@hometheaterreview I appreciate your comments about vinyl being dead and the convenience and quality of streaming. I have a very nice PS Audio DAC with a Bridge II and I stream Tidal regularly. I also have a respectable OPPO 105D player. I don’t dispute your facts although I have not verified any of them, doesn’t matter to me.
I do believe you are missing something about the "experience" of listening to vinyl. Am I paying more for a piece of vinyl that wears out? Yes. Does it pop once in a while? Yes. All the other "negative" things you said are true. However, for me it IS about the experience and some of the ritual. The flipping through physical albums at the local WaxTrax or Twist & Shout in Denver to find some cool artist I am not familiar with or track. The cleaning of the records through my ridiculously overpriced ultrasonic cleaner, carefully pulling them from their anti-static sleeves and clamping them. Is it inferior technology, maybe or definitely according to you but I don’t care.
I have a small collection of mechanical watches that have to remain on an expensive watch winder or they stop and lose time. Can I buy a $10 digital watch that is more accurate at telling time? Yes. Do I want to own that POS? NO!
I drive a 1998 manual transmission car that isn’t as fast as the more modern cars and you have to Interact with the car to match downshifts for example. I don’t care, it is more involving and enjoyable to me. I would also point out that my analog car is ever increasing in value as the new fancy cars are not.
I also grew up rolling my own film and shooting completely manual photography and developing my film and spending thousands of hours in the dark room printing. Can I do all of this digitally today and have technically better results? Yes. Is it as rewarding? Hell no! I do shoot digitally, however, my camera allows me to change the lenses and have full control over the aperture and shutter to create the images exactly as I want.
So, you may have lots of facts about why digital is better than analog that I cannot dispute you and don’t care to honestly. I just like the involvement of vinyl and how you have to work to make the sound maybe be as good as digital. Remember I have both and use both but when I sit down for a dedicated, focused listening session I like to play with the vinyl, read the liner notes and be involved in my music.
I do believe you are missing something about the "experience" of listening to vinyl. Am I paying more for a piece of vinyl that wears out? Yes. Does it pop once in a while? Yes. All the other "negative" things you said are true. However, for me it IS about the experience and some of the ritual. The flipping through physical albums at the local WaxTrax or Twist & Shout in Denver to find some cool artist I am not familiar with or track. The cleaning of the records through my ridiculously overpriced ultrasonic cleaner, carefully pulling them from their anti-static sleeves and clamping them. Is it inferior technology, maybe or definitely according to you but I don’t care.
I have a small collection of mechanical watches that have to remain on an expensive watch winder or they stop and lose time. Can I buy a $10 digital watch that is more accurate at telling time? Yes. Do I want to own that POS? NO!
I drive a 1998 manual transmission car that isn’t as fast as the more modern cars and you have to Interact with the car to match downshifts for example. I don’t care, it is more involving and enjoyable to me. I would also point out that my analog car is ever increasing in value as the new fancy cars are not.
I also grew up rolling my own film and shooting completely manual photography and developing my film and spending thousands of hours in the dark room printing. Can I do all of this digitally today and have technically better results? Yes. Is it as rewarding? Hell no! I do shoot digitally, however, my camera allows me to change the lenses and have full control over the aperture and shutter to create the images exactly as I want.
So, you may have lots of facts about why digital is better than analog that I cannot dispute you and don’t care to honestly. I just like the involvement of vinyl and how you have to work to make the sound maybe be as good as digital. Remember I have both and use both but when I sit down for a dedicated, focused listening session I like to play with the vinyl, read the liner notes and be involved in my music.