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

I use a cheap battery-powered phono pre amp, and I use a rechargeable battery. So vinyl gets spun when the battery is charged.

When it runs down it can take up to a month for me to remember to get it out to charge it, and/or summon the energy to do so.

CDs get spun in the intervening period, and if I get the urge to listen to a record during that time, well I probably have a needledrop.

 

I only use my server these days for digital. Don't even have a CD player on my rack. That being said, I normally shuffle different genre's with the server and leave it on without fuss during the day.

Regarding Vinyl and Wine- A couple of glasses of wine often happens when I'm sitting down to listen to LP's.

 

I listen to what sounds better. Sometimes I'll admit, I'll choose a CD for convenience, although I own thousands of LP records and 45's. One very obvious case for argument is the Moody Blues "Every Good Boy Deserves Favour" and "Threshold" ... there are no CD's that compare with the original LP pressing, not even close.

 

The only way to judge what is better, Cd's or LP's, is to hear the worlds best CD player vs. the worlds best LP playback system. Anything short of that; you are not comparing formats, you are comparing equipment vs. equipment. Simple as that.

I am sure most analog die hards would be surprised at how good CD's can sound and compact disc lovers would be surprised at how good records can sound. So basically all we are dealing with here are guesses, and it has been a waste of time.

 

Yes! I agree with this, also consider that we need the same source recording to make a fair comparison. I cited "Every Good Boy Deserves Favour" in my previous mssg, but this is a case of an inferior source tape, or transfer to digital, vs a quality first press made from an early copy/ original master tape. The difference is astounding, and unmistakable.

 

Like the OP, I tend to go back and forth. I have moved over to Qobuz streaming instead of CDs so I have only been purchasing LPs lately. I'm mostly vinyl right now but before long something will annoy me and I'll be digital again.

 

Being familiar with really good compact disc playback, I can tell you that very expansive and open sound is possible from cd. For years, only tube amps were supposed to be able to do "open" but now, both great transistor amps and compact disc players can also. CD playback near its best, has a directness of clarity and purity that you would have to have one crazy good turntable setup to match. Analog's forte or strong point is slightly more of an ease about it and a genuineness and naturalness of timber that CD has trouble quite matching 100%, but the fact that it does sometimes match it or come very close, makes you wonder. People with the better CD players often think the difference in sound quality is about a toss up and when you throw in digitals convenience, its compact disc playing more often for them.

 

20 years ago I would always choose the LPs over the CDs whenever an LP was available of an album for sonic reasons. But today my digital chain has gotten so good that I generally now prefer to buy the CD over the LP. However the number one exception to this rule occurs whenever I believe that the only copies of the CDs which are available are likely of being victims of the loudness wars. Whenever this happens I usually try my best to find a copy of and original LP in excellent condition.

 

However concerning the spatial resolution of analog vs. Cd, if there was an extremely unbelievably subtle spatial detail, I would bet on analog to be the more likely to resolve it.

 

my choice is by convenience...and it sure ain't vinyl...

 

I have a TT, CDP, and laptop hooked up to my system, If I'm doing things in the room with my system then I'll play LPs but if I'm doing things throughout my house then I'll play CDs or shuffle the digital.

 

I've bought so much vinyl over this last year it's taking almost all my listening time just to get through it, so I'm not listening to much from my digital source (ripped CDs/streaming). I choose the digital source occasionally just for something different, or to surf tidal. But very soon my Digital Music ADD has kicked in and I'm back to vinyl.

 

I'm retired and my thought was , now have the time to play my records.
The reality is: nr 1 is streaming
nr 2 cd
nr3 lp .
I have so many things to do and streaming and cd is so easy.
It's only at evenings that i play records.

 

When I buy music in a physical format, it's always vinyl. If I want digital I just use uTorrent.

 

What a wonderful way to not support the artists who's works you listen to nor the industry which records new music...

 

People who still pirate music in the era of dirt cheap streaming are a bit confusing to me. But generally they have strange arguments about how pirating music makes artists more popular and they perform sold-out shows to people who all stole the album.

 

Cool. When do you choose vinyl?

 

Right. My digital music collection(CD's and server) is much larger and I have tried not to duplicate it on vinyl for the most part. Instead, I've been collecting titles I didn't have on CD. Although I've certainly duplicated some stuff and prefer the vinyl version often. I listened to some digital this weekend because I wanted an extended mix and to evaluate speaker positioning. As for too much wine, that is when I put on some LP's.

 

I don't...

 

so you steal it?

 

yes, she's very demanding and doesn't put out very much these days..

 

If there is a huge difference in the mastering I may pick one over the other for that reason.

Live albums I will tend to go CD to listen straight through

Otherwise, with a handful of exceptions, the heavier modern hard rock and metal stuff I will go cd as I typically listen to that in the car. The more laid back and midtempo stuff, and classic rock, music that I will sit and relax and listen to at home I go vinyl.

Fleetwood Mac - Vinyl
Metallic - CD

The National - Vinyl
Alter Bridge - CD

 

There are a lot of things I own on CD or vinyl only, so of course that will dictate which format I choose in the moment. In most cases where I own both formats, the vinyl sounds better, so I’ll usually choose vinyl.

If I’m feeling too tired or lazy to cue up records, that’s usually TV time for me, anyway. I don’t actually find it that much easier to put a CD in a tray, anyway. Drunk? Hell, that’s my favorite time to spin some records!

 

If it makes you feel better, I've not used it in many years.
And I DO support them by buying vinyl.

However, that's because I just copy the sound off YouTube videos as MP3 files now. I really should have been clear that I use uTorrent when I want high quality copies. But I haven't cared about high quality for years. And part of the reason is that I actually use Amazon Prime music and Pandora to listen a lot. Quality is not all that important when I'm listening in the car or in the garage, or on the porch while reading or talking with my wife. I've got bluetooth adapters on all my stereos so that I can play from my phone on any system wirelessly.

i.e. it's actually complicated. If I'm seriously listening to music, it's ALWAYS vinyl, with one exception: If I'm seriously listening because I'm learning a song (I'm a bass player and vocalist), it's copied off a youtube video. Quality is not that important. Hearing the parts is, but the quality is good enough for that.

I'm old fashioned. I think musicians should get paid for performing, like in the old days, not for making a single recording and then watching the bucks roll in when people buy copies of recordings.

And when I do the DJ thing, or perform covers in a band, the royalties are, in fact, paid.

For me, purchasing music is a vinyl thing. I expect the rest to be free or I don't play. And the only streaming I've ever paid for in my life is Amazon Prime. But that is because it's free with an Amazon Prime account. Otherwise, I wouldn't use it.

I'm 66. We lived with FM music and I recorded a lot of songs off FM to cassette back in the early 70's. Yeah. I had cassette while all my friends had 8-track.

For me, uTorrent, YouTube, et-al are just the modern equivalent of FM for getting songs. And the quality, relative to the standard of the day, is pretty much the same.

 

Just like I stole songs off the radio back in the 70's, or steal the sound off youtube videos. now.

As I mentioned in my post before this one. I really haven't cared about digital sound quality for a very long time. So, when I "steal" music now, it's really off Youtube. If I'm listening close enough to the sound to care about quality, it's always vinyl. Always.