How "gone" are vinyl recordings?

[Dan Schultz]

A couple of years ago, I bought one of those computer/USB turntables to digitize some Cities Service Band Of America LP's I stumbled across. I specifically wanted a recording of "Big Joe, the Tuba".

I used the turntable once and there it sits... on top of my dresser.

I enjoy a public radio program called 'Old Scratchy Records' and it's was fun to dial in once in a while. However... I've found that most everything I want to listen to is already available in digital format... most of it with the 'clicks' and 'hummms' removed.

[daveinem]

I have a bunch of records that will never be re-issued, and I'm glad to have them to play on my fully functional machine (1985 Thorens with a decent new cartgridge). I love the sound, and I love the act of putting a record on the turntable. Digitising misses the point, I think.

[darthminimall]

I'm a kid (18) so I have no nostalgia or anything associated with vinyl, I missed that era in time, but I still love vinyl. I have an (admittedly cheap) turntable hooked up to some speakers, and I listen every day. I think I can make a more objective comparison, because I have none of the nostalgia, and I think vinyl sounds better. It has a warmer quality.

[k001k47]

I'm a kid (18) so I have no nostalgia or anything associated with vinyl, I missed that era in time, but I still love vinyl. I have an (admittedly cheap) turntable hooked up to some speakers, and I listen every day. I think I can make a more objective comparison, because I have none of the nostalgia, and I think vinyl sounds better. It has a warmer quality.

I think it sounds like crap. I do enjoy listening to mine, though, and it's a cheap way to get a hold of 'classical' stuff.

It'd be cool to find this recording:

[Steve Marcus]

I'm pschologically damaged, by the way, that anyone would have listened to his mom's Dark Side of the Moon LP.

Slghtly OT: My kids and their friends, who are all familiar with this recording that was made before they were born, were amazed at the original 4-channel quadraphonic mix of Dark Side of the Moon that I played for them. This is apparently a different mix than any subsequent surround sound presentation of the album. Particularly fascinating for them was hearing,

"US, US, US, US, US, US, Us
AND THEM, THEM, THEM, THEM, THEM, Them, them..."

start from the front channels and fade to the rear.

(This was sourced from the discreet 4-channel 8-track cartridge dubbed onto my 4-channel reel-to-reel deck in the knowledge that the very function of the endless loop cartridges were veritable self-destruct devices.)

Now that I've typed this, I think that I did so once before on TubeNet...? That's what happens to people who are old enough to remember when Dark Side of the Moon was first issued on standard LP (not SuperAudio LP).

Back OT, I have sufficient quantity of LPs that have not been reissued digitally, including some performances of ensembles of which I was a member, that I'm happy about the USB turntable that I received for Father's Day. My Dual 1229Q from MY high school days had finally bit the dust, along with my Marantz 4100 Quadradial integrated amp. The Akai GX270D-SS 4-channel reel-to-reel still operates after an overhaul, however.

[KenS]

Since I am "older" folks and used to carry around my albums in apple crates I was smitten by the convenience of CD's when they came out. When water in the basement damaged most of my albums, it wasn't a big deal. I just threw them away.

Now some 18 years later, a new turntable sits with my audio stuff and wishes it had all that vinyl that is long gone. In particular the CSO Brahms symphonies conducted by Giulini.

sigh...

[Matt Good]

I have close to 2000 LPs and several hundred 78s. I also have several hundred CDs and listen to them when I have no other option. I never was able to embrace the sound of a CD. For me, the beauty of sound of vinyl on my system is incomparable.

I have found that CDs to make good coasters for cold beverages

-Matt

[termite]

I've got an old Thorens turntable somewhere and a small collection of vinyl that I've been meaning to dig out.
I've heard many people say that vinyl sounds better than CD.
Until recently I thought that all CD players sounded the same, that digital was digital. It's not. Most CD players sound pretty crook unless you paid a LOT of money for one. I've recently put all my music onto an old computer with an Asus Xonar Essence ST sound card and the difference between this and any consumer level CD player I've heard is enormous.

If I get the Thorens out I might do some comparisions but I'm not sure if I want to go
through learning the finer points of managing vinyl. There's enough stuff floating around in my head already. (Oops, that reminds me, I'm a couple off hours late taking my meds. Now, where was I?)

I read a post recently on some audiophile forum documenting a big comparison done between hi resolution digital recordings and vinyl done from the same masters of recent classical recordings. (Normal CD resolution is 16/44.1 - these files something like 24/96). The vinyl discs were special audiophile grade 45's - not 33's.

The equipment used was pretty high end - $11,000 turntable, similar priced CD player, $20,000 amp etc.etc.

From memory the digtal was considered slightly better overall although the vinyl did some things better. If the vinyl had been standard 33 RPM instead of 45 RPM the digital would have killed it.

Digital doesn't have to sound cold. Some higher end stand alone digital to analogue converters can have a very warm sound. The first generation of CD players tended to sound a bit like cut glass which didn't help.
Also the way a lot of older recordings (like Dark Side of the Moon) were transferred to CD in the early days didn't help. Most of my older rock and roll CD's sound pretty crook compared to recent jazz CD's.

Another thing to be aware of is that much current pop music is released on CD or as MP3 "mastered for iTunes". This means that it's mastered way too loud with the volume peaks clipped off and the softest sounds almost as loud as the peaks giving a thick, muddy, distorted, compressed, one dimensional sound. (The normal CD format and MP3's can only record up to a certain volume level. Most pop recordings try to be much louder than this). Look up "loudness war" on Wikipedia.

When one of these pop recordings is also released on vinyl, the vinyl version comes out with a full dynamic range with the volume peaks intact. These recordings would certainly sound better in their vinyl version.

I find my Dark Side of the Moon CD (bought many years ago) very frustrating. I don't know if there is a good digital version around or whether I need to find it on vinyl somewhere and get my Thorens working.

For those with older top of the range Hi Fi gear from the seventies - this stuff restored properly is equivelent to new equipment costing many thousands of dollars. I'm thinking mainly of amps here, not so much speakers. There is a guy here in Melbourne who specialises in restoring this stuff - he re-solders every joint by hand.
An amp done like this sounds fresh and alive.

Regards

Gerard