this new house with a chance to put up a dedicated room, it was 2.1 for me all the way. I know there are plenty of folks still enamored with all the channels. Its a great feature of the hobby: there's room and equipment for all our tastes. Live and let live.

Keep those replies coming. I enjoy em
 
crazyfingers

crazyfingers

Full Audioholic
I used to record vinyl on to tape (I think everyone did when tape came out) and was never happy with the result.
Always some short coming. If you try running your vinyl to digital, please post a result. Let us know how it comes out. I have doubts you could get anything approaching CD quality, much less exceed it. But I've been wrong many times before. Put a post in here and keep the idea alive.
Back then I played a vinyl once to put on tape and put the vinyl away. While I know that the copy can't be as good as the original, the difference was so close that I was happy with it. I had spent a good chunk on that Yamaha tape deck at the time and after that it was Nakamichi BX-300 decks. I see used Nakamichi BX-300 decks are still going for $500-$900 on the internet.
 
isolar8001

isolar8001

Audioholic General
Back then I played a vinyl once to put on tape and put the vinyl away. While I know that the copy can't be as good as the original, the difference was so close that I was happy with it. I had spent a good chunk on that Yamaha tape deck at the time and after that it was Nakamichi BX-300 decks. I see used Nakamichi BX-300 decks are still going for $500-$900 on the internet.
Yeah...way back when the usual routine was to record your vinyl LP the first or second time you played it.
Because, you just knew the third or fourth time there would be clicks, pops and ticks that weren't there before.
At least tape hiss was constant. :)
 
crazyfingers

crazyfingers

Full Audioholic
I used to record vinyl on to tape (I think everyone did when tape came out) and was never happy with the result.
Always some short coming. If you try running your vinyl to digital, please post a result. Let us know how it comes out. I have doubts you could get anything approaching CD quality, much less exceed it. But I've been wrong many times before. Put a post in here and keep the idea alive.
Oh, I forgot to answer this. It will be a while before I am able to record the vinyls but if I can figure out how to post an audio I will. I have no idea how good the audio is on my old notebook or whether it's the notebook that does hardware that does the analog>digital or the Audacity software. Maybe someone else knows.

I do know that when I recorded a bunch of vinyls onto the computer back around 2009?? I have been very satisfied. The Kinks "Misfits" sounds terrific.

I could post a track now if I knew how. The test songs on that LP are Rock and Roll Fantasy and Trust Your Heart.
 
crazyfingers

crazyfingers

Full Audioholic
Yeah...way back when the usual routine was to record your vinyl LP the first or second time you played it.
Because, you just knew the third or fourth time there would be clicks, pops and ticks that weren't there before.
At least tape hiss was constant. :)
True. But tape hiss never bothered me. With the Nak's I don't recall noticing especially since I used DBX noise reduction on all of my tapes except those that I made for others. The DBX was great. It compressed the dynamic range on the tape when recording and re-expanded it on playback. It gave me a lot dynamic range for a tape also.
 
isolar8001

isolar8001

Audioholic General
True. But tape hiss never bothered me. With the Nak's I don't recall noticing especially since I used DBX noise reduction on all of my tapes except those that I made for others. The DBX was great. It compressed the dynamic range on the tape when recording and re-expanded it on playback. It gave me a lot dynamic range for a tape also.
Yep...I would rather have some hiss than clicks and pops.....record noise used to drive me insane. I couldn't count the hours I spent with Discwasher LP cleaners and other things.
Not many of us had Naks with DBX... those were damned expensive back then comparatively.

Dumping vinyl was one of highpoints of my existence. :)
 
crazyfingers

crazyfingers

Full Audioholic
Yep...I would rather have some hiss than clicks and pops.....record noise used to drive me insane. I couldn't count the hours I spent with Discwasher LP cleaners and other things.
Not many of us had Naks with DBX... those were damned expensive back then comparatively.

Dumping vinyl was one of highpoints of my existence. :)
Quick quiz. Does this photo promote a feeling of:

1 Nostalgia or
2: Nausea

I found mine a few months ago at my parent's house. Around the time I dug out the albums and the turntable.

2022 11 06 21 46 13.jpg
:)
 
isolar8001

isolar8001

Audioholic General
Quick quiz. Does this photo promote a feeling of:

1 Nostalgia or
2: Nausea

I found mine a few months ago at my parent's house. Around the time I dug out the albums and the turntable.

View attachment 61561 :)
Nausea......Frustration.....Nihilism.....Entropy.....Despair....Hopelessness.

I had record washing brushes for soap and water too !!
 
isolar8001

isolar8001

Audioholic General
I hated record noise so bad, I used to listen to my Bowie collection on one of these...sounded pretty good actually on my old Yamaha CR-2020 and Yamaha NS-500 Speakers.

s-l500.jpg
 
lovinthehd

lovinthehd

Audioholic Jedi
Oh, I forgot to answer this. It will be a while before I am able to record the vinyls but if I can figure out how to post an audio I will. I have no idea how good the audio is on my old notebook or whether it's the notebook that does hardware that does the analog>digital or the Audacity software. Maybe someone else knows.

I do know that when I recorded a bunch of vinyls onto the computer back around 2009?? I have been very satisfied. The Kinks "Misfits" sounds terrific.

I could post a track now if I knew how. The test songs on that LP are Rock and Roll Fantasy and Trust Your Heart.
How are you converting the analog to digital particularly in this case?
 

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