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Do you think that vinyl is making a comeback?
- Thread starter Travisx2112
- Start date
Yeah it does sound much warmer and intimate. Its a bit strange but its like Im getting less tired off the music when I listen to it on vinyl then CD. More and more of my friends are also getting hooked on vinyl again.
For the last 20 years I've checked to see if an album I want is on vinyl before buying a cd or more recently, downloading. I have never seen a slow down, lot's of bands have had vinyl available. I hope to see two formats also vinyl and download. There is no need for anything else anymore.
With the correct turn table and a well made album their is no warmer and real sounding way to listen to music IMO.
With the correct turn table and a well made album their is no warmer and real sounding way to listen to music IMO.
Yes I need to check out more new releases on vinyl. Most music stores in my area only sell CD's so I have to order LP's online.
I’m curious to hear what new stuff like Radiohead’s In Rainbows sounds like on vinyl, since most of my records are from the late 70 early 80s.
Its been a long time since I’ve been this excited about collecting music.
CDs sound just fine to me, as long as the original record hasn't been "newly remastered OMG", ie squashed with compression.
Have you heard how Led Zeppelin's remastered CDs sound like ? Lifeless, no dynamics, all boomy. Yuck.
Have you heard how Led Zeppelin's remastered CDs sound like ? Lifeless, no dynamics, all boomy. Yuck.
First of all...vinyl never went away for many of us. The format is not for everyone. Vinyl is for those that have a system that can reveal the sound properly. I doubt you can truly appreciate the benefits of vinyl with a $100 Turntable hooked up to basic stereo system, or a surround system in a box from ABC warehouse.
But for those that do have a nice system...and appreciate full bodied sound...vinyl is a no brainer.
I am glad that younger people are being exposed to it, which in turn results in more choice to buy...and hopefully new fans that can tell the difference between true analogue playback, and digital music.
I don't think vinyl will ever go away completely....because it is the only true analogue source we still have. CD's and other digital media playback tend to be harsh and forward...regardless of the mastering.
Some Cd's sound great...but studies have shown that since the inception of digital playback...humans don't spend as much time listening to music as they did before digital. Our ears grow tired of the digital sound.
I fear that records are going to start coming out sounding bad,...as these greedy record companies try push the stuff out as fast as they can to make a buck. This is one of the reasons vinyl in the USA was the worst sounding stuff on the planet in the 70's. Cut corners....use regrind in the vinyl, which creates more noise and less true sonics.
There is lots of good vinyl to choose from, being pressed on pure virgin laquer, and mastered with care for the audiophile. It's these companies, that cared enough about sound quality, to invest large amounts of money and time, to keep the format going, even with the threat of digital killing them off, that has resulted in the resurgence of vinyl. Hopefully the quality will stay, and not revert to the greedy ways of the pre-CD era.
Cheers,
BT
But for those that do have a nice system...and appreciate full bodied sound...vinyl is a no brainer.
I am glad that younger people are being exposed to it, which in turn results in more choice to buy...and hopefully new fans that can tell the difference between true analogue playback, and digital music.
I don't think vinyl will ever go away completely....because it is the only true analogue source we still have. CD's and other digital media playback tend to be harsh and forward...regardless of the mastering.
Some Cd's sound great...but studies have shown that since the inception of digital playback...humans don't spend as much time listening to music as they did before digital. Our ears grow tired of the digital sound.
I fear that records are going to start coming out sounding bad,...as these greedy record companies try push the stuff out as fast as they can to make a buck. This is one of the reasons vinyl in the USA was the worst sounding stuff on the planet in the 70's. Cut corners....use regrind in the vinyl, which creates more noise and less true sonics.
There is lots of good vinyl to choose from, being pressed on pure virgin laquer, and mastered with care for the audiophile. It's these companies, that cared enough about sound quality, to invest large amounts of money and time, to keep the format going, even with the threat of digital killing them off, that has resulted in the resurgence of vinyl. Hopefully the quality will stay, and not revert to the greedy ways of the pre-CD era.
Cheers,
BT
This thread reminds me of a recording technique I've herd a lot of studios use. They record everything to tape and then record the tape to digital for mastering. I've herd this is one of the ways people use to get a warmer more natural sound that recording straight to digital can't produce.
I just think it's interesting that technology that is considered out of date by some is used to compensate for new technologies short comings.
There is store here in Seattle that caters to the hi-fi geeks and they sell tube amps and turn tables. I hope to some day actually own some of that stuff. My turn table is nice but not nearly as cool as the stuff they carry.
I just think it's interesting that technology that is considered out of date by some is used to compensate for new technologies short comings.
There is store here in Seattle that caters to the hi-fi geeks and they sell tube amps and turn tables. I hope to some day actually own some of that stuff. My turn table is nice but not nearly as cool as the stuff they carry.
Don't be afraid to upgrade your table to a good used one. I don't know what you currently have...or what your budget would be. But I just got a used Sota for under $500 including an AQ tonearm. Put a nice denon dl-160 on it...and poof....sonic bliss for a song(pardon the pun).
My Systemdek IIX was damaged when taken away for cleaning by the restoration company after my house fire. I am kinda glad they did now...cause the Sota Satellite is a really nice revealing table.
Cheers,
BT
I don't mean to take this off topic but I'm still searching for a receiver with a phono input. I'm not looking for some home entertainment setup as I'm fine with the sound that comes out of my tv. I want good music damnit. I don't want to spend tons of dough but I want something nice for my house. Any input?
All you need is a phono preamp - it'll convert the phono signal and you can hook it up to anything with RCA inputs.
You don't need to spend alot...but I suggest a phono preamp. Just plug your turntable into the preamp...and the preamp can then be plugged into any open input(aux, Tape in) on your home receiver or integrated amp. You can get one for cheap through radio shack or even ebay...but remember...you only get what you pay for. There are some good options in the $100 - $400 range.
I use a Jolida JP-9A...and it uses tubes for it's output stage. very warm and sweet without breaking the bank.
Good luck.
BT
Phono input is not unusual on modern stereo equipment, even the most low budget stereo receivers from the likes of [Invalid or Expired Link Removed], Harmon Kardon, and most others still have phono preamps. Then of course there is always ebay and craigslist.
My dissertation was actualy on the pschoacoustic differences between various audio playback formats; good clean vinyl wins hands down. Nice smooth sine waves are good for the brain.
As 'good' as a CD or MP3 can sound, they are never better than looking at a picture through a window screen; it is a collection of moments strung together to form a digital facsimile of an analog experience.
As 'good' as a CD or MP3 can sound, they are never better than looking at a picture through a window screen; it is a collection of moments strung together to form a digital facsimile of an analog experience.
Yeah....
All else being equal, CD quality PCM audio is capable of producing an original recorded electronic signal far better than vinyl every could. That's a fact not an analogy. People like the distortion introduced by tubes and vinyl and like to wax poetic about it, but at the end of the day it can't even begin to compare. Good vinyl sounds quite good, that's for sure, but the limitations are harsh. And yes, I have heard very good vinyl.I am running off to work so I don't have time to read the whole thread right now - my .02$
Yes, for sure making a comeback.
I am 19 and just started getting into vinyl about a year ago. A very good portion of my friends in the same age group (18-24ish) are really getting into it as well. Lots of it is coming from stumbling across parents or friends parents collections and falling in love with having this big object that you can *actually* hold on to and it seems fragile and if you break it you can't just go redownload it, and the artwork is huge and fantastic (even the bad ones still have charm to them), and it's big and warm sounding, and you can't really skip from song to song so you just put on side a and actually sit and listen and everybody released singles with some weird B side that you probably don't listen to for the first month or so because you are hooked on Side A, but you flip it over and there is this cool track that you have never heard and blah blah blah.
We all love it.
If I know what I am looking for and can't find it around town, I hit up recordstore.co.uk which has way too much of my money. But there are at least six *good* record stores in town that I check out, where I can walk to the funk or soul section, grab something I have never heard of but has a cool cover, throw it on a turntable for one song and usually I end up walking away with it.
Yes, for sure making a comeback.
I am 19 and just started getting into vinyl about a year ago. A very good portion of my friends in the same age group (18-24ish) are really getting into it as well. Lots of it is coming from stumbling across parents or friends parents collections and falling in love with having this big object that you can *actually* hold on to and it seems fragile and if you break it you can't just go redownload it, and the artwork is huge and fantastic (even the bad ones still have charm to them), and it's big and warm sounding, and you can't really skip from song to song so you just put on side a and actually sit and listen and everybody released singles with some weird B side that you probably don't listen to for the first month or so because you are hooked on Side A, but you flip it over and there is this cool track that you have never heard and blah blah blah.
We all love it.
If I know what I am looking for and can't find it around town, I hit up recordstore.co.uk which has way too much of my money. But there are at least six *good* record stores in town that I check out, where I can walk to the funk or soul section, grab something I have never heard of but has a cool cover, throw it on a turntable for one song and usually I end up walking away with it.
This is why I don't think vinyl ever left and it is not a come back as much as history repeating it's self. I had the same introduction to vinyl in the late '80's. Most of my friends that collected vinyl back then have stopped but I never did. The generation after me collected and the generation after that is collecting vinyl.
The thing is vinyl is cool and the current generation of kids will always love them IMO.
Vinyl has disappeared from large market stores, and I don't see it coming back. CDs and other more robust and/or portable formats have taken over the market. Vinyl may survive as a specialty item, but it has no mass market appeal at this point.
As pointed out earlier, there are still people who love outdated formats like consumer Beta, but that doesn't mean it has any commercial future. I understand that some people still collect LPs, but you're the outliers, not the mainstream of the market.
As I mentioned earlier, I'm delighted to be done with vinyl - gimme CDs and other formats.
As pointed out earlier, there are still people who love outdated formats like consumer Beta, but that doesn't mean it has any commercial future. I understand that some people still collect LPs, but you're the outliers, not the mainstream of the market.
As I mentioned earlier, I'm delighted to be done with vinyl - gimme CDs and other formats.
Yeah....
Not true. ADPCM is capable of producing an original electronic signal better than vinyl ONLY if the bit depth and sample rate are a lot higher than the CD standard of 16 bit, 44.1kHz. 16 bits leaves noticeable quantization error and limiting the sample rate to 44.1 kHz makes for truly horrendous aliasing. This is inherent to the CD format and even with dither and other digital "fixes" it still makes for a harsh and objectionable listening experience. Listen to Dark Side of the Moon on vinyl side by side with CD on a good sound system and nearly every listener will agree that the vinyl is "better" even if they can't describe why in technical terms.
Of course, if you're casually listening to music on a $19.95 MusicTron boom box from WalMart while talking to your freinds on the phone, then who gives crap if the cymbals all sound whooshy and the mids and lows are garbly from digital distortion? The fact that most consumers of music care more for conveniece than quallity means that even really obnoxious sounding formats such as MP3's are popular. People also spend $300 on an MP3 player because of the convenience and then spend $6 on earbuds that sound like dog snot.
Vinyl has it's own limitations, but for most audiophiles, the sound quality is far superior to CD and it's for quantifiable and objective reasons, not just snobbery.
PCM would be the superior format to vinyl once and for all if 24 bit, 96-192kHz were commercially available on a convenient digital format similar to CD's or MP3's. The technology and infrastructure is ready but the sad fact is that not enough people care about sound quality enough to buy them. DVD-audio and SACD's were light years better than CD's but they died from lack of interest. There is no reason that you can't play music on an iPod like device in a high quality format except that consumers would rather have 6,000 crappy quality songs on their music player than 60 awesome quality songs. Why? Convenience wins out over quality to the casual listener.
MP3's and other low quality digital formats are for casual listeners of music. This is the 90% of the listening public who think of music as backgorund noise to drive away what would otherwise be objectionable moments of silence in their daily lives. For people who are more passionate about music for its own sake, vinyl is the accepted standard for analog music, and we're still waiting for the music industry to make up its ******* mind about what high quality digital format to finally settle on.
