OK, so many vinyl fans, but who's just DONE with it?

I think the trick is that I'm not an audiophile. Tonight after dinner, my wife suggested I make a couple cocktails and put on the new Bob Stanley and Pete Wiggs compilation, Paris in the Spring.

She would never suggest I make a couple cocktails and do a shootout between for different copies of LZII. And that's why we've been together for nearly 25 years!

 

My main system and 1,500 LPs are in the living room, but all of my CDs are downstairs. One of the kids is moving to college, and I offered to move my LPs into the spare room opening up in the basement thus keeping them together with all of my CDs and spare equipment. She wouldn’t hear of it. She said she is too concerned about humidity and how difficult it would be for me to access my LPs when I want to listen to them...

She is a keeper.

 

I'm back into vinyl.

I like it. I helps me slow down and smell the roses. There's a ceremonial aspect to vinyl that I find satisfying. I'm not done with CDs or hi-res downloads, but vinyl... I'm DEFINITELY BACK!

 

A great DAC won't bring out dynamic range in brick-walled releases, unfortunately.

 

Or... "I'm scratchy"

 

I just played a quick CD tonight for my daughter to hear something, and I thought, "I am so done with the CD"

 

My warped little mind can rationalize having it all - LPs, CDs, Hi-Res DLs, etc. Heck, I’m even considering buying a vintage Nakamichi cassette deck and busting out my 35 year old cassettes.

 

Would you draw the line at 8 track?

 

I'm a hair-shirt, dyed in the wool vinyl guy. Lot's of attention paid to the front end, table, arm, cartridge, phono stage, set up, tweaks, buying the "right" pressings, even though some of those are now a King's Ransom; spent some serious dosh on record cleaning equipment and a lot of time researching various aspects of vinyl playback, from the plastics used, to how to clean and maintain them. I even write a blog called TheVinylPress.
That said, here's my listening chair tonight: IMG_1226 by bill hart, on Flickr
I'm digging what digital can do, even without throwing a skazillion dollars at it. (Something I did with my vinyl front end). In fact, part of the fun, now that the CD has been declared dead, is doing the same thing I did when vinyl was first declared on life support. I bought bags and bags of albums.
I've gotten to a place where this stuff can sound just great, and I can enjoy myself immensely, without worrying about whether one recording sounds better than another. (In fact, some do sound better than others, but format is only one factor, and sometimes, not even a major one). The whole point of this, ultimately, is enjoyment.

How do you get enjoyment from the hobby or pursuit? Many of my high end friends are now doing pretty serious R2R. Will I go there?- not high on my list, mainly b/c I'm after access to more music, and not necessarily listening to the absolute best presentation of some old warhorse that I'd probably only put on to show off the system. Frankly, I've even gotten to the point where that's not so important when visitors come-- I'll say, hey, wanna hear this really weird Italian prog album that sounds like Deep Purple and Sabbath with a Fado singer? That's me, though. That's as good as it gets- not the equipment, the format, the price, the bragging rights, the latest or greatest.

I was blasting Reverend Bizarre's Crush the Insects II before I shut down the system. Not exactly a connoisseur's choice for discerning the nuances of cymbal interplay and image, but it kicked ass. And put a smile on my face. Life is short. You want to have reasons to smile more. Find your bliss. And enjoy the hell out of it.

 

I'm all in.

CD's, SACD's, Vinyl, High Res Downloads.

 

That said, here's my listening chair tonight: IMG_1226 by bill hart, on Flickr
I'm digging what digital can do, even without throwing a skazillion dollars at it. (Something I did with my vinyl front end). In fact, part of the fun, now that the CD has been declared dead, is doing the same thing I did when vinyl was first declared on life support. I bought bags and bags of albums.
I've gotten to a place where this stuff can sound just great, and I can enjoy myself immensely, without worrying about whether one recording sounds better than another. (In fact, some do sound better than others, but format is only one factor, and sometimes, not even a major one). The whole point of this, ultimately, is enjoyment.

How do you get enjoyment from the hobby or pursuit? Many of my high end friends are now doing pretty serious R2R. Will I go there?- not high on my list, mainly b/c I'm after access to more music, and not necessarily listening to the absolute best presentation of some old warhorse that I'd probably only put on to show off the system. Frankly, I've even gotten to the point where that's not so important when visitors come-- I'll say, hey, wanna hear this really weird Italian prog album that sounds like Deep Purple and Sabbath with a Fado singer? That's me, though. That's as good as it gets- not the equipment, the format, the price, the bragging rights, the latest or greatest.

I was blasting Reverend Bizzarre's Crush the Insects II before I shut down the system. Not exactly a connoisseur's choice for discerning the nuances of cymbal interplay and image, but it kicked ass. And put a smile on my face. Life is short. You want to have reasons to smile more. Find your bliss. And enjoy the hell out of it.[/QUOTE]



Great post Bill.
I feel the same way.
It's all about having fun with this hobby..... exploring and enjoying music.

 

I was thinking of creating a separate thread for this but I’m putting it here.
In the vinyl vs HiRez vs Cd debate it is my view that to get really high quality sound from any of these a considerable amount of expense is involved.
If one budgets for £1000 each on the sources and gets a turntable, CD player and a streamer I think that money would be better spent on one source of whichever type preferred at £3000.
Also it’s almost impossible to tell how different the various versions of a release compare. I don’t use vinyl but I am contemplating it and the cost of acquiring an analogue system and the Vinyl collection I would like is astronomical.
Then there are the alleged quality problems with new vinyl. Vinyl also requires more effort to create a digital version for use on all my other devices.

 

.

Great blog....amazing system.

 

Without a doubt. I never owned any during their “heyday.” Haha

 

I rather be listening to music than fartin around.

 

Neither will a turntable. If the recording is brick-walled originally (which most modern recordings are)...The best a vinyl engineer can do is be a bit more sympathetic with the levels on transfer.That is normally down to vinyl not being able to cope with the higher levels that CD can cope with rather than the some pact by analogue engineers to master better.

Unless we can stop artists and studios brick-walling and compressing most of their output,then simply relying/hoping for a slightly toned down vinyl transfer won't help much.

 

I gave a like for the comment AND the avatar

 

I mentioned selling a piece I’ve had so long it’s like family and the wife didn’t say anything for a few days. I set up my Pioneer sx750 in the master bedroom and we watch movies with it as well as music, I said one night “man those amps look good at night” she replied “yea you need to quit talking about selling stuff”.
MY GIRL!

 

Picked up a very used copy of Herb Alpert & The Tijuana Brass' "!!Going Places!!" LP. LOTS of pops and LOTS of crackle even after a thorough cleaning. Ripped it to my PC and removed the pops and crackle w/ Vinyl Studio. It ain't perfect, but it sounds a lot better, and I get to enjoy one of my favorite bands.

 

this is the "Audio Hardware" forum...

 

can't be done by anyone on these forums, but OK--

 

Found this particular bliss at my local used record store bin!

 

Funny, if you zoom in to that photo I posted upthread, showing a digital file playing using my iPad as a remote, it was that very album.

 

Not really. I enjoy vinyl and love having a good turntable.

It's just a personal preference - I am not evangelical about it. I use digital formats too.

 

Well said, sir.