CD vs. SACD vs. DVD-Audio vs Vinyl vs...

You guys are getting a bit cranky lately. For most of us our interest in music began with the records our parents played or the songs we heard on the radio. These sources were usually barbaric by todays' standards. I had a cheap Emerson console and my best friend had a Macintosh amp and preamp. His high fidelity system was instrumental in training my ears to appreciate good quality audio. Strangely enough some recordings were much more effective at producing an emotional response to the music when played on my parents' console. So.. Higher fidelity does not always equal deeper enjoyment of music. The CD format has been besieged by complaints from audiophiles from the beginning. What a waste of time. I was fortunate to hear the first CD player before public demonstrations and was startled by its realism despite its first generation shortcomings. We have enjoyed this elegant format for 20 years now. Now that we are beginning to see the end of vinyls superiority the same types of people are doing the same thing. Nag, nag, nag, nag. The prospect of high resolution audio and video in a universal player is near and I for one can't wait. It is only a matter of time until science finds a way to clearly better the sound quality of vinyl at a far lower cost than a high end turntable rig with virtually indestructable software. I really wonder if all of the vinyl enthusiasts think they are enjoying the music more because of the analogue format when they are really enjoying the quality of thir systems and not the music. I can appreciate aesthetics as much as the next guy but this sounds like a classic car collector who enjoys looking at his collection but doesn't have quite as much fun driving around anymore. Digital will win in the end. Don't mourn the loss of the horse and buggy. Try www.tweakaudio.com (audio news) And a good time was had by all, Martin Butler Matin Butler

Martin is the cranky one that's doing the nagging here. Just because you've never heard vinyl on a decent rig doesn't give you the right to be a smart guy with me. We enjoy vinyl because it IS better. I enjoy CD as much or more than you do, that's not the point (my player is very likely better than yours). And it costs about the same to have a decent analog, OR digital rig. When you liken vinyl to the "horse'n'buggy", YOU'RE JUST SHOWING HOW SILLY YOU ARE. I liken vinyl to a car racing analogy: There was once a racing series far better than, say, Nascar. It was in the 1970's, and the cars were more powerful and much higher in technology than Nascar. (I'm using today's Nascar racing as an example because of it's popularity, and because of the irony of its inferior technology; leaving off the most high tech racing of all time, Formula One, which is far above the technology in even the Indy CART series). THIS 1970'S SPECTACLE WAS CALLED CAN AM, or Canadian American racing series. Perhaps those in the northern lattitudes (Michigan, Wisconsin) remember it. Even more than the Grand Touring Prototype racing at Le Mans, THIS CAN AM SERIES made Porsche a legend with the 917 race car. This machine produced 1500 horsepower, was the first road racing model to employ DRASTIC amounts of turbo charge boost, could go 240 mph, and won more races than any other CAN AM car. IN THIS ANALOGY, vinyl (on a decent, NOT stratospheric rig) is the 917, and CD is Jeff Gordon in his ugly, low tech Nascar. The 917 overtakes him at about 80 mph, when the Nascar racer is going all out.

Carl, lighten up. I think you've just won the worlds longest analogy award. You have no idea what I may have heard or not heard. If you and your 917 took a pit stop you might have noticed I was saying that at this time vinyl may be superior, but at the current speed of advancement in audio technology not for much longer. If you think that is silly remember the shock of those horse and buggy owners when they had to send old Sally to the glue factory and couldn't couldn't get jack for their old rig. Martin

Hey, we listen to all formats. I don't listen to recorded music in one situation or one format. Clearly, in the car it is FM or CD or tape and I enjoy those. I even had a 45 record player in, "Bahama Baby", my hot rod in the late fifties and sixties. That was the only way to get black music, especially blues and R&B. That was kool then. But that 45 player was not a fi-fi performer, and the vinyl didn't like bumps in the road producing scratches. Since then, Tapes, FM and CDs have become king in the auto audio environment. I do have several hundred-cassette copies of LPs that are very good. At home, I listen to three recorded format FM, CD and vinyl. It's funny that those cassettes don't get played. FM and CD are the only playback formats I use for background music, and I enjoy both as that. When I want to escape into a "music performance", vinyl is the only format that gets me involved with the performance. I have invested a lot of time, effort and more money in trying to get my digital system to produce that "involvement factor" with no luck. It never gets there for me. If you have done it, well, congratulations! I can only last a 30 minutes or so before I turn digital off, and go back to the analog. Its not because I don't think it is good. It's just that digital or FM doesn't draw me into the music, period. It has its place, but it leaves me cold. Vinyl (analog) warms my soul and I can escape into the music. I have written off Sony's SACD more wasted time, effort and money. $3K+ can buy A LOT of great performances in new/used records. SACD is too little way and way too late. Maybe there will be something better around the next digital corner and I'll keep my ears listening, mind objective, and checkbook ready. But, until I can hear it. Vinyl is the music seductress in my house. Good luck in chasing those latest and greatest digital audio technologies. That chase is form of musical involvement, but no longer mine. Gerrym5

Thanks Gerry, I was just about to ask if anyone of the vynil enthusiasts would be willing to reveal just how big their cd towers really are.