Got a turntable and I don't get it.

[3db]

Isn't it ironic that these folks are given this amazing gift of expanded dynamics, and they purposely go out of their way to ignore it.

DJ

It is indeed.

 

[sterling shoote]

Just for grins and giggles I purchased a few new LP's of recordings I already had on LP's from the 70's. Some of these recordings I also have on CD and SACD. I also purchased a Lady Gaga LP. It is the only new album which I cannot easily distinguish from the CD of same. There are no pops, the LP is totally absent of distractions. Nevertheless, LP's and the devices that play them are obsolete. Creative technology has given us the opportunity for better sound quality, as well as convenience. I think the few folks who have $100,000 plus turntables may indeed be getting everything out of the groove, good and bad, but I'd bet on getting better from an iTunes download sent to my HT via Airport Express.

 

[3db]

Just for grins and giggles I purchased a few new LP's of recordings I already had on LP's from the 70's. Some of these recordings I also have on CD and SACD. I also purchased a Lady Gaga LP. It is the only new album which I cannot easily distinguish from the CD of same.

Not bad for obsolete equipment eh? I would also wager that the CDs and the LPs would also sound the same for the remastering that Jimmy Page did on Led Zep's latest reworks.

 

[Shadow_Ferret]

Every time I read a thread on vinyl I cringe a little.
It brings me back to listening to vinyl in 1977 and at some point reading about something called a CD.
I couldn't wait! I hated the rice krispie sound of vinyl.
Never understood how a true music lover could rationalize and romanticize that noise?
I understand if someone likes that kinda interaction thing...... that's where my understanding ends.
Music wasn't originally recorded or played with those pops & clicks.
Beethoven didn't play while eating rice krispies.
Funny how the same people that say tube amps color the sound, are willing to listen to all the noise and not understand, that is also colored / altered sound.

Again... I understand if you like all the idiosyncrasies of vinyl...... it's just not how the music was made to sound... Beethoven didn't have a guy sandpapering his piano while he played.

See, now I had the opposite reaction. I loved vinyl. Never heard any rice krispie sound because I kept my records clean, and in fact, back then there was a spray marketed that helped coat the record from the friction caused by the needle sort of like those oil additives like Krex Graphite Engine Lubricant that reduce wear and tear in an engine. So there was no noise to romanticize.

Music, by its very nature, is analog. Vinyl is analog. Digital colors the music.

 

[sterling shoote]

See, now I had the opposite reaction. I loved vinyl. Never heard any rice krispie sound because I kept my records clean, and in fact, back then there was a spray marketed that helped coat the record from the friction caused by the needle sort of like those oil additives like Krex Graphite Engine Lubricant that reduce wear and tear in an engine. So there was no noise to romanticize.

Music, by its very nature, is analog. Vinyl is analog. Digital colors the music.

Surely, you hear a pop or two in the vinyl you listen to. I've gotta tell ya, I've got hundreds of LP's, and clean or not, the only LP in my entire collection that is without flaw is one from Lady Gaga. For me, the coming of CD's was nothing less than a godsend. My opinion today about it is as it was in 1982, the Compact Disc is the best thing that has ever happened to recorded music.

 

[3db]

Surely, you hear a pop or two in the vinyl you listen to. I've gotta tell ya, I've got hundreds of LP's, and clean or not, the only LP in my entire collection that is without flaw is one from Lady Gaga. For me, the coming of CD's was nothing less than a godsend. My opinion today about it is as it was in 1982, the Compact Disc is the best thing that has ever happened to recorded music.

And its too bad that loudness wars have completely ruined dynamic range. If you compare todays music in both vinyl and CD, vinyl will have better recorded dynamic range than the CD although CD if dine right would beat vinyl in that perspective.

 

[highfigh]

I agree... though music being colored by my room or speakers is still music.
Pops and hiss and click are not music.

They can be if they have a good beat.

 

[Shadow_Ferret]

Surely, you hear a pop or two in the vinyl you listen to. I've gotta tell ya, I've got hundreds of LP's, and clean or not, the only LP in my entire collection that is without flaw is one from Lady Gaga. For me, the coming of CD's was nothing less than a godsend. My opinion today about it is as it was in 1982, the Compact Disc is the best thing that has ever happened to recorded music.

In a few older albums that I've listened to thousands of times? Sure. It's only natural, friction and all. But otherwise, no. I take good care of them, clean them, even put them in specially designed plastic sleeves. Albums shouldn't pop unless its a bad pressing.

I still haven't really gotten on the CD bandwagon except as a means to play portable music when I don't care what it sounds like.

ETA: And I would add, the only reason I did was because cars stopped coming with cassette players. At one time I had a high end cassette recorder and when I got a new album, I'd record it so I could play the tape and not ruin the album. I might have a few of those left over from the 1970s. They have no pops, although now the tapes themselves might have degraded a little over time.

 

[djreef]

And its too bad that loudness wars have completely ruined dynamic range. If you compare todays music in both vinyl and CD, vinyl will have better recorded dynamic range than the CD although CD if dine right would beat vinyl in that perspective.

I tried to listen to the distorted squashed mess that is Cheap Trick's 'Rockford' the other day. I got to the third track before I had to pull it from the tray. It was literally giving me migraine vertigo. Such a shame because what little I heard was great rock n' roll harkening back to their early 80's stuff. O, well.

DJ

 

[djreef]

In a few older albums that I've listened to thousands of times? Sure. It's only natural, friction and all. But otherwise, no. I take good care of them, clean them, even put them in specially designed plastic sleeves. Albums shouldn't pop unless its a bad pressing.

I still haven't really gotten on the CD bandwagon except as a means to play portable music when I don't care what it sounds like.

ETA: And I would add, the only reason I did was because cars stopped coming with cassette players. At one time I had a high end cassette recorder and when I got a new album, I'd record it so I could play the tape and not ruin the album. I might have a few of those left over from the 1970s. They have no pops, although now the tapes themselves might have degraded a little over time.

Man, enjoy it anyway you can. Who gives an ef what medium it's transcribed thru, I had a friend in Jr High who loved jamming to his transistor radio pressed up against the side of his head. Whatever makes your head swing.

DJ

 

[slipperybidness]

They can be if they have a good beat.

Haha, right.

I suggest Cliqhop on somafm.com

They call it "intelligent dance music"

 

[Shadow_Ferret]

Man, enjoy it anyway you can. Who gives an ef what medium it's transcribed thru, I had a friend in Jr High who loved jamming to his transistor radio pressed up against the side of his head. Whatever makes your head swing.

DJ

I had a transistor radio, too. In grade school. In the 60s. When AM was still king, before FM started to take over. I outgrew that rather quickly. Now I don't even enjoy FM because the signal is so compressed. Or MP3, except for portability. And I don't enjoy the majority of CDs because it seemed engineers forgot to how properly record music. Yes, the dynamic range of CDs is superior to vinyl, but unfortunately, instead of taking advantage of that and making recordings that rival live music, the record industry is using the CD to just make music LOUDER. Today's CDs are just too hot. This is why I prefer my old vinyl.

 

[highfigh]

I had a transistor radio, too. In grade school. In the 60s. When AM was still king, before FM started to take over. I outgrew that rather quickly. Now I don't even enjoy FM because the signal is so compressed. Or MP3, except for portability. And I don't enjoy the majority of CDs because it seemed engineers forgot to how properly record music. Yes, the dynamic range of CDs is superior to vinyl, but unfortunately, instead of taking advantage of that and making recordings that rival live music, the record industry is using the CD to just make music LOUDER. Today's CDs are just too hot. This is why I prefer my old vinyl.

The noise floor is lower with CDs, but the dynamic range of the music isn't always greater than vinyl.

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

The noise floor is lower with CDs, but the dynamic range of the music isn't always greater than vinyl.

The same could be said of Lossless vs 64kbps MP3.

A bad CD isn't going to sound better than a great Vinyl.

But the best CD is going to sound better than the best Vinyl.

 

[3db]

A bad CD isn't going to sound better than a great Vinyl.

But the best CD is going to sound better than the best Vinyl.

A bad CD WILL sound far worse than great vinyl. Make no mistake about that.

Problem is where to find the"best" CDs . The only genre of music unaffected by the loudness wars seems to be classical because classical needs the dynamic range to make it even sound remotely realistic. .