CD Got Absolutely Crushed By Vinyl

Ears; they say your ears never stop growing for as long as you live. Hell, look at Lyndon Johnson. But never mind that. I've noticed that several folks have disputed my assertion that ears are analog. How could they not be analog? Just consider your digital music source; it has something called a digital to analog converter. It's not extra or a frill; it is a necessity.

Ive never bought a CD player, very happy with my records which are mostly in great condition. One thing that I noticed years ago when I did do some CD listening on a freinds Rotel system, is that I fell asleep far quicker than I do when listening to LPs. I put it down to the fact that the occasional click or pop on an LP keeps your attention.

@ckakster,

Digital files (low resolution) that are available for free are indeed crap. As you pointed out that people who buys vinyl are more selective in their choices because records are not cheap. To exploit full potential of digital streaming, one must invest in decent streamer/DAC components along with Hi-Fi subscription from Tidal.

I bet you anything, most folks who are quick to diss digital over Vinyl have not heard a good digital setup nor have any inclination to explore the potential. For them, the clicks and pops are the only way to enjoy the music 😉

Ears are simply gain devices. You can actually hear OK without them. Hel-loo! Same thing for satellite dishes, the bigger they are the more gain they provide. It’s not rocket science. 🛰

@lalitk

Digital files (low resolution) that are available for free are indeed crap. As you pointed out that people who buys vinyl are more selective in their choices because records are not cheap. To exploit full potential of digital streaming, one must invest in decent streamer/DAC components along with Hi-Fi subscription from Tidal.

Digital available for free not only in mp3 format, but also in loseless format and even in WAV and AIFF if you know where to search for them. This is the reason artists so concern about copyrights, everyone can copy an original CD or whatever digital with a loss of paper cover and plastic holder, but the quality is 1:1 (you do not lose anything).

I bet you anything, most folks who are quick to diss digital over Vinyl have not heard a good digital setup nor have any inclination to explore the potential. For them, the clicks and pops are the only way to enjoy the music 😉

I have DAC connected to my computer and to the headphones, but not to the main system. The reason i am not using digital in the main system is because i have thousands of records to listen to, and digital format is not interesting for me at all. I am only using digital to play files from the internet to buy later on vinyl (if i like the tune).

While audiophiles are talking about quality i can say that no matter how good is your digital file it can not replace a habbit to buy original vinyl, digital is for normal people, vinyl is for collectors (we’re passionate about vinyl media).

I’ve checked extremely expensive digital set up at my friends house, he played some ’50s R’n’B with female vocals, i have many original records from the 50s. The digital is sterile, remastered, too clean and unnatural to my ears compared to the original ’50s analog recordings. Some audiophiles always blame vinyl for background noise and some clicks, i just don’t understand it - this is the nature of vinyl media.

I don’t like digitally remastered music from the ’50s, ’60s, ’70s, ’80s... i prefer the original pressing (always) which is sound natural to my ears in my High-End analog set-up, this sound was approved by musicians in the studio when it was recorded and pressed on vinyl back in the day. Remastered music approved by someone who did the job, but not by the artists, most of them are too old today or dead.

Digital is for new music recorded digitally, but i don’t listen to the new music. I love rare records from the ’70s recorded in analog.

Vintage vinyl is the key to pure analog sound (and the mastertapes).