... it occurs to me that the magic isn't just the analog sound, but that vinyl records provide the fantasic fidelity they do. In other words, it is astonishing that the vibrating needle and the corresponding circuitry work as fantasticlty well as they do. Yesterday's analog technology absolutely has a place in today's digitial world.
* edit for spelling
Im hating the ritual but when i do feel like listening to a record its worth it for the sound.
Double blind studies don't show better sound quality than digital for properly encoded sound with enough quality. You can even get a lossless/raw copy of the studio masters. You are hearing the "warmth" of the reproduction because higher pitches can't be reproduced as much, so they kind of get muffled (the amplitude is corrected, but you psysically can't store the higher pitches in the same detail as the lower pitches).
You can get the same/similar effect by using an equaliser and reducing the frequencies slightly as they go up (it looks like a shallow downward line rightwards on a standard logarithmic EQ display)
You can also listen to recordings of records which is the same sound as the record reproduced.
Your amp is likely also digital, and the majority of masters are digital. There is not a quality degradation in using an ADC because they sample faster than any sound you can possibly hear.
I use a tube amplifier with records and a bluesound node,i have a switcher to use nadv10m2 with same speakers for a totally different sound experience.
Your mom's amp is likely also digital.
no need to blind. it's pretty clear there is a difference in vinyl versus CD. I will say, there is a point where high end equipment becomes a waste and the tell, become mynute:(minute, mynoot - you know what i mean). Some of my clean new pressings I can't tell. I will say Friday Music a repressing company out of the NY,NJ area....claim to remaster yaddayadda it's any different than the CD they use as a source...in fact my CDs of what i own from them sound better. F-Friday Music. But thank them for their repressing of music almost slightly difficult to find
Completely with you on this especially with the incessant need to press everything on 2lp so i have to flip every 12 minutes. But hey at least they can charge double price if its double lp right? Ahahha.
I just bought a limited edition double albums release (in one special packaging), each with 3lps, to support a favourite band of mine. It arrived, but I still haven't spun it as I know it'll drive me nuts. They supposedly did it this way for best clarity reasons, no compromises...
I started collecting right around the time new albums were released on CD only, and the previous generation was gleefully offloading their dusty, heavy, skippy old vinyl. They were amused when they found out I was collecting it -- which is how I ended up with a "worthless" Velvet Underground & Nico with an unpeeled banana from a friend's dad.
Truthfully, I'm amazed that not only are record stores still around, but new ones are opening. I was floored the day I saw Walmart and Target start to sell records. On one hand, it's cool that new stuff is coming out and obscure stuff is getting repressed. On the other, the days of finding amazing stuff for under $10 are long gone. Even the antique stores have caught on, and are pricing all their tattered Barbara Streisand and Bachman Turner Overdrive albums starting at $25 minimum. It's truly the best of times and the worst of times.
It's another great example of what I have learned in my 50's: Things ALWAYS change, but we do not always know the rate of the change. We do not not always know the speed and the timing of the changes. But that is another discussion.
Yes, many, most, ditched their vinyl at the advent of someting 'better'. Some of us never knew vinyl originally because cassettes were good enough and CDs were fantatic. However how many millions ditched their CDs to the mp3 realm only to later realize they had lost uncompressed digital recordings to lossy compressed recordings? Not me. I still have all my CDs thankfully.
Yep, I kept my CD’s too. And the best part…. I picked up a lot of them in pawn shops for $2 each more than 20 years ago and I have ripped them a couple times to different laptops and those files have gone on several phones.
Didn’t do that with my records but several of them were still at my parents house when I wanted to get back into records.
I'm definitely keeping my CDs as long as its practical. At some point, I'll need to purge part of my collection, because space is becoming an issue, and there aren't many CD storage shelf units getting made any more. But I do understand that it may be difficult to offload parts of it, given what a crazy buyer's market it is now. And of course, the parts of my collection that probably could get a good price are mostly the parts I would never want to sell.
Sorry, not to be a technical nitpicker but… technically speaking, with the Red Book standard of CD authoring; the audio is in fact compressed. However it is considered lossless, so you’re still correct in spirit anyway! 😊
Point taken. Thanks for the input. I will always remember ripping CDs in 1996 and saving them them .wav files that consumed nearly all of my available hard drive space. This made mp3 compression so compelling at the time, but over time I learned how bad that sounds.
Depends on how it was recorded. They did PLENTY of recording in 16/44.1 in the 80s and 90s. The amount of data recording any higher required wasn’t easily obtained until the mid 90s, and a lot of digital recording was done on early tape that just did 16 bit.
If you’re gonna nitpick at least do it right.
ETA: 24 bit is pretty pointless anyway. You never use enough dynamic range for that kind of noise floor. 16 bit covers everything you use.
Well, I use quite a bit of dynamic range, thank you very much. I find that I do need every one of those 24 bits.
Sorry but I fail to see what that has to do with it at all… in a conversation about authoring (for distribution).
I can’t respond to your last comment for better or worse so I’ll leave my response here:
“I may have gotten mixed up in your conversation I am tired and sick lmao I apologize.
But yeah that’s true. There’s dynamic compression and informational compression. CDs are often at least the first, and can sometimes be both.
Old CDs are usually the best of both worlds: they existed before informational compression, and they rarely used much dynamic compression.”
Ah, I’m getting over illness right now as well. I hope we both get well soon! All is good, I actually really enjoyed the detail you added. You clearly know your stuff and I can always appreciate that.
Get well soon friend!
And I only know what I know from research and the knowledge of others. None of it is of my own merit
I know it, aren’t we all standing on the shoulders of giants? 🙏
It’s even more interesting because I didn’t even get into the fact that DSD, which is 1 bit audio, doesn’t even need to be dithered if you record straight to DSD lmao.
Because when it’s authored for distribution, 16/44.1 isn’t always lossy. If it’s recorded in 16/44.1, it hasn’t downgraded at all.
24 bit recording is not something we’ve always done. Originally, it was 16 bit direct to 16 bit.
You’re nitpicking on authoring when it’s more complex than “bit depth go down for CD = lossy even if lossless,” mainly because bit depth is not always decreased for CD.
If it was digitally recorded in the 80s, it IS 16 bit even if it’s being distributed as 24. If it’s on analog tape, a bit more complicated. Some transfers were done in 16 bit, some later in 24, both equally as lossless as long as they stay in their respective depths.
Sure… but where did I say (or even imply) that CD’s are lossy? I don’t think I said that and I wasn’t trying to get into an argument about 24 bit versus 16 bit either. All I mentioned is that CD’s do use compression. I was just trying to make the point that compressed doesn’t always equal lossy.
Everything that you’re saying is interesting too and I wouldn’t discount it.
I already replied but it seems you added a bit more. Yeah, no, totally my bad. 😵💫
I'm with you. The way i see it, is my CD collection is the hard back up, to what's on my harddrive. PC craps out, i can re-upload the music! Digital is only as good as the drive it's stored on. My brother uses Spotify after years of buying CDs. to him the lunking around all the plastic is not worth his effort. Me....i still have my cassette tapes, CDs and now To many records...mostly still sealed
I was a little bit later but I could get bargains like that, not only that but CDs were selling for a reasonable price. Some I would sell and replace with the LP and make a profit even. It was when mp3s were easy to download or rip so I kept an electronic collection on a hard drive, and physical was vinyl. Made sense to me but my parents thought I was mad. I did know that many had value and likely would keep it. But otherwise yes, the days of finding that one bargain I haven't seen maybe for a decade. The Ebay listing ending at 4am, the second hand shop not realising a value, thrift store, family member giving away stuff they found in the attic - they are all totally on it.
52 started in vinyl 3 years ago.
I’m also 52 and this list is pretty darn accurate for me too.
"while on vacation going to the best record stores in the area"
That's how I got Lateralus.
Sweet! I always find something and typically there is a cool place to eat near the shop. It’s just now a big part of my trips, along with local venues, great hikes and local breakfast places.
I’m 30 but this list is very accurate for me. Listening on vinyl has become a very relaxing way for me to get to know and love an album from start to finish!
“while on vacation going to the best record stores in the area”.
Big YES to this one!
51 here. ditto.
built up a collection of almost 1300 in the last 5 or 6 years. the wife doesn't love it but that shit is like a zen garden for me.
As a fellow 53 YO who resumed this mania when one of my kids dove into music, the hook for me is in a world of headphone everything vinyl is something we do as a family. The jackets and their art, lyrics and materials when they have them. It is a very different experience than a Spotify playlist.
54 here…. “What he said” ☝️
I started back collecting about 6-7 years ago and am super happy with how my collection has formed itself. The ritual is a lot of my focus. I love the process of adding it to my collection, as well as the meditative process of sitting back and listening with my eyes closed.
For me it's the expense and the inconvenience
Also the ease of storage
I agree, also 53. It's the artwork, being able to read the liner notes without a magnifying glass, the time and patience and routine of using and caring for your vinyl. The feeling and connection listening to vinyl, and a beautiful way to give your kids (14 yo daughter) a musical education and an appreciation for music as an art form. Concept albums, compilations, and listening to an album's songs in the order intended by the musicians. My gen-x collection was complete, and my 90s pics began to blur with my 14 yos tastes, so now I'm building on the collection to include later stuff we both love... Nirvana, Alice in Chains, Three Days Grace, Ozzy, Eminem, Third Eye Blind, Simple Plan... We love sharing music together, and I have something to pass down after I'm gone that she'll actually want lol...
At the end of the day, sharing memories and stories of music is worth a great deal. Thanks for passing the music to a new generation. I got some of that from my folks and have passed some of that to my kids. The music of that era, of those decades, was a real treasure.
This is my story exactly. Just thankful my son has left the Seattle scene (finally, doubt I will ever be able to listen to Nirvana again) and discovered T Rex.
50 here so I’m with you guys.
For me it’s the sides. How older albums were built around this format. a closer at song 6 ish because you have an opener on side B.
Like abbey road, side 2 starts with “here comes the sun.”
There’s a structure to it, a rise and fall. You don’t get that with just a straight fire 12 songs in a row.
Agreed. Too many artists are making albums that are too long and tedious. Listen to them on vinyl and even the longest are an easier listen because of the break when flipping sides.
I also listen to the entire record side, and flip it over and listen to the other side. I don't jump around. When I pick a record I'm committing to the experience.
I'm one year older. What's with us all?
We use to play Records, We still play Records, but we use to play Records, too.
RIP Mitch
I'm playing records to the grave. 61 years and counting.
Hedberg for the win!
The kids grew up and now we have time and money to mess with stuff.
49… I love you guys 🥹
And whilst we have the GenX’ers attention. If you have not done so, please go purchase Analogue Productions/Atlantic’s 75 Series version of STP Core. I am begging you. First of all, if you like them at all, you will not be disappointed, but secondly and most importantly, I want the industry to realize how much money is being left on the table by not releasing audiophile quality pressings from the college rock days of the early-mid 80s and the Alt-Rock days of the early-mid 90s and the garage rock stuff from the Oughts. So even if you don’t love the album, just take one for the team. 😜 thank you
STP's Core is a great album. STP was one of the last bands that I followed to some extent. After that, most new music was not a concern for me because I was working back through the great music of the previous 4 decades that I had missed.
Well I am telling you right now, this pressing is astounding. And once you are done with those 4 decades, come back and listen to some newer stuff. Might be surprised.
Absolutely. I feel like a record is like a time machine. Every time a needle runs over the peaks and valleys, it echoes the exact sounds that were recorded years or decades ago. It just makes listening to music a more tangible experience.
Lol that’s an interesting perspective. The only way for that to be inherently true is if they had played directly into a cutting lathe, which is rare but has happened.
The only way for that to be inherently true is if they had played directly into a cutting lathe, which is rare but has happened.
https://chasingthedragon.co.uk/ does exactly this, for anyone interested.
Obviously, there's some survivor's bias here - the only older vinyl I have is vinyl that was still in good enough condition to be deemed worthy of sale by a record shop. Stuff that was too damaged, scratched, etc. was probably dumped long ago. That being said, one thing I do find marvelous is taking something that was made a very, very long time ago - the oldest stuff I have dates from the 1950s - and still being able to play it today.
Of course, I tend to be ecumenical about music. I also appreciate the unique advantages that come from CDs and mp3's, so they all have their own place, not the exclusion of the other. I do, however, usually go to the trouble to make digital copies of my vinyl, since it's kind of awkward playing a vinyl record in the car while I'm driving, or just carrying it around while I'm walking. Believe me, I've tried it, and I don't recommend it. So, make a good digital copy. If nothing else, should something tragic happen to your vinyl, you'll have a back-up.
Only halfway to 50, but as I’ve been collecting records since I was like 15 I agree with the sentiment! For me, I like records because they encourage me to be present in the moment; it’s so easy to queue up a playlist or an album on spotify and stream it to my TV, but the actual act of retrieving a record from the shelf, taking it out of the jacket, putting it on the table, dusting it, and then dropping the needle is way more personal, and I feel like the ritual behind it kind of encourages me to actually pay attention to the music I’m listening to. Also, it feels like so many modern tables and receivers are all so cookie cutter and minimalist, I absolutely love and prefer the look of older tech in my space. Honestly, my apartment is filled with vintage tech and movies and oddities and people seem vastly more interested in that than my friends with beige minimalist interiors and a sonos soundbar; analogue absolutely has a place in the modern world!!
A big part for me is the commitment to listening to albums without just blasting through them and moving on to the next, which you then blast through, etc.
Sitting with an album, and going on the ride, is not something that’s regularly done either digital/streaming.
When I was a kid discovering music, I had limited money to spend on music. Buying 1 album for 1 good song was a poor value. I leanred to appreciate the whole album, and I quickly learned which artists could give me 8 good or great songs vs. 1. Today's tick-tock mindset is a tragedy.
I wouldn’t place blame solely on TT.
IMO streaming has provided listeners with literally everything at their fingertips, and an easy way to shuffle to something else.
This parade of instant dopamine hits has warped brains into the shortest attention spans, and zero tolerance for even a moment of discovery or discomfort.
100% this is right on. Kids today can get locked into a gamified, addictive, short term, throwaway frame of mind with.. any kind of media. It's a shame.
I’ve seen it happen to my peers. I’m also 53.
Hard agree, and I also enjoy the entire ritual of playing records.
There is no other experice like when the needle drops into the vinyl.
66 here. Collecting vinyl since I was 5. (First 45 was Louie Louie. First LP More of the monkees). Could get into CD whole hog because I couldn’t replace everything I’ve amassed. Got into maintaining and restoring turntables. Got into cds at the beginning when thingswere only released I the format. Then when back catalogs started coming out, I perused the used bins. Ten years after released the entire Dream catalog. I got the whole thing on vinyl a week later for 2 bucks each. I’m now rocking my collection on a technics with an ortofon blue. Happy as a clam.
ortofon blue. Happy as a clam.
Great point. As a kid in the 80's I had little appreciation for high quality audio gear. I was wowed by whatever pop marketing claims were in fashion. Plus as a kid I had little money. I wasn't reading Stereo Review as a 15 year old. I was on the verge of chasing girls. However now I can afford great quality 80's stereo gear, quality high power amplifiers, speakers from the best names, and it's as great as it was then.
i moved to the USA and parked my collection in my parents house. My mother would periodically threaten to get rid of them, then finally after 20 years she gave me the ultimatum, and i finally shipped them over about 15 years ago. It's not really about the sound for me, it was about the packaging over the sound, always been a sucker for a great cover.
I’m 47 and, upon returning to this addiction in December 2022 after an approximately 20-year hiatus, the same thing has amazed me — how a rock dragging across plastic can produce a sound that, at times, can place you in the same room as the musicians.
And I find the records made in the ‘60s, ‘70s, and ‘80s are able to better capture the details and nuances more consistently than what is being manufactured today.
Rediscovering songs, albums, and bands I’ve loved for decades through this medium has been a near constant source of delight. The only derailment of this has come either from my own stupidity or the very vocal snobbishness of some in this community.
I'm turning 50 in a few weeks (yikes) and only started my journey into Vinyl in the past 6-8 months. Never owned vinyl as a kid. Started off with cassettes in the early 80's and started buying CD's in 1988-1989 ish... Worked at a Best Buy in High School so had quite a few CD's (Employee Discount FTW) and still have most of them in boxes in the attic. I picked up a couple of Queen records at an antique store last fall cause I thought, why not and at an OK price. I didn't even own a turntable at the time. Soon thereafter found a good starter table and discovered Discogs and a couple local record stores, a few Facebook Raffle/Auction groups, etc. Now trying to locate OG/earyly pressings of some of the bands that I loved as a kid (Queen, Van Halen, Metallica etc.), although the $$$ for many of the OG's is way more than I'm willing to spend.
I love flipping through stacks of vinyl in shops or markets, the artwork is incredible (I love the Iron Maiden designs), and have really enjoyed sitting down in my office and picking out something to play, having to flip it over after 4-5 sings and start all over again. I think others have mentioned but almost meditative, and I can just chill, listen and do nothing. Very nostalgic feeling, even if I didn't have any vinyl in my life for the first half century.
I'm at just over 100 albums now... I probably need to slow down a bit on buying stuff but will always keep my eye out for a good deal on something that triggers some memories.
I love the whole search through the bin to see what I want to listen to, opening up the dust cover, taking it out of the jacket, brushing for dust, the needle drop, and when the dust pops drop below the music. The engaged listening the follows. The warm sound.
I very much like the ritual of vinyl.
Dude... I rediscovered it at the age of 48 after moving to a new house. I had forgotten that I had all this vinyl in totes in the basement that's been there for 15+ years.
Unfortunately, all the good stuff succumbed to mold. Spent a fortune buying vinyl to restore everything I lost
But yeah, love everything about vinyl as well. i even enjoy the surface noise, pops, and clicks.
Couldn't agree with this more. I recently got into vinyl at age 36 and I never knew how great the sound is on vinyl. It's so much more pure than a CD or streaming. It's basically ruined listening to music in my car for me. Lol. My 13 yo just told me yesterday that because of records Cream is now one of his favorite bands, and I can't express how much that warmed my heart. Lol
It's funny hearing older people talk about the "supreme fidelity" of vinyl. My dad is the same age and he was talking about how great they sound compared to CDs and streaming when we were going to the record shop. I buy vinyl, and I guarantee you that nearly every record I've bought was digitally mastered before being pressed.
I like vinyl because I'm a collector at heart. I like physical media, and vinyl is just about as physical as you can get with the actual waveforms being etched onto the disc. I'm by no means an audiophile; in fact, I tend to prefer more compressed and distorted audio, with Vapor Trails and Death Magnetic, two of the most infamous victims of the loudness war, being one of my favorite Rush albums and my outright favorite Metallica album, respectively. I just have a habit of wasting money because I'm nineteen and I have no responsibilities.
51 here, I've been back into vinyl since about 2015. Much more so the past few years. I had a decent collection when I was younger but moved on to CDs. I just love the sound of 70s hard rock or 80s metal on vinyl. Digging through crates in random stores is just the best. Getting an old record and wondering how it made it's way into my hands to enjoy always make me smile inside, knowing that one day my collection will be dispersed all over to continue the cycle.
...Getting an old record and wondering how it made it's way into my hands to enjoy always make me smile inside..
When I buy a record from the 60's, 70s, 80's, I always wonder: How many owners has this particular record had? How many owners has it passed through? Did it sit in a box for decades? In a closet for 25 years? Has it has it passed between dozens of owners? How many people have heard these physical vibrations of this specfic vinyl recording? This one record may contain the music contained on millions of records, but this one record has its own history.
Yes absolutely, you nailed it.
55 here and never stopped buying LP's!
I like the sound of them; rarely do I get one that sounds terrible. It does happen (with new music.)
Record stores are great fun.
You used to be able to get collections for cheap at yard sales (all played out by now I'm afraid) and thrift stores (backroom theft and Goodwill sending them all to their center for review and sale online have ruined those sources.)
Moving them though.... :)
So I’m a hobbyist engineer, don’t say that records provide “fantastic fidelity” in comparison to digital. Trust me -
They don’t.
It’s purely EQ and mastering differences you’re hearing. The noise floor of vinyl is 70 dB from a brand new pie, usually around 65 dB on a used pie.
CD is 96 dB. Remember, it’s an exponential volume increase. It’s a lot.
Digital contains higher fidelity but that’s part of what makes it so boring to listen to. The analog distortion destroys some of that clarity, and the wow & flutter of analog mediums fucks up the timing just enough to feel like a human performing the song.
Vinyl over digital (and vice versa) has a lot of arguments, but “fidelity” is not one of them.
Certainly, in terms of fidelity, that is technical accuracy, digital is the superior capable, medium. But we also have to remember when looking at all the numbers, comparing noise floors and distortion that the human ear isn’t that sensitive, and there’s often masking effects that go on to reduce the sensitivity to what looks on paper like vast numerical differences.
I don’t need to be told how good or bad vinyl can sound compared to digital since I compare them all the time. I have a high-end turntableand cartridge, and a high-end digital system using a benchmark DAC. In comparisons, good vinyl pressing hold up very well, sometimes the difference being extremely subtle from the digital versions.
Ultimately, in terms of sound quality, I find the differences come down less to whether I’m playing a record or my digital source, but rather how well the music is produced and recorded.
Bravo. I specifically refrained from calling a medium better or worse for that reason alone:
It’s all in production and system.
Also, the noise floor of CD is 100% noticeable. The human ear is believed to be sensitive up to 120-140 dBs. That’s why you can hear stuff that was recorded digitally vs things recorded analog.
Certainly, I remember when CDs came along we were all amazed at the pristine, clean sound and low noise floor.
Still, there are conditions and variables involved. For instance, on my system, When I do demos for guests, I switch between playing digital and clean records. I don’t tell the guest which medium I’m playing, and I have the volume down for when I drop the needle and I turn it back up as soon as the needle is dropped and then they’ll listen for a few tracks. Almost always surprised to hear that they were listening to a record. The noise floor is low enough that played over speakers in a room. It is not perceived. (again with good clean vinyl).
That can change if you put on some good earphones with the sound is directly fed into your ears. But this is what I mean about keeping variables in mind as to the actual audible consequences of the numbers we’re talking about.
Cheers
Reproduction-wise noise floor has little consequence because nobody uses the full 65-96. It’s all in the recording.
My observation is that what people call the fantastic fidelity of vinyl is actually practical fidelity.
The dynamic range of CD is much greater, but it’s not practical for most listening environments. Music and sound at -80 to -95 db probably aren’t perceptible to a lot of people and easily get drowned out by any background noise. The -60 to -70 db of vinyl is a different story. I’m pretty convinced that this is why so many people say they can hear detail with vinyl that they can’t with digital.
Vinyl also forces the music to be mastered, mixed and reproduced a certain way. Maybe you have 120db of dynamic range on your studio master, but to get that on vinyl you’re compressing that dynamic range way down. You also have to manage EQ and loudness within parameters so playback is practical, and you can’t brickwall it. Digital doesn’t have those constraints. You can master and mix as stupidly as you want, and many do.
As for distortion, it depends on the kind. Our ears generally interpret even order distortion as warm and pleasant and odd order as harsh. When analog was all there was engineers knew this and designed systems that err’d on the side of even order because they knew they couldn’t eliminate it.
Point taken. Great points for sure. Analog audio has plenty of problems.
I remember as a kid the problems with hiss and drop off in high end frequencies with audio cassettes. My young years in those days could really hear 16,000 to 20,000 Hz and the changes with dolby noise reduction. Today with high frequencies... not so much.
The wow and flutter of cassettes, yes, that was real. As a kid I enjoyed the fidelity of CDs without fully appreciating the past. CDs promised a better reality from the phsical defacts of the past, but new problems were introduced.
Today I can perhaps hear the analog audio compressoion that is applied to modern albums and FM radio, and I have a greater appreciation for old albums that kept the dynamic range.
I love your detailed expression.
Yeah, around 30 your hearing begins trailing off. You have to learn what you’re looking for since you no longer physically hear it.
I’m personally 23 but I appreciate CDs and vinyl equally. There’s something wonderful about great setups and releases with both!
I’ll let you in on a secret:
…Early CDs are just as dynamic as vinyl without the surface noise, timing issues, or added wow and flutter. Here. This is a link to a file from a CD I own from 1982. Listen to how dynamic and wonderful CDs can sound in the right hands.
I suspect we are not far from a renaissance of CDs: pure digital fidelity, physical ownership, and real printed artwork. This will really appeal to the kids who only knew streaming audio.
In the late 80's, a $13.99 CD was a good value to me, but in a decade kids will be paying $50 for a new CD. Holy cow.
I mean I already pay that much for used CDs regularly lol that one I linked is $100+ in the used market even without complete packaging (Obi)
There's nothing remotely normal about a used CD costing $50. There's hundreds of copies of Off The Wall for ~$5.00 (the median for a US '83 is $17.00 - what some jackass is asking is irrelevant.) If you want to bonus material + a magical piece of japanese paper, there's multiple mint copies for <$50.00.
And they all sound like shit in comparison. This is the only release flat transferred from the master tapes containing all the original mixes.
CD collectors have their reasons just like vinyl collectors.
Believe it or not, not all CD pressings sound the same, similar to records. This isn’t even to talk about Japanese mastering in other cases, plus Japanese releases being 100x more collectible than any other nationality in a majority of cases.
Tell me you don’t understand collecting or engineering super well without telling me.
I’ll link you the files to do so, since you’re so confident. I’m 100% confident in doing so.
Again, all you can do is insult. Have fun with that. Still proving you don’t really know shit.
The only way to prove they’re the same is to do a bit match, and remember, if the mixes are different on Rock With You and Get on the Floor you lose anyway.
Best part is even if you’re right, you’re still wrong.
I didn’t tell anyone to do the same. I said that “early CDs sound just as good” and “I buy collectible CDs”
You’re just showing your cunt lmao
My uncle started me down the vinyl road over 20 years ago. I lost my small collection about 16 years ago, but started collecting again about 8 years ago. My wife and I have amassed a collection of about 300 records, and have no plan to stop. I need to build a new record shelf.
the records hold mystical powers 100%. there was a study done, ill have to find it, but of our brains when listening to music on analog vs listening to the same music digitally. and im not a scientist by any means and i couldn’t understand all of it but i could see on the photos side by side of the brain activity and the colors were more dominant on the analog side. i basically could see the difference that analog music has on my brain
For me it’s how intentional the music listening experience becomes, choosing a record, sliding it off the shelf, out of the sleeve, carefully putting it on the player, maybe giving it a brush, dropping the needle, closing the lid and letting each song play out. It’s like a meditation for me ha ha
I’m 60 and a long time music lover and audiophile. I got heavily back into vinyl around 2017 and haven’t looked back.
I still sometimes stream digital via my server, but digital in terms of the overall experience feels more like fast food, whereas vinyl feels more like fine dining. The sound from vinyl on my system is generally sumptuous, and the aesthetics of the album themselves, and the haptics had a further pleasure, as does using my turntable, which is just such a damned cool device, way more satisfying than yet another black box streamer or CD player.
Records, CDs, even tapes, all sound different and provide unique experiences. Physical media provides a whole bunch of options and ways to interact with others and share music. Just being able to visit a friend and thumb through their record collection or scan their CD shelf, or pass around a record and enjoy the artwork (even better with gatefold jackets) and loan someone music. And owning physical music is really owning it - a streaming service can't take it down or change it on you. If your Internet is down you can still listen! Just interacting with people face to face in a record store is lost with digital / streaming. I hope we get to see the day when we can 3d print full quality records the way we can burn CDs!
How many of today’s records are truly “analog?” Many are made from the same source as cds. I’ll buy old (used) albums or all analog reissues on vinyl. But a well mastered cd still sounds better than a record. And I own plenty of both formats. I enjoy both, but I don’t buy into the propaganda vinyl always sounds better. It doesn’t.
Nobody said is always sounds better, just most of the times mastering on vinyl done better (you can't brickwall vinyl)
I enjoy records because they are a more physical and interactive way to listen to and enjoy music.
I don’t necessarily agree that records sound better, or have more fidelity or have a greater dynamic range than CDs (although I believe those things about most streamed music for some reason).
For me, it’s just a lot of fun to choose a record, maybe find one song on it, cue it up to play, and start looking for the next one to play.
grooves are just a type of encoding of information. Tape, CD, digital - all are physical in a way. It's more important to grow your musical taste and grow with new music than the media. Sorry for sounding preachy lol <3
It's the ritual, the artwork, the tactility and the feeling of ownership.
CD's offer objectively better sound quality and dynamic range (I've still kept all mine), but I much prefer playing records.
Totally agreed. Today I like the idea of the analog experience: The record needle moves in the grooves and that is the actual vibration and sound that is amplified, turned into sound waves, and makes its way to one's ears. People can debate the fine points of digital and analog, but when you learn how a record works, how a record needle works, and realize that is the sound you hear... well, that's pretty damn neat. And you don't get that from any modern media source.
For me it is the analogue sound, the ritual and having the physical media packaging to enjoy and enhance the experience.