BEST Buy becomes VINYL City!!!

Quote:will say, vinyl LP's do have a unique sound that is unlike CD or digital. It's actually more pure and authentic compared to new audio technologies.

I still prefer the sound of orchestral music on Vinyl. It just sounds more "alive" if that makes any sense.

Quote:I still prefer the sound of orchestral music on Vinyl. It just sounds more "alive" if that makes any sense.

Actually, it does make sense, at least for me it does.

I think what I'm getting at with vinyl audio is it isn't though it's better or worse then digital and CD's, it's just that it's different. Like I said, it has its own unique sound that you really can't get with todays technology. Whether that's a good or bad thing is really a matter of opinion. But I will say there's really very little I could find wrong with the sound vinyl produces. It's just plain good no matter how you cut it.

I think a lot of the complaints people had about Vinyl in the past, the pops and hisses etc. Was more due to cheaper turntables. If you have a good quality turntable vinyl sounds amazing. Like you said Tim it isn't whether it's "better" it's just different.

Yeah, I'd have to say the drawbacks of vinyl are the hissing and skips on the record. God knows I took enough records back to the record stores because of skipping issues back in the late 70's early 80's. The hissing, though, once the music started up, you really never noticed it -- it was just during the moments when no actual sound, or something more quite on acoustic levels that was being produced.

Nevertheless, I really hope vinyl does make a substantial comeback because it really is a unique sound that I feel the younger generation needs to really hear. Hopefully, it will all catch on in a big way, mainly because it is a very pleasurable listening experience alone. And I will say, it is more of a solid audio experience compared to the technologies we have today. Kind of like how HD DVD was a more solid, completed format. lol

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[Post edited by Tim Raynor on May 2, 2009 - CDT 2:40 PM]

Tim,

That unique sound on records is something the experts like to call "music + useless noise". I think the whole idea is ridiculous. Why don't we all start asking the movie industry to give up on Blu-Ray and start making 16mm projector films again.

Wolvi, the bluray argument is a little different only because there is the video involved. If we stick to the audio aspect, even with bluray there is an audio improvement over DVD (marginal improvement to some people) because of the newer HD audio codecs like Dolby TrueHD, DTS HD, etc. Most people say the difference is that the sound if "fuller", "more dynamic", etc, etc.

I've heard the same argument about vinyl over digital. People prefer the sound of vinyl because it's fuller, warmer, and some other crazy things but you get the idea.

If you hear a CD and vinyl album (same album, same artist) on the same system you will notice the difference. When it comes to music, usually people prefer the vinyl sound. It's kind of like tube amps vs solid state amps. People prefer tube amp sound over solid state (like the amps we have in our home theatre receivers for example) because it's "warmer". This is especially true for audiophiles who have dedicated 2 channel systems just for music.

For home theatre use bluray is great. Besides, I have yet to see an album with 7.1 surround sound on it. :p Also, the video quality on bluray is pretty sweet and I have never seen a vinyl album produce video either.

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[Post edited by Falcon01 on May 4, 2009 - CDT 12:54 PM]

Here's a record player from 1981 that also played video...well kinda. I wanted to buy one of these back in the day, but my wife wouldn't let me, in retrospect, probably a good thing. I remember drooling over them in Lechmere Sales (same parent as Target). I guess there are still collectors out there.

http://www.cedmagic.com/

Quote:If you hear a CD and vinyl album (same album, same artist) on the same system you will notice the difference. When it comes to music, usually people prefer the vinyl sound. It's kind of like tube amps vs solid state amps. People prefer tube amp sound over solid state (like the amps we have in our home theatre receivers for example) because it's "warmer". This is especially true for audiophiles who have dedicated 2 channel systems just for music.

Great analogy and it certainly describes that difference in way that it makes sense. I've been a 25yr guitar player and I can assure anyone that tube amps are far more quality than solids state/digital. Nevertheless, there are some great amps (Vox, Crate, etc.) that produce tube sound through digital technology. However, again, it comes down to it's just a different sound. Not that it's better, just different.

The arguments about tubes vs. transistors have been going on in audiophile circles since the late Fifties, early Sixties, and the arguments about vinyl vs. CDs have been going on since the early Eighties, when each of the newer technologies was introduced to the general public. In both cases the newer technology easily won out because it had the more practical advantages (transistors are cheaper, run cooler, take up less space, and generally produce more power for less money CDs are quieter, last longer, etc.). However, the arguments have never to this day been satisfactorily resolved by the warring parties, and, yes, I have audiophile friends who swear by their tubes and their LPs and vice versa in their dedicated two-channel music systems.

For my own part, I owned highly modified Dynaco Stereo-70 amplifiers for many years and liked them a lot when I used electrostatic tweeters on my old FMI Model J speakers. And, of course, I had an extensive record collection on vinyl. However, I eventually went with the newer technology because it was cheaper and easier to care for and, most important, because to me it sounded as good or better. For instance, tubes do produce a warmer midrange sound (though limited in the upper frequencies), perfect for speakers that can be a bit on the bright, forward, or edgy side. But on good, natural-sounding speakers (like my current VMPS RM40s), transistors are an excellent match. Likewise, although LPs can sometimes sound smoother and sometimes more dynamic than CDs, with lightning-fast transient response, it takes a megabuck cartridge, tone arm, and turntable to get the most out of LPs. And even then, you still have to put up with the ticks and pops of even the most-expensive audiophile LPs.

Put it another way: Tubes and LPs produce an enormously greater amount of distortion than transistors and CDs do. But it may be distortion of a type that actually masks some of the worst aspects of a recording and makes an LP appear to sound better than its CD counterpart.

The real question is, Which format provides the more realistic sound, the sound of a live experience. Well, since most listeners don't attend live performances of anything that isn't amplified to begin with, they usually don't have any actual comparison to make. On both sides, they simply "like" the sound of one format over the other. So, for the person who truly wants to make up his own mind on the subject, he has to attend regular concerts of unamplified music (jazz or orchestral mainly), then hear good recordings of the same type of music in both mediums (the best tubes vs. the best transistors and the best vinyl vs. the best CDs), preferably side by side. You need some free time and a few audiophile friends to do this, of course.

John

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[Post edited by John J. Puccio on May 4, 2009 - CDT 9:22 PM]

Opinions are like A-holes. Everyones got one. However, I'm old enough to have used records extensively and I will never feel the need to play one again as long as CDs are in existence. I cannot stand the snap crackle pop of vinyl.
I'm just shocked that the people who say they hear such a tremendous difference between 5.1 and 7.1 surround sound could deal with vinyl.