C'mon, who still plays LPs...fess up

[John Ricci]

Since we moved a month ago I took my fave turntable out of "dry dock" (10 years) added a new Ortofon moving coil cartridge then SWMBO and I have been enjoying all of the 12" stuff that we bought back in the 60s~70s~80s that are all still pristine and so much more audibly desirable than their CD counterparts.

There is something more pleasing to the old analog plastic recordings that lacks in the digital world we live in today. I have always kept all of my recordings clean and free of the ticks and pops that I used to hear on my friends copies so in a number of ways the CDs pale by comparison...the LPs just sound more "real" to us. Any of you other audophools wanna throw in your .02 worth to the cause?

J.R.

[Andrew Derhammer]

Cds are actually more clear than vinyl. Vinyl develops small bumps and ridges to it from being played. These defects make the vinyl sound more full when in fact the digital is more "correct"

[Doug Shepard]

I just cant make them fit into the slot on my car's dash Are you spozed to hammer em in er sumpin

[Ken Fitzgerald]

I still do once a decade.

Most of the 60's, 70s and 80s stuff I have on CDs now.

[Tom Godley]

I use my Sony PS-X7 that I bought in the mid 70's - still connected to the Harmon Kardon equipment I bought at the same time. So many buttons. It was all soooo expensive at the time -- I hated to part with it. For some reason the "Doors" sound better with some distortion. Now I rely on the equipment to provide it-!!

[Dan Mages]

LOML and I have more than 700 in our living room and listen to them on a regular basis. We even buy new ones every now and then.

Dan

[David DeCristoforo]

Ya know what I miss most about the old vinyl? It's when you were putting record on the turntable and just ready to ever so gently set the needle down on the surface and all of a sudden the phone rings or there's someone pounding on the door or the dog sticks his nose in yer... SCRRRRRITTTTTCHHHHHH........... Oops....

[John Ricci]

Cds are actually more clear than vinyl. Vinyl develops small bumps and ridges to it from being played. These defects make the vinyl sound more full when in fact the digital is more "correct"

Andrew, what kind of "lathe" do you use to play vinyl records or do you even play them? Wear deterioration actually cuts the groove down on lower end gear which lops off the top frequencies...a result of too heavy a tracking force with a "boulder" of a stylus forcing the groove to submit over time. Many years ago I sold home audio gear in the mid~high end and learned very quickly what works and what does not. I run my systems flat and if a recording cannot impress me within that criteria then I place the fault with the recording. My signal chain is just fine...table/cartridge, pre/power amps, speakers (multiple choices on all of them and each of them are most respected within the high end audio community)

Perhaps educate your ears . BTW, are you here to answer the Q in my original post or not?

J.R.

[John Ricci]

Did I just make my previous post in my "out loud in public voice"? Oh well

J.R.

[David G Baker]

I got'em but haven't played them in many moons.

[David DeCristoforo]

"Did I just make my previous post in my "out loud in public voice"?"

Yeah dude. That was a pretty snooty reply. So do you have a copy of Dave Van Ronk and the Hudson Dusters? No esoteric vinyl collection is complete without it you know......

[Andrew Derhammer]

Andrew, what kind of "lathe" do you use to play vinyl records or do you even play them? Wear deterioration actually cuts the groove down on lower end gear which lops off the top frequencies...a result of too heavy a tracking force with a "boulder" of a stylus forcing the groove to submit over time. Many years ago I sold home audio gear in the mid~high end and learned very quickly what works and what does not. I run my systems flat and if a recording cannot impress me within that criteria then I place the fault with the recording. My signal chain is just fine...table/cartridge, pre/power amps, speakers (multiple choices on all of them and each of them are most respected within the high end audio community)

Perhaps educate your ears and don't fling poop without wearing a mask. BTW, are you here to answer the Q in my original post or not?

J.R.

Not to argue, but anything rubbing against anything causes deterioration. Plus the items used to read a vinyl vibrate themselves adding more to the fullness than what was really recorded. Take a double blind test, same amps speakers and so on and see if there really is a difference that you can tell.

[Greg Peterson]

I don't listen to much vinyl these days. I know that today's pressings are great, but I place a higher value on convenience rather than the pleasure of vinyl.

My ears are so-so anyway so I doubt I could tell much difference between a good digital or good analog recording. Plenty bad examples exist of both types.

NPR did a story on the analog/digital divide. They did a sound test with a couple musicians and a couple of engineers. The engineers were marginally better than the musicians, being able to correctly identify the source format (analog/digital) 57% of the time. Granted the test would not pass scientific muster, but the point is that music recorded with today's technology will provide a more accurate signal than analog. Whether or not that is as pleasing to the listener or not is purely subjective.

As for MP3's, that's a whole other nut. MP3's are pure convenience. And I am grateful they exist, every minute I spend on the treadmill or eliptical machine. I could not make it through the cardio workout without my CBS Radio Mystery Theater episodes, Brandi Carlile, Cheap Trick.....

There is something to be said about a turntable and tube power amp though. A more organic listening experience perhaps? Regardless, my turntable has been idle for a couple of years now. Perhaps its time to crank it up?

[Bruce Page]

We have a 30’s Victrola phonograph that I crank up once in awhile. Does that count?

[John Ricci]

"Did I just make my previous post in my "out loud in public voice"?"

Yeah dude. That was a pretty snooty reply. So do you have a copy of Dave Van Ronk and the Hudson Dusters? No esoteric vinyl collection is complete without it you know......

Point well taken Dave, way too snooty, I agree with you. I do offer my apologies Andrew but I guess we have to agree to disagree on the topic. I have duplicates of a good deal of my collection in vinyl/cd formats but I tend to prefer the old school technology.

J.R.