I gave up on analog for the most part long before the house burned last april. That said, I understand that for some people, analog is a ritualistic thing...cleaning the record, getting up every 20 minutes to turn it over, putting it away in its protective sleeve, etc....but in terms of pure sound quality, playing records is like listening to a box of rice crispies with milk on them. You know, snap, crackle, pop. The inky black background that is available on CD just trumps what analog can do IMHO. And the fiddle factor is much less with CDs than it is with records. Streaming is even less fiddling than CDs. I am likely going to be all in all digital going forward. I don't see myself buying a new turntable and buying vinyl. Too much money and trouble. CDs I will buy...movies, I will buy. Records, their time to shine is over it is a dead medium as far as I am concerned.
My Analog Journey - Opinions Sought
When I first started out in this hobby 10 years ago, my first source was a Bluesound Node 2. Eventually I upgraded to a Lumin T2 which was a nice step up in sound quality and I’ve been happy with it ever since.
Around 2021 or so I decided I want to explore the analog side of things. With the guidance of this forum, I settled on a Technics SL1210GR, AudioTechnica VM760SLC cart, and a Herron VTPH1 phono stage.
Somewhere along the line I decided that I preferred the convenience of streaming and there my turntable sat. Collecting dust as they say.
Fast forward to two weeks ago. I decided that maybe it was time to start letting some of this gear go that I’m not using. The Herron was first up on the chopping block, but something told me I better turn this thing on and make sure it still works.
So, I hooked everything up. Dropped on Everybody Digs Bill Evans, a recording with which I’m well familiar. Well, I almost cried at how good it sounded. <Insert all the flowery audiophile language here>. The background was blacker. The tone richer, more air and separation around the instruments within the soundstage, and the imaging is more precise.
The difference between my digital and analog rig could not be more apparent. I heard someone say on this forum that you need to spend much more on digital to obtain the same results as analog; or maybe it was the other way around?
I am absolutely hooked on vinyl right now and don’t see myself turning back. Although I do see myself looking into MC carts in the not so distance future.
Thanks to everyone on this forum that shares their knowledge so freely. Comments welcome on future upgrades or anything else.....
Cheers,
Joe
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My best advice, after making and living down mistakes, is to respect digital and its wonderful counterpart, digital streaming, but do not give it a crown. I think there's something in the perspective within the phono signal that lends itself to greater air, bloom, dimensionality, realism, and instrumentiness (my own phrase) as gain is applied.
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@livinon2wheels I couldn’t agree with you more. Dumped all my vinyl decades ago and have never looked back. CDs are my physical media of choice and with a quality CD transport and standalone DAC they can sound superb. I do appreciate streaming for its convenience and as a useful tool for discovering new music, but it’s CDs / SACDs for my critical listening. I’m very sorry about your house. |
- 51 posts total