Vinyl just plain sounds better when done right. My 2 cents, and only my darn opinion....😁
The past meets the future
I have become a huge advocate of streaming over the last few years as streaming has at long last reached audiophile sound quality. So, for someone that is new to audio or does not have a lot of money invested… it is hard to recommend this route.
However, as an old fart. One that suffered through low end turntables, unbelievable surface noise, scratched records, and debatable fidelity for much of his life. Owning a tremendous analog end is such a pleasure. I recently upgraded my contemporary Linn LP12 to nearly the maximum. I have a Audio Research Reference 3 phono stage so the sound quality is simply stunning.
Taking a Covid break and going to my local record store… buying a half dozen great old blues albums… cleaning up to pristine condition. It is such a pleasure to hear such fidelity and musicality from a ritual I have performed since a teenager… record store, spinning. That has been mainstream for me for over fifty years. I guess it is like the old Shortwave radio guys when I was growing up. They had the 25’ antenna sticking up above their suburban houses in the 1960’s.
Just a nod to the era and tradition that will soon pass into history. It has been a blast.
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I do not stream music. I have yet to find a platform that suites my (eccentric) taste. But I do convert a lot of my collection to DSD and playback on random. I prefer the sound of the vinyl, but admittedly I haven’t invested as much in my DAC. To me the benefit of digital is that after I rate all my songs (about 14 weeks of playback in the 4/5 star range) and hit random, I can go from Ella to Rites of Spring to The Microphones to The Freeborne to Little Willie John without changing a single setting. That’s an 80 year tour and, in my option, they all sound great back to back. |
Very romantic @ghdprentice. It is sort of silly but I suppose that is the way I look at it. When comparing digital to analog versions of the same material I prefer the digital file over the analog record about 75% of the time. But, I still buy records. You can teach an old dog new tricks but it is very hard to get rid of the old ones., like driving a manual transmission. |
To me a quality analog front end sounds more lifelike and real versus a comparable digital setup. Playing a record can at times give a sense of euphoria in the form of goosebumps or hair standing on end that is surprising and quite pleasant. I’ve never had that feeling playing digital or streaming. Maybe it’ll happen some day, but hasn’t yet. |
Yes, there is something to be said about the ritual. Now that I get a bit of a SQ edge from my vinyl… I am enjoying the ritual a bit more. So much so I ordered a German Ramar record brush. I typically use a Last fluid and brush before playing if my album if the disk has picked up some dust. To enhance the tradition I actually just bought the highly rated Ramar brush rosewood steained record brush. Appearent lay effective and beautiful. |
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