Buying new vinyl?

I'm going to take a swing and say my hypothesis on why some people prefer vinyl to digital. Before I begin, let me state I like vinyl and have a big collection.

Having said that, I think many prefer vinyl for a few reasons.
1) It is the sound they grew up with and use as their reference for recorded sound
2) Vinyl has a much higher sound floor than CDs. CDs can be a little to accurate and people find that glaring. The noise level of vinyl masks hard sounds, it is like having a white noise machine on in a noisy office.
3) Not sound related but LP covers are great and add to the music experience.

Recording artists have nearly all moved to digital for numerous reasons, including it being easier, but the quality of digital is more accurate. Every time you re-record the analog master you lose something, with digital that is not the case.

It always amazes me that there are so many lp's available on ebay which are still unsealed, some as much as 40 or more years old. Many are the first pressings, I buy a lot of them (probably more for nostalgic reasons). Sure some pressings are better than others and not quite up to the quality of many newer audiophile pressings of today but the hunt is part of the fun!

Mike

Scvan,

Read my lips my friend. Digital sounds flat and uninteresting by comparison to analog. It isn't glare, at least not all of the time, it isn't record covers, and it isn't surface noise. This is echoed by most of my audiophile friends. I'm not alone. If you like digital, all I can say is lucky you.

Elinor,

Why does vinyl sound more interesting? Is it possible to describe without adjectives like warmer, more exciting, and "better"?

It is a fact that vinyl has a poorer SNR than CD. MC is worse than MM and people prefer MC. Why? Is it more detail even though the actual dynamic resolution is reduced or something else?

Flat to me means less dynamics. The dynamic range of a CD is much greater than that of an LP.

Like I said, I enjoy LP's too and probably have a collection that is much larger than many people on this site, but I understand that it is a limited reproduction system.

This is an interesting discussion. I can see both sides of the debate about digital vs. analog. My digital playback these days is a Sony HAP-Z1ES, which frankly just fixes a lot of problems with most CD players. For analog I have a VPI HW-19 MkIII with an SME Series 3, and a Technics SL1200 Mk2 with full KAB mods. A bunch of cartridges and a VPI-17 record cleaning machine. My electronics are current top level cj tube, speakers are Sony SSAR2. My ears are 66 years old and counting, but a recent check says my hearing is good whatever that means. Anyway, I have several iterations of favorite recordings, favor jazz, but listen to everything. Sometimes the digital sounds the best, especially some of the HiRez releases. Sometimes the vinyl sounds the best. A lot of reissues in mono kick ass on vinyl: Anything from Mosaic, the Beatles Box, a lot of Blue Note is exceptional either way. There is no way to make a categorical statement that one format is superior in all cases. It is a good time to be an audiophile.