For CD and LP lovers, when do you choose which format?

As some of you will know i love both formats and i dont stream etc. I have noticed of late that i can spend a few weeks just listening to music on Cd and then a few weeks only listening to music on LPs. It seems to me that when i am feeling tired or low i seem to spend my time with Cds, but when i feel good and well i seem to listen to to LPs. When i have had too much wine, its Cds, when sober its Lps. My choice appears to mood related. How about you?

 

Well at the moment I find that clean vinyl, used with the right carts, can sound very addictive! When I get home I just want to put on some Lp's and get my shot for the day! For me, cd's don't have that addictive sound(stage) so it's easier to do a few days without them .

 

Usually if I'm setting up a new cart I'll play more vinyl. If I want to listen to a particular album on LP that I don't own on CD, I'll play vinyl. The same goes for the opposite. When I'm tired or busy, I play more CDs and digital music.

 

I'll go with the CD when a vinyl version is either not available, only available on a crappy pressing or ultra expensive. Otherwise, it's a record for me.

 

I play Lp at home around 95% of the time. I listen to my CDs in the car these days. It basically replaced cassette as my portable format. Occasionally I will listen to a CD at home if I don't have it on Lp.
-Bill

 

Whichever carries a mastering that I enjoy-
Especially for b-sides, 12, 7 inch mixes, etc...
Sometimes I have to resort to this format.
A good example is
Figures on A Beach-Standing On Ceremony, 1987
Some reason Sire never released this on compact disc. It wasn't until 2008 Wounded Bird remastered it for compact disc, complete with modern compression...

 

When do I choose which format? Depends on if it was 30 years ago or 15 years ago. Either one is now media waiting to get digitized to be 333% more convenient.

 

Let me know when you discover a convenient way to do that...
-Bill

 

I almost always only listen to CDs and FLAC/mp3 rips. As blasphemous as this sounds, I don't really listen to vinyl at all these days. I'll just make needledrops and then listen to them on my laptop or phone depending on where I'm at. The same goes for cassettes, although I'll usually listen to them for a bit while ripping them thru Audacity.

 

The CD rip is done and auto tagged in 5 minutes.

You're right about the LP though...you have go to the shelf, take it out of the jacket and liner and set those aside, clean it, make sure you have a good clean stylus, handle by the edges to put it on your turntable, drop the needle, maybe check that the volume is where you want it and restart, let the whole record play while you return to a listening position, then get up and flip it over, and listen to the complete other side in real time. Then re-jacket the vinyl and return it to the shelf. Wait -- that's just playing the LP, every time -- you also have to press "record" once.

 

Seems to be centered around mood & genre. For Jazz, I tend to lean heavily on vinyl. Rock, Acoustic, Hawaiian, etc. I lead toward CD.

 

It really depends on what music I want to listen to. If the recording happens to be on vinyl then I’ll spin the LP. If the recording is on CD then the little shiny disc it is. The format is secondary to the music itself.

 

If it's an artist I like, I probably buy both formats, in some cases even several copies.

For everybody else it's either CD or LP depending on the price, I've found cases when even the LP was less expensive than the CD, so why bother with the digital format.

 

Most Lps I listen to these day are digitized, it´s much more convenient this way. I would say that maybe 90-95% consists of digital music, in different formats.

 

From a purchasing perspective...

I stream and pay for Apple Music...
but when...
I like an artist and want to support them but don't think there's a high replay value I will buy a CD
I like an artist and want to support them and know there will be a high replay value I will buy Vinyl.
I really, really like the artist and want to support them, I will do both. (e.g. Devin Townsend's Empath)

 

It also for me depends on my mood tonight playing a few CD's but later I'll tend to move onto Vinyl if I think of an album I have not played in a while or I will play my
go to vinyl and just chill.
But as I have got older I tend to play more and more vinyl. I think this forum has helped change my habits from just putting
on a CD because it's easy.
Vinyl involves a bit of work which I like
brings back so many memories holding that sleeve and having to clean the record brush the stylus and change sides.
Just choosing an album can be fun and picking the next one and lining them up next to the turntable ready to go,can be
So enjoyable. Floyd.

 

What is a CD? Certificate of Deposit? I only have one input on my Integrated Amp, so I actually have to switch cables depending on my choice of black licorice (old school with no remote) or streaming Tidal Hifi (new skool with my iPhone and Apple watch controlling everything). Tidal is plug and play and sounds really good on my system. Chasm deep bass, detail, air, blah blah blah. Adjust volume on the fly and do searches and discover new music and play my kid's favorite stuff all at the tip of my fingers. Vinyl, the horror, the horror, can be so sublime with the right record, VTA, VTF, tail feathers down, perfectly cleaned with no residue, no inner groove distortion, Baerwald, Stevenson, or other flavor of the month alignment theory, different pressings, moon phases, etc. When you hit the jackpot, like on my .99 cent Phoebe Snow or free Brubeck records, vinyl is king. When you obsess over the lack of bass or sibilance on your $50 45-pressing, it's easy to grab the iPhone....

 

Last year, I focused more on my LPs and the gear to play them. I found that some of my LPs sound head-shakenly amazing and will still reach for the LPs when I want to hear those particular albums.

This year, my resolution was to focus on the streaming of my ripped CDs. So after a Roon purchase married to my Oppo endpoint, I have been listening to my ripped CDs almost exclusively.

This has led to an increase in CD purchases, as I ADORE comparing different CD pressings and their masterings, and Roon helps me do this with ease. I think it funny that I still consider the streaming of my ripped CDs as still listening to CDs, but the 5,000 or so CD library is in the same room as the hard drive that has them stored, so perhaps it is just my way of justifying the collection. I still pull CDs off my racks daily to look at something about them.

I had trials of Tidal and Qobuz, but I am having too much fun with my CDs right now to care about those services. I still use Apple Music to sample albums I am looking to purchase when out and about and in the car, but that doesn’t count.

 

LP's for active listening, CD's for passive listening.

(Back when I still had CD's anyway...)

 

Imho vinyl sound is more relaxing

 

I choose CDs to play...LPs to display.

 

There are 3 factors:

a) which is the best sounding version?
b) price
c) availability

I buy on CD about 75% of the time.

 

Depends on how much I've had to drink. I don't want to risk breaking off the stylus if I'm buzzed

 

Wrongly or rightly I made my choice - the CDs are in the garage, the CD player is sold and my rack looks like an exercise in LP minimalism. My record collection, however, takes up an amount of space that annoys the wife!

 

For "critical" listening...

Play vinyl: extremely infrequently and heading towards never.

Play CD: somewhat occasionally, but trending towards rarely.

Play SACD (DVD-A, Blu-ray): occasionally.

Stream ripped CD from server: a good amount of the time.

Stream ripped SACD from server: the go-to (and a mix of stereo and multi-channel depending on which listening room I'm in.)

Jeff