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What is it about spinning vinyl?

I just turned the system off several minutes ago. I had been listening to a great, high res file of Tower of Power, best horn section ever. As many know I have been sans turntable for 8 months. I sold my old one and ordered a new one but you know the story. Covid delays. It is under construction now.  Anyway, as I turned the system off I got this real urge to play a record. The wizard inside did not feel like turning the computer back on. It wanted a record. Grumpy, I decided to hit the sack. 
Think about that. I have a terabyte and a half of digital files sitting there in a hard drive.  Everything from Bach to Captain Beefheart. It had to be a record. No record, bedtime. It was not about the music. It was about the mechanical act of playing a record. I've been doing it since I was four years old. My dad got me a Zenith portable for my fourth birthday. You know, with the black cobra tonearm complete with eyes! Is it just repetitive behavior. Perhaps there is some sort of psychological explanation. Happy associations? Platter hypnosis? Maybe it is that we get emotionally attached to certain behaviors. 
128x128mijostyn
jollytinker
213 posts
 
@mrmeaner thanks for keeping it real.  

@mijostyn  I get your point. I was just pushing back against the 'we love the ritual' narrative. I understand that point of view and I share it to some extent, but at the end of the day it's the sound that keeps me coming back to vinyl. The ritual is mostly a PITA to me, so if it weren't for the sound quality - in better LPs with a well tweaked system - I don't think I'd bother.  

I actually spend most of my time listening to digital these days and over the last year I've spent a crap ton of money building a digital front end. But sooner or later I have a moment like the one you described in your original post, when I find myself craving the sound of a good LP. At the end of the day, to my ears, it's still a better illusion. 
mglik
908 posts
 
Almost all my listening is dedicated to vinyl.
Only listen to digital when in my office.
With a nice headphone rig in the office I am interested. It sounds very good. An intellectual experience. But listening to the TT rig, I am swept away into the music. An emotional experience.
I am touched by the performers in a way that just doesn’t happen with digital.
Thankfully, even with a very bad back, I am still able to get up and attend to the record. It’s one of my nice duties. Choosing a disc, putting it on the platter, turning on the TT, brushing off the LP, “spraying” it with the static gun, cleaning the stylus, moving the arm to the run in, going back to the chair to sit back and let the sound roll over me. Truly a great joy.
clearthinker's avatar
clearthinker
1,582 posts
 
Thanks for your reply mijostyn
I think not GT3 GT4.   I have a 997 GT2 530 horses to the rear wheels, turbo'd.  208mph, 7.6s to 100.  6 speed stick.  Wonderful.
I also have 1984 3.2 Carrera Sport.  Since 1986.  A keeper.

I had a drive in a 992 a week back.  Drives itself.  Much too big.  Yes it is very competent but utterly uninvolving.
mijostyn's avatar
mijostyn OP
8,570 posts
 
clearthinker, yes, too big. GT4 is a Cayman, a little smaller. The 3.2 may be the best engine Porsche ever made. I buy cars to drive and the air cooled cars require too much work over time. My C4S is a 997.1, best looking of the water cooled cars, speed yellow. I drive it all year round, it's my daily driver. I know every nut and bolt on the car. The GT3 is a different animal. It is big but boy is it bad assed. 

edgewear! The Mammy Nuns! (Thingfish) 


edgewear
543 posts
 
Ah yes! Now that I remember how that story went I get the 'who' as opposed to the 'why' in your question. I failed miserably, but then again I'm not a native speaker. Yet I can imagine most folks living in Amnerica will have a hard time following that particular 'vernacular' as well.

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