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Do 180g vinyls sound better or is it a myth ?

After just recently getting into vinyl and buying a few albums I’m wanting to know opinions from like minded people. Does the weight of the vinyl make a difference to overall sound quality, and to add a bit more substance to the post, does it sound better than CD ?
Thanks for taking the time to read my post .

Steve
128x128steve1979
williewonka
3,075 posts
 
It's just a ploy to get you to part with more of your hard earned cash.

The "label" tends to be a better indicator of the quality of a recording - not the thickness of the vinyl.

I've had  expensive150gm vinyl that had metal shards from the master embedded in the surface.

I've had 180 and 200 gram pressings more warped than my 35 year old standard thickness albums

Most of my standard Deutsche Grammaphon pressings outperform many of my 180 gm albums.

Sometimes the quality of the recording is superb, but the actual pressing is sub-par. But a poorly engineered recording is just plain BAD

Perhaps we should list all the good labels?

Here's a Couple
- Sheffield Labs
- Jeton
- Deutsche Grammaphon

Any More?....



azjake's avatar
azjake
285 posts
 
I think a 180G record and a 180G vinyl sound just the same...

johnnyb53
3,510 posts
 
Perhaps we should list all the good labels?

Here’s a Couple
- Sheffield Labs
- Jeton
- Deutsche Grammaphon
Any More?....

Sure:

  • Concord
  • ECM
  • Geffen
  • A&M
  • EMI
  • Angel (EMI recordings pressed and distributed by Capitol)
  • Eratos
  • A fair amount of Atlantic
  • Warner/Reprise
  • Water Lily
  • Analogue Productions
  • Fantasy
  • Columbia--some great ones: Miles Davis Kind of Blue, Blood, Sweat & Tears self-titled, Bruno Walter & Columbia Orchestra
  • RCA Living Stereo shaded dog
  • Mercury Living Presence
  • Belock-period Everest 


fourwnds's avatar
fourwnds
277 posts
 
Steve, most of my best sounding records were not new. A lot of the new and reissue vinyl purchases have been a bummer actually. Not all, but enough for me to really consider that temptation. 180 gram, remastered, blah, blah, bs IMO. Not to say there have not been some beautiful ones that make it worthwhile and keep me looking for the gems. Happy hunting. 
cousinbillyl
190 posts
 

There have been some great posts. I would like to take it one step further. Much of what I'm about to say will make no sense. Sorry.

If you have time, do a quick internet search. Look for 'record groove under a microscope'.

Now keep things simple: the stylus moves to the left (1st axis), the stylus moves right (2nd axis), and there is a slight up and down movement (as can be seen by the varying depth of the grooves) (3rd axis). A vinyl record groove can potentially store, and therefore output a 3D signal.

Don't think of a band, with the drummer behind the singer, this is simply the location of the 'instruments'. Every stereo, and every source media, can portray this.

Instead, think of a song with a lone singer. There is a 3 dimensional aspect to their voice.

This 3D picture is captured on the master tape. The master tape is fed it's information via a balanced cable. Pin 1 is ground, pin 2 is the positive portion of the waveform, pin 3 is the negative portion of the wave form.

The positive portion of the waveform pushes your speaker driver out, the negative portion of the waveform pulls the driver in. Full, fluid uniform motion. People that own crossoverless full range driver speakers know exactly what I'm talking about. There is a 'rightness' to the sound. It sounds 'real'.

If you have a fully balanced stereo (Atma-Sphere, BAT, Lamm, etc.) this waveform is preserved.

Vinyl joins master tapes as a 3D source.

CD's do NOT preserve this 'balanced' nature of the waveform. It is a single ended source. If you have RCA connectors in your stereo chain, it is also no longer balanced.

To my ears, DSD is balanced. I will therefore conclude, with no technical information to support my claim, that the digitization of the original waveform to CD destroys the 3D nature of the event.

Here's the problem with my entire post. Until someone builds a fully balanced crossover speaker, you won't be able to 'hear' how huge the difference is. This between CD and vinyl. Unless of course you have a full range planar (no crossover, not a single capacitor or inductor in the signal path), a full range electrostatic (no crossover), or as mentioned, a full range driver (Lowther/Fostex etc.).

Only time will tell if I have a clue?

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