Vinyl collection, now what?

i own 4 turntables, and 5 tonearms, and thousands of records. i love vinyl. i do own over 1000 2xdsd digital files ripped from vinyl, with gear exactly like mine. but i did not do any of those rips, and would never take the time to do it.

the wrong reason to get into vinyl is digitizing records. if your goal is to hear good music, sell the records and invest in digital streaming. digitizing records has a very steep learning curve and is a pain the ass to do. and the results are unlikely to be as good as good streaming unless you make a substantial gear investment.

vinyl is a big commitment and don’t even think about it unless you are planning on being all in. dipping your toe into vinyl will never get that music effectively into a digital format.

lastly; 5 years ago a case could be made for digitizing vinyl for music access. but that ship has sailed with high rez streaming. it’s so good that digitizing records is foolish. put the money into better digital gear. if you do go all in for vinyl playback then yes; that can get you better sound than streaming. but the vinyl ’all-in’ threshold is pretty spendy.

vinyl is a big commitment and don’t even think about it unless you are planning on being all in. dipping your toe into vinyl will never get that music effectively into a digital format.

While I agree with that, you have to start somewhere to see if a larger investment is worth it, to you. I reintroduced myself to vinyl after a 35 year hiatus, with basically a ‘re-starter’ set-up. After a year and half, I realized vinyl was worth a larger commitment and recently spent a significant amount on a new rig. Now my digital really can’t compare to my ears, so am now thinking of upgrading my digital front end. The viscous cycle/rabbit hole 😁

But, you never know until you try. If vinyl isn’t for you over the long haul, you can go on and still be happy with a fairly inexpensive set-up. But if you do make a larger commitment, and realize what vinyl is capable of, your current digital set-up may not satisfy you anymore in comparison until you upgrade there as well. Ahhh....the fun we have.

Some good advice here as well as interesting questions. I have no advice but do have a question:

Why did your still-living uncle will you part of a record collection he is still using, knowing that you do not own an analog front end? I do realize you said he is crazy. You also said he is an audiophile. Do you think these terms are interchangeable? Many people do. Sometimes I wonder about myself.

@aewarren - My uncle has been downsizing in anticipation to a move to a retirement home.  He gave me a pair of B&W 801 Matrix S2s, some component racks, MIT2 biwire cables, boxes of turntable stuff.
He hasn't touched the records he gave me for many years.
Says he has no interest in reference track records, or any of the others he gave me.

I meant he was really fanatical about audiophile gear years ago.
He has his smaller "main collection" that he still enjoys.

That makes sense and you are a very lucky nephew. I hope you enjoy the gear and the LPs. Most of all, have fun!