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Why do YOU love Vinyl/or hate vinyl

I just responded to the thread on how many sources do you have ( shotgunning tonight) and got me wondering why I love vinyl so much? Have a very good digital side on both my main system and my headphone system as well that was set up for Redbook playback (headphone system) only utilising my vast 1,000 CD collection, enjoyed it for about a year, added a turntable and haven't used it since. My love of vinyl has been with me for 55 years, buying and playing, setting up my tables , matching preamps and enjoying the fruit of my labor. I believe my love of vinyl is a simple one, it stemmed from the hands on, need to tinker and adjust that I was born with, it's a very physical attraction that I just can not resist, it satisfies a lot of needs for me and in some way is that mistress that I maintain. My turntable is massive and so easy to look at, I can touch it and get more out of it, I can read about the artist and get info while I listen to an album, I can swap out a cartridge and change the tone and in the day the album covers served as a rolling tray to roll a joint. I love vinyl, but absolutely understand while others don't. I also envy people like uberwaltz that have and use so many sources, wish I could. What say you?
tooblue
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lohanimal
659 posts
 
Until the trendy twenty somethings got into it, vinyl tends to have a personal connection in that you build uo a collection of records over the years. In my case it was in the 90's when I was a lousy party DJ playing funk and soul. It wasn't a status symbol so much as it is now. You get a mental connection with playing a record. Being physical it's fun to fiddle with - you can't do that so readily with CD. Records are also mixed to be warmer than digital and don't have as high a bandwidth. Apparently it is the very distortion - which can be likened to a pen thickening on a seismograph that makes vinyl sound so good. I must confess, if I was to start again - digital all the way. Not coz it sounds better, but because CD's are mega cheap second-hand at the minute, and music lovers want music - they don't care about format
wolf_garcia
6,734 posts
 
Some computer malfunction in "the cloud" or a blip in the net can (and sometimes does) render streaming simply outta here...I have yet to get a buzzkill from my turntable or CD player, and the only way to hear the music on all that vinyl is to put the record on, so to speak.
lohanimal
659 posts
 
Of course CD's sound analogue - all of them - that's why you call it a digital to analogue convertor - it's more a case of getting cd's to sound like vinyl - just jokingly pedantic. I claim absolutely no science knowledge on this at all - I say this at the outset, but I recall reading a review about a top end Meridian and they have apparently got rid of 'digital hash' - I would love to hear it. I concur with the fact that vinyl has that sit down and listen quality, but this has as much to do with the format as the sound itself. I personally like the consistency, cleanliness and fault free sound of CD and enjoy it for what it is - likewise I enjoy the eccentricity fussiness and seduction of vinyl. Healthy salad vs Sunday dinner. I have, until recently, had a rubbish CD player. I got myself a Cayin CD-55 at the end of last year with a valve output stage and I think it is absolutely superb - very musical - superb at imaging and easy to sit down and listen to. I agree with the sentiment that price of entry to good sound from CD is waaaay cheaper than Vinyl. - likewise it is more consistent too. 
geoffkait's avatar
geoffkait
23,365 posts
 
Digital frequently sounds “super clean” - hyper-analytical you could say - but that’s because it’s missing a lot of the harmonica and other information, like the bass harmonics and sweetness and air. The missing information also gives a false sense of low distortion. Oh, well, whaddya want fir nothin’? Listen to Heifetz on CD. Then listen to the same recording on vinyl or even cassette. No contest. Case closed.
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