Vinyl sales up 745% on Amazon.... news article about vinyl resurgence

To be quite honest, I don't think people can even tell the difference between an LP that is digitally sourced from an LP that is analog sourced.

 

That sounds like a topic for another thread, and it is being argued in multiple threads now. This one, IMO, was supposed to be about the lowly LP having a sales resurgence, no matter how tiny it is in the big picture. Sounds to me like you're fishing here.

 

Some can't and I'm guessing the majority would feel that way, I can tell to a degree I have some original Blue Notes and some Waxtime and DOL Lp's culled from semi legal CD as well as the CD and new BN 75 issues from HD digital masters.
They all sound different, the CD sounds much less dynamic and the Waxtime sounds similar, the recent ones are more dynamic and obviously have better vinyl with quieter surfaces-esp the Music Matters audiophile.

I day that as someone who has a good vinyl playback system; often LP's sound better to my ear than CD although a lot has to do with the mastering, pressing etc.

 

I think I can tell if an lp is digitally sourced or not. I bought The Cure's Head on the Door reissue from Universal's Back to Black label that came out a few years ago. Sounds digitally sourced, sounds a bit too clean, a little lifeless. Of course I don't have an original, but I might buy one in the future to compare it.

 

New release vinyl is inevitably digitally sourced. The point is that vinyl is usually cut from hi-res digital as opposed to 16/44.1 so soundwise usually has an inherent advantage over CD. That is irrespective of 'loudness wars' CD mastering. Of course there is little point in vinyl cut from a CD though some will still prefer it. Personally I want classic reissued analogue recordings cut from analogue tape. However have been surprised by some recent reissues that use a high res digital step, having the best UK first pressings for comparison.

In these cases it would be very difficult to tell if they are digital or analogue sourced - but that is something I have encountered only recently where they used 24/192 transfer from the analogue masters and both cases they were cut by Grundman on his tube system. Much better than the Doors reissues similarly sourced but several years ago. Conclusion is that the very latest digital converters are close to preserving fully the original analogue sound subject to the skill of the engineer. Of course CD is incapable of reproducing this sound quality while vinyl is. You could argue that a hi-res file will be as good but currently I am convinced domestic file playback capability has not yet reached the level of affordable vinyl playback.

 

The rise of cassettes and CD was the chance to play stuff anywhere including in your car and portable players on your hip. it was driving by shoddy mid 80's vinyl pressings. Some 73 vinyl is also junk because of the oil shortage(embargo?).
I'm actually curious if, it might be better as a dedicated thread, if anyone here actually is a 100% vinyl listener in 2014.

London Drugs near me have blown out CDs and increased the size of the vinyl selection. With national buying power slim margin to drive foot traffic they can under cut all the mom & pop stores.

If given a "blind" test you would probably fail. IIRC, no vinyl pressing plant in Europe can do an analogue vinyl pressing. Some all analogue stuff can sound bad and some all digital stuff can sound great depending how it was done.

 

The lifeless and slightly polite presentation is the thing that often gives digitally sourced LP's away, then again they sound like 1980's DMM editions just lacking a little dynamics.
Of course the later stamper number LP's of old had this flatness even in the day when analogue was king, the picture is pretty complex.

 

There are a few analogue chain (as in no digital lathes) in Europe I have some Tacet editions pressed by Speakers corner state they are 'all analogue pressing' (In fact they boast the cutter amp is tube based and the whole recording and cutting is 'transistor free')
Also there is a vintage vacuum tube setup in London the name escapes me for now.
Edit: This might be the one, so it proves there are still some around:
http://www.analogplanet.com/content...ntage-cutting-chain-analog-legend-sean-davies
Also here:
http://www.theguardian.com/music/2013/may/25/pete-hutchison-interview-new-vinyl-recording
So there are a least two vinyl pressing plants that can do analogue presses one in Germany and one in the UK.

And yes I can blind test easily and have done many times with almost 100% success it's not that hard to tell an original, from a CD from a modern LP-they all sound different.

 

Oh really? The guy who by far is the most insulting toward the format and those who enjoy it "sincerely hopes that vinyl makes a real comeback?" Tell me more about your forbidden desire!

 

It's not for me, but I like seeing other people enjoy it as long as they don't start making silly comments - and you know exactly what type of "poking the sleeping giant" comments I'm talking about. It never turns out good, and those types of comments are the cause of the trouble on this forum, because they are going to be addressed and replied to by multitudes of people who disagree.

 

Examples?

 

The major vinyl plants in Europe do not have analogue cutting facility but they can press all analogue vinyl if supplied with lacquers cut elsewhere. There are a number of mastering facilities in the UK and Germany that can do this incl Air and Abbey Road. So lacquers are cut for say Universal by a chosen AAA specialist facility and sent to GZ or Optimal for plating and pressing.

Can people get it into their heads that cutting lacquers and producing vinyl discs are separate specialist activities? However major plants (Optimal, GZ and Record Industry) have facilities that do DMM cutting from digital sources on site. This is obviously quicker and cheaper for standard releases. Even a number of Back to Black reissues are now getting a specialist AAA cut.

 

I've heard about this too, I looked up the whole thing about GZ. They need to be supplied a lacquer, but I think the person who works at GZ said that most companies don't send laquers because they want everything done cheap, quick and good. Of course that would mean they would just send them a digital master of the album. Which is probably why my copy of The Head on the Door from Univerals Back to Black reissue series sounds like a digital master.

 

Cool! So now you can buy 5 CDs.

 

You think a great many of things regarding the perception of other people. And as soon as you think them, you go ahead and post them here. I'd rather you think about yourself more and less about others, because we do fine with our own thinking so far.

 

You betcha. It took me about all of a minute to find this gem near the beginning of the thread:

See? Now that's what I mean by "poking the sleeping giant".

 

I agree. Pompous doesn't even do it justice.

 

Baloney. You have shown that you have complete contempt for anyone who likes vinyl. Any expression of preference for vinyl is interpreted by you as an aggressive attack. If positive comments, even silly ones, bug you so much, maybe you ought to avoid vinyl threads.

"Sleeping giant." Right. Like you're not always on patrol to "correct" anyone who says a positive thing about vinyl. And if we're such a pitiful minority and people of your attitude are such an overwhelming majority, then we should be easy to ignore. The fact that you can't puts paid to your entire stance.

 

Poking the sleeping giant? No better examples than those you have provided in this thread - which is supposed to be celebrating the vinyl resurgence.

 

Silly vinylphile, "celebrating the vinyl resurgence" is silly talk. Stop poking the sleeping giant, lest it rise up and shout you down. It doesn't have emotional issues. It just wants to be happy for you, but you won't let it with your silly comments.

 

That one example has been paraded over and over as a sign of a widespread problem. He is an outlier and has been criticized for that nonsense even by vinyl afficionados like myself. Meanwhile, this "745% increase over nothing is still nothing" and "it won't replace iPods" nonsense gets repeated as nauseum - again, in a thread that is supposed to be celebrating the resurgence.

Get over it already. No need to police threads on subjects towards which you feel ambivalence at best and contempt at worst.

 

What matters most is that it sounds good. Ideally as good as it can sound. How it gets there does not matter to me

 

To be quite honest, I don't think unsupported opinions on what listeners can and can not hear has any bearing on what they actually can and can not hear. If you have any specific examples supported by listening tests that would be interesting.

 

It would be nice if they would advertise which ones are AAA.

 

What does that mean? Pressing a record has nothing to do with analog or digital.