Is the Vinyl Revival well and growing?

Looking for great vinyl at cheap prices? Look for them in the wild, i.e. thrift stores. I found about 3 dozen in the last week. $1 to 1.50. Amazing stuff. Doesn't happen all the time but they show up all together in one place at the same time as a donation. Takes patience. Also you'll find stuff so rare you never see it anywhere else. Lots of mono stuff as well.

terry1229

Hm...What advertising will do to the young and impressionable! All this vinyl rage is the latest fad and advertising scam.

That is merely naive cynicism masquerading as insight.  And it already puts you as out of touch.  Cynics were yelling "fad, it won't last" 10 years ago.  And it has only grown for 12 years straight, often by double digits, with still more pressing plants opening up, and planned to open.
The time is long past to be able to call it a mere "fad."  

I have used digital as my main delivery system since CDs came along, and continue to use a digital server, so I'm quite familiar with digital sound quality.  I also have a great turntable and a lot of old and new vinyl, and vinyl can offer not only superb sound but also a different ownership and interaction experience that many find valuable.   
When I receive a vinyl album, beautifully designed in terms of feel and artwork, and which produces sound quality that I absolutely love, that is hardly being "scammed."  It's actually getting something I value for my money.


To think that the only options are your view on sound reproduction...or that someone is falling for a "scam" is to say the least, blinkered and unreflective thinking.   

But I know many people like to think this way as it is ego-stroking; it casts themselves as "seeing behind the veil" and others as mere sheep being fleeced.

 

Well, I sold my SOTA Sapphire vacuum TT several months ago and it now resides in an all analogue system and the owners is over the top with it.  My audio pal gets all the new Blue Note LP reissues and they sound very nice on his new Technics 1200, but to my ears, no better than the sound from his Modwright-modified Oppo CDP. 

My most valuable upgrade was to an Ayre QB-9 DAC, through I play my digitized music from an external HD, plus I stream Tidal Hifi.  The music now sounds analogue to my ears.  

I personally think this resurgence of interest in analogue is a passing fad.  20 years ago, I would not have said that, but the new DAC's are incredible.  Buy what you want is my best advice, there is no wrong path to audio nirvana.  

I personally think this resurgence of interest in analogue is a passing fad.

Why do people keep throwing around the word "fad" so loosely?

What, I wonder, would actually, reasonably constitute a "fad?"

Take DVD.  It only became available around 1997.  It finally overtook VHS in 2002.  And then it hit peak in 2005 or so and declined afterward.  That's an upward trend of only about 8 years.

Were DVDs a "fad?"  No, of course not.  They were a viable medium and simply went through a technology cycle.  

Vinyl has been on an upward trend for twelve years!   And it's predicted to continue that trend.  It seems to seriously stretch the meaning of "fad" to apply it to a medium that has been selling more every year for 12 years and seems to be gathering only more steam in terms of releases, investments in new manufacturing plants, and sales.  

"Niche" may be an applicable word.  But "fad?"  That boat sailed quite a while ago.

So think that the only options are your view on sound reproduction...or that someone is falling for a "scam" is to say the least, blinkered and unreflective thinking.   

But I know many people like to think this way as it is ego-stroking; it casts themselves as "seeing behind the veil" and others as mere sheep being fleeced.

INDEED!

You my friend have a nostalgia for an older technology. Analog recordings are no longer made. Analog recordings made with tube amplifiers in there day sounded great with a warm full sound. Yes, scam in the sense that vinyl is being pulled out of the grave and resurrected just to capitalize on an old technology. This older technically offers far less then the latest. Welcome to the world of advertising where anything gets printing if it will sell a product.

This topic was not intended to turn into a bitches rampage!  It’s obvious you’re more impressed with the album covers and liner notes. You seem to have a nostalgia for spining turntables and art work. Let’s keep one thing in mind. All recording today is done digitally. All of your so called vinyl treasures of old are remastered digitally. Do a side by side comparison and see if you notice any audio difference. I’m sure it would be a tough project trying to decide which sounds better. But perhaps the CD over the vinyl disc will be superior in dynamic range and frequency response. 

Now lets get to the matter of which option will give you more for your money. The most obvious is the ware and tare on the disc itself. After five plays, you will begin to notice ticks, pops, clicks, surface noise due to the physical contact of the of stylus in the record groove. This will only increase with the amount of plays. Why listen to any of this if there is a better alternative to enjoy your music?

A CD suffers from no such degradation. There is no physical contact between the laser pickup and the disc. What does this have to offer? A disc that will play without any surface noise for hundred of times.  Do to the nature of the format, it offers superior dynamic range and deep rich base response. I won’t go into endless technical issues but the end result is that the CD is a far superior format.

Sure more record stores are opening and selling records like hotcakes at $20 to $60 a copy. Turntables are flying off the shelves into customers arms. Why is this so? BECAUSE IT IS SELLING and as long as people are buying EVERYBODY IS SELLING. This has nothing to do with technology, or which format is better, it has to do with whose spending MONEY!