Am I getting it all?

One easy test of current recordings is Nora Jones, with all her stuff available on both 180 gram vinyl and CD. It's very well recorded with wide dynamic range and a lot of subtle sounds. In my system, the CDs sound fine and if I didn't have vinyl I'd be pretty happy, BUT the vinyl is a good 10% better in resolution, detail and lack of grain in the sound.

I've got a collection of about 1200 LPs, almost all purchased new by me, going back to around 1959. The quality varies widely, but I've got a lot of really good stuff, particularly D2D stuff from the '70s and '80s. Most of the collection is very satisfying, but it varies. For instance, I love my original pressing of James Taylor's stuff fromt he '60s, '70s and '80s is really excellent; however, Linda Ronstadt's stuff from the same era is overly compressed and mostly disappointing (Peter Asher producer, if you want a name to avoid).

It's a trial an error process finding labels and artists that you like.

Anyway, back to my premise, if you can't hear a difference between the Nora Jones vinyl and the same CDs, then you're probably wasting time with vinyl OR you need to improve your vinyl front end.

Dave

Hello Dave, and all. I don't think I'm wasting my time with vinyl. I've always had an affinity for turntables. I just got tired of paying good money for a product that sounded like Rice Crispies in a short time. Sometimes right out of the album cover. I've since learned how to better care for my lp's, and with much better gear, and much better set-up (I've since earned about that, too), noise isn't the issue it once was. Most noise is under the playback level, and the occaisional pop is acceptable.
I do have a m/c SACD of Nora Jones' Come Away With Me, maybe I can find an lp of that and make a comparison. I don't currently have any duplicate recordings, but that sounds like a good idea to a/b the two formats. Wish I'd thought of that.
I'm just not hearing the clear superiority that has been claimed for vinyl, but I do enjoy the pursuit (as if I didn't already have enough to spend my money on). I intend to keep on truckin' with vinyl, and see what will come of it.
Thanks all, and enjoy,
Dan

Dan, the SACD and vinyl versions of Nora Jone's "Come Away With Me" are likely to be VERY close to each other. I don't have the SACD, but I've got the CD and that's not as good as vinyl by a significant degree. I will venture to say that the SACD and vinyl versions will be extremely close together.

When I make DVD-A recordings of my vinyl (mostly the incredible old D2D recordings) it's very hard to hear a difference. (I record at DSD 1-bit 5.6MHz and then downconvert to DVD-A.) Given equivalent masters, I could be as happy with 2-channel DVD-A as vinyl. In fact, as soon as music server comes along that stores and plays back at DVD-A levels, I'll convert my collection and use that as my main source.

Meantime, I'm mostly buying vinyl and DVD-A for stuff not available on vinyl. For stuff available only on CD I buy CD.

As I said, I don't think the diffence between vinyl and SACD is going to blow you away. At that sampling rate digital is getting into a nice pocket. Of course you need good equipment, but most SACD players are relatively high quality.

Dave

Islandmandan - You do raise an interesting point about vinyl--there does seem to be a wider range of sound among records than CDs. Funny that I don't recall that from record listening in the 80's. Thin, fat, muffled, bright...you never know. I don't doubt that my equipment is revealing more of the differences than 20+ years ago, but still, that's been a surprise to me as I get back into vinyl (and a sometimes unpleasant one).

I listen mostly to classical music, and have done a fair bit of A-B comparing, and find that in the areas of delicacy, warmth, and detail, Lps win out most of the time, but not always. [I did one or two posts about A-B'ing Miles Davis and some other things last fall that may be worth a look.] In the area of deep and punchy bass, or glistening treble, it really depends on the particular Lp/CD (in my experience). (Although I do think that Lps generally resolve the highs in a more natural-sounding fashion...particularly in classical music.)

The other area that matters to me a lot is listening fatigue. I tend to suffer from listening fatigue with CD's, unless I'm pretty careful what I choose. And that's with several of the more musical CD players out there. I almost never get fatigue listening to Lps.

Several of us have said "Lps smoke CDs." For me, for long term listening, I'd still say that, but you make a fair point that it's not always true, and it may make a difference depending on your listening tastes. FWIW.

Eweedhome, I have found both vinyl and digital recordings that I just can't get through. Most of the time, though, I am able to enjoy all my listening sessions equally. My digital gear has greatly improved with the last round of upgrades Dave Schulte performed, making some discs that were once unbearable, now quite enjoyable. For instance, I have a cd of the Brandenburg Concertos that was unbearably bright. Now, it is remarkably vivid. If too bright, using the Time Lens, I can change dither to #2 setting, which is a little less bright, s'posed to be more analog-like they claim.
I too, do most of my listening in the classical vein. At this point, I tend to favor whichever format I'm listening to at the time, since neither one seems to be a disappointment. LP's, though, seem to go from listenable to just outstanding, with a different quality about them that is hard to define, but none-the-less is there.

Thanks for the interest, enjoy,
Dan