Is a vinyl rig only worth it for oldies?

You should read Robert Harley's excelent article on this in the July/August issue of The Absolute Sound.

Like Harley, I agreee the mastering is typically much more important than the medium. I have about 2000 Jazz LP's, mostly from the 50's to 60's.

A great number of these are LP's that never got reissued or only got poorly mastered reissues as Harley describes. The record industry keeps reissuing the same couple hundred "Jazz Classics" in ever "better" reissues. Most of these are, actually, very good. But if you ever want to go much beyond Miles Davis' "Kind of Blue", and the other "jazz classics", vinyl is essential.

P.S. As to noise or pops and clicks on vinyl. I find it unacceptable. 85% of my LP's have no significant noise beyond MAYBE a few light clicks per side on the begining deadwax - and most are 50+ yrs old. The other 15% are either in remediation or on their way out. The way you do this is 1) insist on NM vinyl and send it back if it isn't 2) a very rigorous cleaning process (I clean mine on a Loricraft every time I play and they improve over time) 3) a very good TT - I have a Transrotor Fat Bob with ZYX Airy3 cart and Graham Phantom arm - the TT is the most important for noise. Of course you also have to realize that you can pay 100's to over a thousand dollars for a NM version of an earlier (forget original) edition of a Classic Blue Note while an excellent RVG remaster might be $25. That's why I also have a few thousand Jazz CD's.

Sorry, but there is no perfect answer here. Those who claim "Vinyl rules!" or "CD's are superior because vinyl = pops and clicks" are uninformed.

Raul,
I am absolutely astonished by your post on bass above and its importance to reproduction. Do you only listen to bass ?
Given that your room is not large, the analogue gear sits between your speakers, the miss-match of multiple drivers and amplifiers, I cannot see how your system can possibly deliver coherent musical timing. If it does it must be a complete fluke.

Although I prefer analogue by a long way, I agree with Mapman, it is going to come down to the quality of the implementation.
To me the biggest issue for analogue is the inability for most people to set a turntable up correctly. I can listen to simple music on digital, but anything with multiple instrumentation, eg orchestral, for me, digital cannot cope, and my digital reference system is way ahead of anything commercially produced.
With regards to bass performance, amplification/speakers/room will have a bigger part to play than which medium you use.
As my best mate says - "Nothing wrong with digital, it's only a little bit out all of the time" .

Dear Dover: No, I don't listen only bass. Fortunately my system bass is IMHO first rate and realy permit to enjoy the whole music frequency range in a way that maybe you can't even dream.

Yes, it is a complete " fluke ", a stunning fluke/surprise. I respect your opinion but IMHO you can't have an opinion till you can hear it. A " nice and different " experience I can say.

Anyway, other than distortions level what makes a system difference are not only our each one priorities but our each knowledge level and skills to achieve with success our each one targets.

Because your posts here and elsewhere I'm sure that your ignorance level is different from mine, your place in the audio learning curve is not the same that mine.

regards and enjoy the music,
R.

I still favour the sound of vinyl, whether old or new to cd, or SACD for that fact.

If vinyl replay has more distortions, then they are of the pleasing variety, much like poor measuring SET amplifiers which sound better than the specs would lead you to believe.

Which brings me to my point this time.

Good vinyl systems do sound very good, and good digital systems can also sound very good.

I upgraded both my sources, from a Rega P9 to a SME 10. SMEv arm, from the Rega Exact 2 MM to a Clearaudio Talisman V2 Gold.

I switched from an Audio Aero Capitole cd player to an Esoteric Ex-03.

Both moves were indeed upgrades.

The Esoteric is the best digital player that I've owned, but my friend has the full Scarlatti set up and he also has the SME30, with the Goldfinger MC.

Also,I have listened to his very high end computer based system, and heard detail I never heard with cd or sacd.

At the end of the nite, he switched over to his vinyl setup, threw on a $5.00 used Ray Charles LP, and the system took on a whole other dimension.

The vinyl sound was just more organic,less electrical or manipulated.
Perhaps it's all those nasty distortions that somehow manage to make music sound more realistic.
Especially music that was recorded without any type of digital interplay.

It was a more relaxed atmosphere,the music wasn't forced out of the speakers(Sonus Faber Strad)like it did with any of the digital set ups.It just flowed out, almost oozing all the fullness and naturalness of a live event, which in itself is wrought with distortions.

I am betting it is the inclusion of the distortions,captured in a true all analog system that is missing in the squeeky clean digital recordings and gear.

The stuff that digital algorithms fail to acknowledge and skip over.

But just like the god particles, are what holds the music together.