Vinyl..................?

[Burtog]

I lent my dad my old record player this week from the loft, not been used in 15 years, its a goodish one. He got a new stylus for it and plugged into his technics system, sounds so good, so much more depth and clarity over digital and CD music.

Have we been going backwards with music sound quality, all these new mini systems sound crap in comparison.

[Flash Harry]

yep. I have gone back to the old school, monobloc amps and big floor standing speakers. We got sold boom and tizz. 

I'm right in the middle of sorting out boom and tizz.

[fenderbender]

Yep bring back vinly-
I still have LPs in my wardrobe -oh and 45s as well
You cannot beat crackly and hiss when the needle drops into the first groove-
Holding the cover in your hands -reading the sleeve notes -then they did away with sleeve notes-
Of course we we were sold a dream -CD's perfect sound -no scratches -just the perfect sound for ever!!!
The Minidisc is actually better than the CD--
it's a pity that new LPs (or Albums ) are SO expensive--
I remember buying 45's, they were 5/9p, LPs were 11/95p old money
Woolworth's did their own label - Embassy-45's 3/9-their cover top of the pops LPs-less than 10 shillings

[AndyR]

My gut feeling is the boom and tizz comes from the amps and speakers and other peripheral wotnot (portable players and earphones etc), not the digital vs analogue of CDs/etc and vinyl. And also from production choices made by the folks who create and master the recordings (loudness, and lowest common-denominator of target playback environments - mp3 and phone speakers etc!)

I was a late convert to CDs - dragged kicking and screaming to it... But I was sold on the sound immediately. I plugged our new CD player into our old stereo, and it blew the SOCKS off the records (one of our 4 new CDs was a duplicate of an LP). More depth and clarity, and it didn't lose any warmth or mojo that an audiophile boss had been telling me it would.

Added to that, no getting up to change sides, and no pops, crackles and other sh1t...

A big loss - 12" record sleeves, but hey...

Yep, I miss the "record" experience, but I'm unlikely to go back to vinyl (I have a turntable and a large record collection hiding in the loft - there's no room for it in the house). I might, however, get interested in investing in decent amps and speakers.

[phantasm777]

i agree with andy. i found that the more quieter, subtle instruments played on lp, i did not hear well if at all, and when on cd it was more obvious. i do not miss the needle hitting the vinyl sound not the scratches or skips or even the friction sound at high volumes. but i still have all my lps and will not get rid of them.

[Flash Harry]

My gut feeling is the boom and tizz comes from the amps and speakers and other peripheral wotnot (portable players and earphones etc), not the digital vs analogue of CDs/etc and vinyl. And also from production choices made by the folks who create and master the recordings (loudness, and lowest common-denominator of target playback environments - mp3 and phone speakers etc!)

I agree, it's more to do with squeezing the sound out of the cheapest crap there is (and some of the expensive crap too)

You can't beat a nice big box to put your speakers in...

However on amplifier technology..

There is a thing called a GainClone which is a copy of a very expensive Japanese amplifier, however it uses a single chip and a few other discrete components to make an absolutely awesome hifi amp - I use a pair of these to power my Tannoy Six-elevens which sound superb.

As for the CD/Vinyl topic.. CDs are clean and clear, they offer better noise performance, dynamic range, flatter frequency response (vinyl uses an EQ filter to reproduce the bass notes) and are easier to store, last longer, don't scratch as easily. I have heard really high-end vinyl reproduction gear sound fantastic and low end CD reproduction gear sound crap. A friend of mine has spent in excess of £10K on his hifi the speakers alone second hand cost almost that, he uses 24bit 96khz recordings when he can get them, he has a custom-built DAC and plays all the music he has through a PC running Linux (swears he can hear the difference between Ubuntu Studio and Redhat).  He has rejected both the vinyl and CD technologies, wouldn't touch an MP3, sniffs at a FLAC. It's full-rate WAV, ultra-stable clocks, directional speaker cables with line terminators at the speaker and amp ends... nutty really but it's what he does. And it sounds very nice, but not £9500 nicer than mine...

[Geir]

I love vinyl !!! (I should ... I make the material ) ..... but come on !! You can get much better sound to a MUCH lower price today than 30 years ago !!!

For the record (pun intended)  .... I still have my vinyl collection and a quite good recordplayer!

[Farrell Jackson]

All us old guys have fond memories of vinyl records and their sound. My son tells me they are coming back in style and that he buys new vinyl records of his favorite bands. He now wants my LP collection but he's not getting them until I'm gone  . But for my purposes, I'd rather have a cd any day because of their convenience, seem to ;last forever, and they sound good to my ears. I think the next question is what will replace cds?

Farrell

[SharksDontSleep]

Yep, my heart says vinyl, but my head says mp3 

[bruno]

I challenge anyone not to do an A/B test vinyl versus CD - let alone MP3's, same recording and switch between the two. I found that CD's loose so much - and even more so between and CD and an MP3 -  but the convenience is amazing with MP3's