Is it time to Ditch Vinyl?

[3db]

I still have my Nikko ND-1000C. With Dolby C, a 3 head deck and proper bias adjustment you could get close to CD quality. The Nikko had an auto-bias feature that recorded and played back test tones, but I got better results with one of the factory settings and the right model of Denon cassette. Back then the tapes were primarily for the Clarion head unit I had my car which also supported Dolby C.
The tapes have certainly degraded over time though. Anything I'm really fond of can usually be found on the net and gets replaced with a digital copy. Jumping to a particular song on tape is still a PITA.

Agreed. Serial devices like tape makes searching challenging for sure.

 

[trochetier]

Good grief why would you transfer to cassette in this day and age?! If you make a copy, may as well make it identical and with better longevity than tape!

The transfers were made in 1980's. Jumping to conclusions eh!

 

[lovinthehd]

The transfers were made in 1980's. Jumping to conclusions eh!

Just where they belonged Your post read like it was a current thing.....

 

[Montucky]

Been loving my Hi-Res digital files when I want convenience, but there is NO replacing the tangible aspects of vinyl. ESPECIALLY in regard to the artwork. Nothing quite like the experience of a well put together sleeve, complete with a good booklet. Some of the records are also art in and of themselves too. Regardless of sound quality and technical attributes, it's the total experience of vinyl that I still adore.

What is pretty slick though, is that many albums I've bought on vinyl, have also come with a code to download the hi-res digital files of the same album. Always appreciate when they throw that in there.

 

[Mikado463]

Been loving my Hi-Res digital files when I want convenience, but there is NO replacing the tangible aspects of vinyl. ESPECIALLY in regard to the artwork. Nothing quite like the experience of a well put together sleeve, complete with a good booklet. Some of the records are also art in and of themselves too. Regardless of sound quality and technical attributes, it's the total experience of vinyl that I still adore.

What is pretty slick though, is that many albums I've bought on vinyl, have also come with a code to download the hi-res digital files of the same album. Always appreciate when they throw that in there.

With regard to modern recordings I like to see how it was mastered, if digitally, why would one want an analog copy ? Whereas artist like Rawlings / Welch support analog, start to finish on the Lp's

 

[killdozzer]

you could get close to CD quality.

Measure it against CD, but don't replace it with a CD? What is that about?

 

[3db]

For shits n giggles, I recorded a CD to a chrome tape on a Yamaha KX800 using the onboard dbx2 faciility and I ran some blind listening tests between the CD and tape. My friends could NOT tell the difference. Dolby B and C NR sucked eggs. Dolby S from what I read was actually very good. I would have liked to compare Dolby S to dbx.

Anyone stating that cassette sound was not HIFI did NOT have a good deck or had a good deck but it was misaligned. I'm not stating that cassette is/was the end all or be all of mediums. Far from it; serial searches for tracks, not very durable, etc.. deck maintenance had to be maintained...etc. But it was a very capable medium and with the right deck recording and playing back was rather astonishing.

 

[Eppie]

Measure it against CD, but don't replace it with a CD? What is that about?

At one time I had as much money invested in my car audio system as the home system. Top of the line Audia gear from Clarion. (I was a repair technician for a local dealer.) Not one of those stupid 4 subwoofer rattle the car systems that you could hear a block away. Just a 4-channel 10-band EQ driving 4 2-ways and a modest 2x50W amp running off the EQ's low pass filter driving a couple of 8" subs. That's all you need in a hatch back. The Clarions had a nice dip in the high end to compensate for the high end reflections that occur from car windows, which made them well suited to a car environment. Really miss that system. New cars are not designed for aftermarket audio any more.

Any way, tape was king for cars and few CD players available, so I transferred a lot of music from CD to cassette for the car. The Audia supported Dolby-C (DBX was not yet common) and with the Nikko and proper tapes I managed to get some very good sounding tapes. Supertramp's Crime of Century, in particular, was the album of choice to demo the system back then and Brother Where You Bound sounded great too. Sometimes you get a mix that just suites a particular system well.

 

[trochetier]

Many of the digitally remastered recordings now were originally on reel-reel tapes running 14ips, even 71/2ips recordings were very good.

 

[trochetier]

Just where they belonged Your post read like it was a current thing.....

I don't think one can even buy cassettes any more. Can't remember the last time bought a box of Maxell Type III, likely early 1990s. Been into audio hobby since 1974. Still have my early production Carver C-9 it came with a mimeographed manual. It is boxed up in one of the bedroom closet.

BTW, ESL does a great job of servicing Nakamichi decks. https://eslabs.com/index.htm

 

[lovinthehd]

I don't think one can even buy cassettes any more. Can't remember the last time bought a box of Maxell Type III, likely early 1990s. Been into audio hobby since 1974. Still have my early production Carver C-9 it came with a mimeographed manual. It is boxed up in one of the bedroom closet.

BTW, ESL does a great job of servicing Nakamichi decks. https://eslabs.com/index.htm

I think there was a female pop singer who recently released a recording on cassette....so there's some stock out there. I think reel to reel was pretty much gone but now there might be someone producing it again? Not sure, really no interest in tape again....

 

[John Parks]

Check out Bandcamp- lots of artists releasing on cassette.

 

[3db]

I don't think one can even buy cassettes any more. Can't remember the last time bought a box of Maxell Type III, likely early 1990s. Been into audio hobby since 1974. Still have my early production Carver C-9 it came with a mimeographed manual. It is boxed up in one of the bedroom closet.

BTW, ESL does a great job of servicing Nakamichi decks. https://eslabs.com/index.htm

EBAY. I have a batch of 25 Metal tapes coming in soon . There are new type1 tapes being produced but I'm not sure how good they are.

 

[Haubs]

This article caught my eye. I enjoy streaming, it maybe my preferred way to listen to music at this time. But when friends or family come over, nobody wants streaming(I'm 47). There is something about the imperfection of vynil that make it fun and contagious; imperfect like us. CD is from my era so when friends, especially my brother are over it is coming out of a vast collection.

I am not into posting facts and opinions very often but I did enjoy this article.

 

[cpp]

I'll keep on playing my vinyl and CD's and I'll continue to stream, hell why not. Its music.

 

[Auditor55]

I'll keep on playing my vinyl and CD's and I'll continue to stream, hell why not. Its music.

I love sunshine, Vinyl and Sun don't mix well.

 

[Montucky]

I'll keep on playing my vinyl and CD's and I'll continue to stream, hell why not. Its music.

Exactly. I'm kind of an 'all of the above' type of guy. To me, there's really no wrong answer. I've even gotten some sick satisfaction out of garbage quality 8-tracks. Haha.

 

[MR.MAGOO]

With the cost of $15-20 per month I doubt I'll be streaming anytime soon, will keep my old CD's and Vinyl, thank you! The cassettes are another matter, some are worn from repeated use over the years and will replace with another format. I've got approx. 1216 CD's, 613 Vinyl (includes 100 7" singles), and 243 cassettes.

 

[Mikado463]

With the cost of $15-20 per month I doubt I'll be streaming anytime soon, will keep my old CD's and Vinyl, thank you! The cassettes are another matter, some are worn from repeated use over the years and will replace with another format. I've got approx. 1216 CD's, 613 Vinyl (includes 100 7" singles), and 243 cassettes.

I'm with 'ya Mr Magoo ! I couldn't give a rats rear end about streaming, tweeting, face booking or any of that other BS !

 

[gbaby]

I just purchased a new Rega P6 turntable, and a new Bryston phono preamp, the BP-2 mm/mc and the Bryston PS2 power supply. I have been playing vinyl for some three weeks steadily and I went back to listening to digital on my Bryston BDP-3 and BDA-3 D/A converter. The digital sounded a little harsh after sustained listening to vinyl. So much for this article. It was definitely written by someone with low fi analog audio.