A theory for preferring vinyl.

Well if You say so, but there is no such thing as a right amount of course.

 

I love the sound of vinyl! I certainly put people off buying turntables or vinyl LPs, I feed them negative stuff about how new vinyl can be noisy and secondhand vinyl is expensive, the reason... IT MEANS I HAVE MORE CHOICE WHEN BUYING LPs!

 

The OP is entitled to his opinion. I think, feel and would suggest differently!

 

microphony or feedback is always best avoided for accuracy of listening
It is not reverberation,its an unstable circuit prone to ringing
Lots of PA set ups are rendered inadequate by ringing stage monitors which is then evident in the FOH system

 

While I completely agree with you, ROLO46, you may be overlooking one important aspect. Accuracy of listening is not a goal for most readers of this forum. Even our benevolent host, Ol' Stevie, started a long running thread on how audiophiles don't WANT accuracy. You and I may hold accuracy of listening as a desirable goal, but the vast majority, dare I say all, of the pedestrian audiophiles, the ones who line up for hours for Record Store Day, don't care a bit about accuracy. In fact, most hold a special disdain for it. So, give it up. If someone wants to hypothosize about how more distortion is better, more power to 'em!

 

My experience is that the amount of low-level detail that is audible is as much dependent upon the way that the musician and their instrument are miked up and recorded as anything else.

I've read a lot of reviews of equipment which praise a piece of equipment highly because you can hear very clearly the scrape of the bow on a violin string or something similar. I'm, however, more in the school which prefers to hear the note that the violin string makes, with the scraping noises relegated to their rightful place as accompanying noise which tells me that I'm listening to a violin playing a note, as opposed to a guitar or trumpet. If low-level information is too well reproduced then things don't sound natural to me because the noise dominates the note and it becomes more like percussive noise than music. To an extent – IMHO - that’s an artefact of the recording, however, and not reproduction.

Additionally, whether digital equipment or analogue equipment is more capable of reproducing this low-level information is very much down to the equipment involved, from source to amplification to speakers, including all of the cabling in between. I’ve had a number of different combinations of pieces of kit over the years, and which sounds better and resolves better in terms of digital versus analogue has swung in different directions at different times.

One personal, slightly related observation is that when I listen to music on FM radio in my car, if I turn the volume down low then all I hear is the noise, i.e. all of the percussion and other noises, and not much of the notes being played or sung. It’s more like a load of scratching sounds. Since most broadcast music these days is digitally sourced, it’s hard to tell whether what I’m experiencing is the result of digital sources, or FM transmission quality or rubbish in-car kit. Any ideas?

 

I love how so many people hate vinyl and want to bring it down. It's a strange human condition to hate things but it keep the population going.

I'm sure well done 192/24 comes very close to vinyl but it certainly isn't as much fun or as much of a PITA.

 

Agreed, but I have to wonder why someone who likes vinyl even feels the need to start a thread like this. I don't think that people who enjoy something really need to come up with theories to justify it. Some people like the sound of music on vinyl and are willing to put up with the effort that is required to enjoy it. Others either don't think it sounds good or don't think that the benefit is worth the effort. I don't see any reason why the discussion needs to go any further than the blindingly obvious.

 

it might smear the information, but if what I'm thinking is correct it would be giving you a more "in person" feel. As tho you're sitting in the room with the band.

i understand what you're saying. And if i was a fan of a certain engineer or somebody that masters the recordings, then i could understand wanting to hear JUST what they prepared for my ears.

but being a fan of the musicians, i find it more pleasing to have some room feedback, to feel as tho i am sitting with the band. So to speak.

I'm starting to wonder to what lengths some people would go to get the purest sound. Lol. Shave your ear hairs? (Not you in particular Scott)

There is feedback in the recordings. In the rooms. In the guitars. I think i would go batty trying to remove feedback.

There's feedback everywhere! I think you just need to decide what feedback you're most comfortable with... Or, even, enjoy!

Exactly!

And I'm not even sure i agree, lol.

But like i said, if i was a fan of masterings/engineering then I'd want to hear that specifically. And any kind of distortion would bother me.

But I'm a fan of the band's, and the music.

I can't imagine going to a concert and getting mad because the sound of the music is reverberating off all the beer cans!

Imagine somebody told John Bonham that the drums aren't being reproduced properly on these recordings, because you're playing in this damn stair case! Lol

 

This was excellent. Thank you!

 

I agree but like the OP, I raise questions about these types of things even though I like it. Maybe it 's because I only started getting into vinyl 6 years ago and my knowledge has just been slowly building. My personality is to question and look at the other side of things of outside of my practices (i.e., Vegan vs. Meat eating, Crossfit vs. Traditiong WO Training) and it usually stems from the fact that I like parts of the other philosophy and eventually incorporate them. With vinyl though, it comes down to the sheer joy I get out of each listening experience and I doubt digital will ever do that for me - at least it hasn't for 36 years of my existence. In saying that, I do plan to invest in a DAC in 2015 but it's more out of a supplement to what I have already achieved with vinyl playback.

 

These days, I wonder if part of the reverberations that tells our ear/brains that the sound is real, are preserved but also added back to the signal, particularly in the inaudible higher frequencies where the harmonics give us vibrations that are as much felt by the body as detected by the ears.

 

Exactly.

 

I have the same theory myself,analog reverberation is good for the body

 

I understand what you're saying, it's kind of like how I'm wondering why you would even bother to respond if you find it such a pointless thread.

And even tho I'm sure you don't care, or won't listen, I'll explain my reason for starting this thread anyway.

It's because i like to use my brain.

I enjoy music on vinyl, cd, DVD, bluray, mp3 (yes even mp3), coming from my guitar, whatever... i just love music. And because I'm an individual, i have my own individual opinion. That may or may not be shared by others. And that's fine by me. Personally i agree with @James Glennon i also let people know how much vinyl can suck. Pops, clicks, set up, cleaning, dealing with audiophiles lol. I hate the thought that there are albums out there being snatched up by punk kids thinking vinyl is coming back, and just sitting on shelves for looks!

But back to my original point. The original point of this thread was to see if i might be correct in thinking there could be some reverb phenomenon going on within my set up, that could contribute to the sound... and knowing myself, if it's doing what i think it could be doing, would enhance MY listening experience because I, I, yes I, enjoy a little reverb.

I'm not trying to justify my reasons for liking vinyl. I don't need to know why vinyl sounds better. It just does. If it's because of reverb, cool! If it's because of the pops and clicks, that's weird but ok. If it's because i have better masterings on vinyl than i do on cd, nothing wrong with that.. When a cd sounds better i admit it. (I'm constantly doing side by sides, and occasionally i can't tell a difference, or the cd just flat out sounds better)Is it because my budget doesn't allow me the proper digital set up? Who knows.

Anyway, it was just a thread meant to use ones brain a little. Didn't mean to offend anyone who's already thought of this effect and is bored with the topic, or offend anyone who hates distortion (guess you don't like classic rock, or anything pushing a tube amp), and i certainly didn't mean to offend anyone who thinks discussing things is pointless. In a public forum, of all places. Go figure eh?!

 

Exactly! Ever gotten a headache after listening too long to anything, with headphones.

It's discombobulating. Lol

But yes, i agree with what you just said. It feels more real.

 

OK, that makes sense, and I'm a big fan of thinking and over-thinking so I can relate. It just is troublesome to see this debate raised again here, because the whole vinyl-haters-telling-vinyl-lovers-they're-objectively-wrong is beyond old. And that's always where these threads end up.

 

Yea well don't hate the op for that. Especially when the question raised was a thinker

I hate when everyone chimes in with stupid crap that doesn't relate to the original post also.

This isn't vinyl vs digital. This is JUST a vinyl thread. Because vinyl is the only medium i could see producing this effect. A more "live" presence, as if the music is actually being produced IN the room with you. THAT is (as a musician) an effect i personally love!

 

I was responding to mikemoon's post, which I didn't think was pointless.

I like to use my brain too but as I've already implied, the vinyl/digital debate is so well-trodden and entrenched that I don't think it results in much meaningful and thoughtful exchange anymore. I'm not offended, it's just kinda "Oh, do we have to go through this again." And of course, I don't. But I probably still will, to some extent.

 

You may not think so, but that's were it's going, satisfaction guaranteed.

 

The reverberation from your head goes back up the headphone cord, into your amp, out the connecting cables, and back to the turntable....providing a warm, fuzzy feeling.

 

This is similar to the thoughts I had after 30 years of almost exclusively digital music, going back to vinyl and trying to explain why the sound is more pleasing to me. The vibrations of the needle are amplified, and perhaps hearing actual vibrations as opposed to perfectly simulated vibrations causes a somewhat different effect in the brain.

 

Exactly, well spoken and perfectly stated....

 

Of course, it's almost as frustrating to be told by vinyl types that digital is this or that and never will be as good. Tiresome.
As someone who used vinyl till 2011, owned a good few hundred albums, I think I'm pretty okay in saying that the suggestion is tosh.

It's been good enough to compete with vinyl for years and in my view surpassed it some good time ago.

 

But most vinyl lovers actually listen to and enjoy digital as well. That's somewhat different from those who rejected vinyl years ago yet want to tell those who haven't that the benefits they think they're hearing are all phony.

Anyway, I didn't mean for my post to become the self-fulfilling prophecy and I have no interest in playing "But your side did it first and does it worse!" I still say that positive appreciation of a music format doesn't require justification, and rejection of some format also doesn't require justification, as long as people on either side recognize the limits of their jurisdiction, so to speak.