Analog is the new pink

Yo,
My son is a junior in college. He has heard my system for years and wanted a turntable. So I got him some old gear 2 years ago and now he has a collection of 100 albums. Over New Years he had 6 college friends over to stay and party. I invited them into my stereo room and they all said it sounded a lot better than digital. 3 of the kids also had turntables. One kid asked her parent for a turntable and got a "Crosley" for Xmas.

They all still use digital as their main source.

One of the kids told me that he liked listening to records because you "had to sit down and listen to it- with digital you just punch a button and skip around."

My take on it is that out of this group there were some who were definitely into the "better" sound and some who were just into the "cool" factor of having a turntable.

Not making any judgments here, just reporting what I observed.

In my scuffling days, I was not all that interested in the finer things in life because they were not a priority. It's a perfectly appropriate cognitive mechanism to not care for/want what you can't have or what is not important to you. As more important developmental issues are met, I'm hopeful that young folks who love music will figure out that sound matters. As for cheap analog vs cheap digital, in a visual analogy I much prefer the look of a 35mm snapshot to a 5MP image.

I think it's great that a new group of people are getting into vinyl and actually playing it. I'd be upset if they were buying it as a decoration.

I'm not sure you have to spend a ton of money to get better sound than a CD player though...

I'm 35. I grew up with vinyl but didn't buy my own turntable until about 7 years ago. My father had his old Technics SL-BD2 (which isn't anything remotely close to high end, nor close to Technics' famous tables) and albums hidden in the basement, as he didn't have the heart to throw them out,nor did he want to listen to my mother's nagging. So I scooped them up. Put a $25 Audio Technica P-Mount cart from Circuit City (nothing like AT's famous carts) on the table to see if it still worked. As low end as that setup was,it did things that my NAD CDP couldn't do. The CDP was far better, but somehow, vinyl's soul came through and I could see what it was trying to do.

I've since upgraded to a Pro-Ject 1Xpression with acrylic platter, speed box 2, and Dynavector 10x5. No comparison between the tables. The turntable sounds different than my Rega DAC. Actually, I think the DAC sounds better overall, but not much. However, the turntable does something my DAC (nor any other digital player I've heard, regardless of price) can't do.

There's a difference. From the lowest end to the highest end. I'm not talking about nostalgia nor visualy swagger. Perhaps sonic swagger?

But then again, what are they connecting the turntables to?

There's a vinyl shop around the corner from U Albany. They sell a ton of vinyl to the students as well as audiophiles and non-audiophiles. They also sell some vintage receivers, vintage turntables, cartridges, and phono preamps. Speaking to the owner, he thinks a lot of them are using vintage gear to play the albums on - tables, receivers and speakers. Maybe this is what a lot of them are doing elsewhere? Digging up dad's old gear?

I have worked in a record store for over twenty years and I can assure you that kids are going with the trend of analog coolness AND getting into hi fi.

I hear the most dumb comments and the most smart comments daily.

As far as the trend of analog well it's true... we sell lots of records to kids who don't even have a TT - but realize a lot of records now come with download codes or a copy on CD included. Some kids buy them to frame!! Did you know a lot or retailers sell frames for just that purpose... this I don't like so much :) But I remember when the CD was new, I had a hundred before I bought my first CD player, because the last thing I wanted was a brand new CD player and 1 CD!

On the other hand, I'm always in conversation with the coolest kids about all things hi fi... Dynaco, Eico, Heathkit, Primaluna, Rogue Audio, Garrard 301's and 401's, Lenco 75, Pro-Ject, Rega, Clearaudio, MM VS. MC, interconnects, Nitty Gritty VS. Spin Clean, stylus cleaner, inner and outer sleeves, phono pre-amps... you get the picture. I hear these words daily - from kids. I assure you lots of them are interested and spending their bucks figuring out what they like. Most kids can't afford "high end" but some are trying.

My friend owns a hi fi store and he is truly busy. He has been in the business for over thirty years and has seen all the changes and can't believe how much things have picked up.

On my end too, I can tell you vinyl has saved my business! Vinyl sales are up by 77% in 2011 over 2010, and 64% of those records are sold in indie record stores. Record Store Day is a zoo!

We need to give the kids a break. Most of them are born with a computer that says music and movies are free. The kid who works with me has recently bought a Rotel integrated, a Clearaudio Emotion, Focal speakers, Kimber cable, and some other goodies and he has never owned a CD player!! He has always played music on his computer at home or on an iPod in his car! This is amazing to me as someone who is going on 50, but quite simply - he is a kid. For a great long while it has been uncool to be stacking actual copies up on your shelf when every ad tells you to stack in on a hard drive or a stick or a chip or a usb or whatever.

I don't think most of the people who post here spend too much time at the record shop anymore, because you would see the kids eating up the goodies, and for whatever reason - they are eating it up.

And for all you guys who complain about the price of used vinyl... your days of pillaging are over! They are the in thing and now you have to pay crazy prices for them, but you should be used to this by now anyway.. you are and audiophile after all, and price is no object:)

The kids are alright.

Time to go back to RTR tape and decks and stay there. Vinyl is a mass-market medium too, just better than cd.