Vinyl vs. top-notch digital

41 responses so far, but very little mention of the software.

My personal preference is firmly in the vinyl camp but I would not recommend anyone getting into vinyl today unless they truly felt committed to the sonic benefits of analog playback. It is not just the time and expense of selecting the hardware, it's building a vinyl library.

There are three basic choices for buying vinyl today. First there is a growing supply of favorite (and some not-so-favorite) albums being reissued. Most of these cost from $30-$60 when remastered by established engineers. Other label-generated reissues with unknown mastering may sell for $10-$20. Next is the vinyl resale market on line or from a few remaining stores. Here you can expect to pay from about $5 to three figures, depending on rarity and knowledge of the seller. Lastly, there is something known as "dumpster diving". This entails visits to local thrift stores to scrounge through their collections of used LPs. Prices can be cheap ($.25-$4) but it can be dirty and time consuming to sort through all the rejects to find anything of interest (artist, music, and condition). Who knew there were so many copies sold of Firestone Christmas music, Ray Conniff and Herb Alpert?

For anyone who has a collection of LPs they set aside when they sold their turntable years ago or have been given a collection by a family member or friend, that could be a different story. But starting from scratch with no current software could present a real challenge -- for both time and expense.

So Jeff my advice would be to find a friend with a decent analog playback system (not a dealer, you want a relaxed, unhurried experience) and spend some time listening. If you find that you appreciate what vinyl offers and you are willing to face the time and expense of building both the component parts and the LP library, then by all means go for it.

06-22-08: Pryso
...There are three basic choices for buying vinyl today. First there is a growing supply of favorite (and some not-so-favorite) albums being reissued. Most of these cost from $30-$60 when remastered by established engineers. Other label-generated reissues with unknown mastering may sell for $10-$20.

Ah, but this harkens back to when the recorded music had value and was prized by all. I remember when the going rate for an LP in 1969 was $4.50. Run it through the inflation calculator and you'll see that everybody was paying the equivalent of $26.55 then for any run-of-the-mill mass-produced vinyl LP. If you were a typical teenager/early 20's guy working minimum wage, an LP represented 3-4 hours pay.

As for audiophile special releases, I remember paying $10 in 1974 for the Sheffield direct-to-disc "Lincoln Mayorga and Friends vol. II," which in 2007 money is $46.19. So the $50 I just dropped for the 2-LP 180g 45rpm reissue of "A Meeting by the River" is in the ballpark, and is actually a better and better-sounding album.

So I guess the real question is, are you ready to throw off the de-valuing of music through CDs, CD-Rs, ripping, and digital downloads and pay for a (relatively) laboriously made analog copy of what went down in the studio that day?

Next is the vinyl resale market on line or from a few remaining stores. Here you can expect to pay from about $5 to three figures, depending on rarity and knowledge of the seller.

True enough, though these record stores often have dollar bins, and I've gotten a lot of records in excellent shape from such. Sometimes I don't even know how the record ends up there. I've gotten some ECM releases and some of my favorite rock/pop from the '70s/'80s from these.

I got a near mint 2-LP Gordon Lightfoot "Gord's Gold" at such as store for $2.99. I like Lightfoot, especially what's on this particular collection.

And if you're at a good store that is picky about what they'll accept and put out for sale, the $5-10 range gets you some great music in excellent shape. Last year the store with the best selection in my town (Seattle) had a half-price sale on everything through the summer. I came out with some great music in great condition, including most of the Beatles that I wanted, the Police discography for about $10 total, several of my favorite jazz albums, etc.

And if you like classical music, these stores practically give it away. I typically pick up like new LPs for $1-3, including RCA Living Stereo, DG w/Herbert Von Karajan, stuff with Heifetz, Rubinstein, etc.

Lastly, there is something known as "dumpster diving". This entails visits to local thrift stores to scrounge through their collections of used LPs. Prices can be cheap ($.25-$4) but it can be dirty and time consuming to sort through all the rejects to find anything of interest (artist, music, and condition). Who knew there were so many copies sold of Firestone Christmas music, Ray Conniff and Herb Alpert?

... and Neil Diamond, John Denver, Barbra Streisand, and Jerry effing Vale. Hoo-boy. It's rare to find a popularly prized album (that holds up over time) in a thrift shop. I've gotten one Rolling Stones album at a thrift shop--only time I've seen one. Neven seen any Beatles, Beach Boys, Led Zep, etc. I once saw a Saturday Night Fever soundtrack, but it looked unplayable to me.

But it also depends on the thrift shop and your taste in music. I picked up a huge stack of Haydn on Nonesuch at about 50 cents per, and last week I just came away with 16 box sets from Time/Life's "Great Men of Music" series at $1/box. Each box has 4 LPs, and is of a specific composer. I got (among others) Vivaldi, Bach, Handel, Haydn, Mozart, Sibelius, Stravinsky, Ravel, etc. These are mostly culled from RCA Living Stereo archives, so they feature Fritz Reiner & the Chicago Symphony, Charles Munch and the Boston Symphony, Artur Rubinstein and Van Cliburn on piano, Heifetz on violin, Julian Bream on guitar and lute, etc. And one thing I found out--people almost never played these subscription series box sets. Most of the vinyl looks gleaming and unplayed.

There are two more ways to get vinyl--the Internet via eBay, Amazon, GEMM, and the like, and local private transactions via moving sales, garage sales, estate sales and Craigs List. You can often get excellent condition stuff privately, and I've gotten some really cool things off eBay, including some still-sealed new old stock at reasonable prices and a collection of unplayed special broadcast pressings that included both volumes of Ella and Louis on Verve and The Monster by Buddy Rich (also on Verve).

I dont think its necessary or even wise to spend a ton on an analog rig to experience vinyl. My 2nd system is a technics dd with a shure V15/4 into a 25 yr old NAD int amp and is preferred to cd by everyone in the house. If after living with a modest vinyl rig like this for a while, it doesnt float ones boat mabey its best to stick with cds. I would never advise some one to invest heavily in vinyl unless they were sure it was for them. My digital friends buy much more music and spend less time playing with their systems and more time listening.

Johnnyb, my intended point was that starting a record collection today could quickly become expensive. Considering the broad alternatives for purchase (and please notice I included on-line sources) at say an average of $20/record overall, a modest collection of 200 LPs would cost $4K. Yes, bargains will come up and someone could buy them for less if they didn't mind getting dirty and spending quite a bit of time. So it was not about inflation, rather what buyers face today.

I posted because no one else said much about the records themselves and I hoped to help Jeff with that added perspective. But I'm lucky, I began buying LPs in high school and never stopped.

gentlemen...it has been my experience(over 40 years of record collecting) that on any given release, one format can sound better than the other. its a battle that gets fought one title at a time. records have always been ambitiously flawed, but lots of fun. the compact disc has shortcomings, but sometimes they do indeed sound as good or better. of course no compact disc player can replicate the 'feeling' of watching that record spin, but sometimes records are a pain in the ass. cool, but still a pain.