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Topic: Why do you like Vinyl? (Read 40423 times) previous topic - next topic
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Why do you like Vinyl?

Reply #51 –
I used to love vinyl! From the 1980s until just a few years ago, it seemed that I could still buy music on vinyl far cheaper than I could with CD. Even better, there was a shop not far from my apartment which had an upstairs entirely devoted to the stuff, and they had a number of turntables set up so that you could sample before buying. I'd come home with occasional gems for just a few bucks: Maybe something by Basie, Ellington or Kid Ory (the shop owners eventually caught on though, and suddenly the things I had been getting for a few bucks were closer to $25). It's still a pretty good way to sample classical and opera for next to nothing.

But I grew tired of hauling my collection up and down stairs, and realized that for every Red Back Book/NE Ragtime Conservatory or Concerto for Sitar and Orchestra/Previn/LSO, I had a whole lot more stuff that I had listened to once or twice but which made no lasting impression on me.

Today, I stream more than I purchase, and when I do purchase it's seldom on physical media anymore.

Why do you like Vinyl?

Reply #53 –
Quote from: Dark_wizzie on
What is your own personal reason why you like and often listen to Vinyl compared to regular music on the computer? 



It's another source for music. I have lots of LPs that have marvelous performances on them that have never been released on CD or any other digital media. A case in point: Sibelius - Finlandia (the choral version) with Eugene Ormandy and the Philadelphia Orchestra and the Morman Tabernacle Choir. Never released on CD. Joan Baez, "The Ballad Book" never released on CD only as a Vanguard vinyl "Twofer" and a lousy cassette Never on CD. Those are only two examples of hundreds.  To be honest, no music source is ever obsoleted until every performance that anyone might want is available on the new format that replaced the older one. That means that there are great performances on 78's that have never been transferred to another media either.

Add to that the fact that an LP on good playback equipment is hard to beat, sonically. There is something warm and human sounding about an LP that digital just lacks. It's probably distortion, but it's there, nonetheless. Case in point to back up this assertion. The best commercially available recording that I have ever heard is on vinyl. It's the Classic Records re-master of Stravinsky's "Firebird" ballet with Antal Dorati and the London Philharmonic. This release is four single-sided, 45 RPM 200 gram vinyl records. It sounds stupendous! I also have this same performance on CD, mastered by Wilma Cozart Fine (who also mastered this Classic Records vinyl release) and it's hard to believe that they are the same performance. The CD is lifeless, dull, and a big yawn while the LP version is vibrant, alive and dynamic. Don't sell vinyl short. But like everything else, if the record isn't top notch for some reason, then it's not going to sound all that great, but then the same is true of the latest digital 24-bit, 96 or 192 KHz or DSD high-res offering too, isn't it?

Why do you like Vinyl?

Reply #54 –
Quote from: gmgraves2 on
It's probably distortion



Harmonic distortion enhanced by uneven frequency response. Surprisingly easy to simulate with digital signal processing.

Why do you like Vinyl?

Reply #55 –
Quote from: julf on
Quote from: gmgraves2 on
It's probably distortion



Harmonic distortion enhanced by uneven frequency response. Surprisingly easy to simulate with digital signal processing.


Given that the characteristic "warmth" etc. of vinyl is easily reproducible on digital formats, I find it odd that there aren't that many commercially available "vinylizer" DSP or effect boxes. I know there are a handful of plugins for Cubase and so on, but why isn't it more common?

Why hasn't anyone made a hifi-looking piece of hardware that will "vinylize" your CD playback, for instance?

Why do you like Vinyl?

Reply #56 –
Quote from: gmgraves2 on
... ... ... no music source is ever obsoleted until every performance that anyone might want is available on the new format that replaced the older one. ... ... ...


Not even then.

Just because music is available on newer formats does not necessarily mean that we will buy it
The most important audio cables are the ones in the brain

Why do you like Vinyl?

Reply #57 –
Quote from: KozmoNaut on
Given that the characteristic "warmth" etc. of vinyl is easily reproducible on digital formats, I find it odd that there aren't that many commercially available "vinylizer" DSP or effect boxes. I know there are a handful of plugins for Cubase and so on, but why isn't it more common?


Isn't a handful more than enough? How many do you need?

Why do you like Vinyl?

Reply #58 –
Quote from: julf on
Quote from: KozmoNaut on
Given that the characteristic "warmth" etc. of vinyl is easily reproducible on digital formats, I find it odd that there aren't that many commercially available "vinylizer" DSP or effect boxes. I know there are a handful of plugins for Cubase and so on, but why isn't it more common?


Isn't a handful more than enough? How many do you need?


Cubase plugins and so on are for professional use, I was wondering why there weren't any hifi-looking vinylizer boxes for audiophiles who want their digitally-stored audio to sound "like vinyl".

Why do you like Vinyl?

Reply #59 –
Quote from: KozmoNaut on
Quote from: julf on
Quote from: KozmoNaut on
Given that the characteristic "warmth" etc. of vinyl is easily reproducible on digital formats, I find it odd that there aren't that many commercially available "vinylizer" DSP or effect boxes. I know there are a handful of plugins for Cubase and so on, but why isn't it more common?


Isn't a handful more than enough? How many do you need?


Cubase plugins and so on are for professional use, I was wondering why there weren't any hifi-looking vinylizer boxes for audiophiles who want their digitally-stored audio to sound "like vinyl".
I wonder if a company like Wadia or Luxman put a "vinylizer" button on an overpriced USB DAC, would it sell like crazy?

Why do you like Vinyl?

Reply #60 –
Do these plugins really do more than just overlay some crackle? I mean a proper one would mess with EQ and compression, mono-ize deep bass, add rumble and tonearm resonance, vary the speed (simulate wow & flutter), simulate inner groove distortion and any other effects of the tonearm's arc-sweep not matching the cutting head's linear sweep. It would also need to make hi-hats and "ess" sounds (sibilants) distorted, perhaps concentrating the distortion in the side channel for extra "warmth".

Why do you like Vinyl?

Reply #62 –
Quote from: KozmoNaut on
Cubase plugins and so on are for professional use, I was wondering why there weren't any hifi-looking vinylizer boxes for audiophiles who want their digitally-stored audio to sound "like vinyl".

Many audiophiles mistakenly believe that the reason they prefer vinyl is because it is inherently superior, not because of euphonic distortions. So they'd reason that adding a box to the already-damaged digital signal couldn't possibly restore what's been lost during digitization. Such a box would never sell to audiophiles. And the masses don't think vinyl sounds better, so there's no market there either.

Why do you like Vinyl?

Reply #63 –
Quote from: 4season on
Quote from: KozmoNaut on
Why hasn't anyone made a hifi-looking piece of hardware that will "vinylize" your CD playback, for instance?


Would you settle for a choke-loaded, transformer-coupled 300B tube buffer? Prices start at just 5500 USD:

http://purityaudiodesign.com/300Bbuffer.htm


Why yes, I would love to "Experience the sound of addaing a 300B output stage to any source component." 

Why do you like Vinyl?

Reply #64 –
I love vinyl... but it depends on what the woman wearing it look like and what type of whip and handcuff she's planning to use 

Why do you like Vinyl?

Reply #65 –
Quote from: 4season on
Quote from: KozmoNaut on
Why hasn't anyone made a hifi-looking piece of hardware that will "vinylize" your CD playback, for instance?


Would you settle for a choke-loaded, transformer-coupled 300B tube buffer? Prices start at just 5500 USD:

http://purityaudiodesign.com/300Bbuffer.htm

Musical Fidelity made a tube buffer for a while, in one of those X-series cylindrical cases.

Why do you like Vinyl?

Reply #66 –
As others in this thread have stated, I like vinyl because of it's "lovable imperfections" and aesthetic qualities.  I have no illusions about it being an objectively better way of reproducing sound, and if anything I like the sound because it isn't.  I also like film for similar reasons.  It's not really an either/or to me.

Also there are genres of music that are still mostly available on vinyl so their sound is still strongly associated with vinyl's "sound" (imperfections), as well as sample based genres that have built their aesthetics around the sound of dusty vinyl samples being run through lo-fi equipment.

I wouldn't want to give up my digital collection by any means, but I think there are reasonable (albeit subjective) reasons to like it.