Turntables & vinyl: just a fashion thing or a sincere appreciation for the sound?

[notaclue]

Originally posted by Alex S
Music goes in your ears and the brain decides if you like it. I'm actually much more fussy about music I hear on a mini-system - my brain has to work that much harder. I like almost anything on a good system - Is that good? Anyway, unlike bub and Jason I'm no longer a format snob.

I'd say it was probably bad. You are letting issues of sound quality affect your judgement on the artistic merits of the music...or something...

 

[Uncle Ants]

Re: While we're at it...

Originally posted by notaclue
Let's dispel the silly myth that hi-fi is 'about the music'. It isn't. It's about the sound quality.

Sounds about right. Some people would spend a small country's education budget, to get a system which will reproduce the sound of a toilet flushing to such a level of hi fidelity you can almost smell the poo.

Uhoh. Yeah, lets start a civil war Musos v. Technerds.

 

[RDD]

The Devil

Little defensive there aren't you!! I wasn't aiming my comment at you directly, more to all posters claiming "night and day" differences and their inability to listen to CD due to it sounding worse than nails down a blackboard. For the record I totally agree with what you said.


Uncle Ants

If you mean that "CD is way better than vinyl" or "vinyl is way better than CD" then yes, that kind of difference doesn't exist.

Thats exactly what I was saying

All I'm saying (like Tones) is that I can fully apreciate music on both formats, neither is better than the other IMHO. That's not the issue as I see it anyway, CD V's Vinyl threads have been done to death :SLEEP:

 

[tones]

Originally posted by The Devil
No, and I never said it! The differences are fairly subtle, but having said that, easily appreciated.

Corrected version:

"The differences are fairly subtle, but having said that, easily appreciated by some of us".

Others of us can't hear them, James, but don't feel the lack. As I say, I really do feel sorry for you if you can't bear listening to a CD after listening to an LP. That would drive me mad. I listen to what I want all the time, in whatever order I want.

 

[garyi]

Na fox, my problem is the record I want to play I can't find, until such time as I don't want to play it anymore.

When I had less records I organised them once, but now, its to hard to much effort, so they just get put back where ever.

 

[Uncle Ants]

Originally posted by garyi
Na fox, my problem is the record I want to play I can't find, until such time as I don't want to play it anymore.

When I had less records I organised them once, but now, its to hard to much effort, so they just get put back where ever.

Funny. Its exactly the opposite way round for me.

Mine used to be all over the place but as they expanded I had to organise em or I could never find anything especially in the days when I partook :MILD: ). I pull out records as and when and leave them propped up near the system until propped up pile becomes too much and then file em all back again (about once a month )

 

[merlin]

Originally posted by Paul Duerden
Hi Merlin,

If an old favourite comes up on a pub jukebox I always really enjoy it, somehow the pub system doesn't get in the way. I have the same experience in record shops sometimes, perhaps I am at the first faltering steps of a cure to all this Hi Fi.

I bet there are a few relapses to come on the way though.

Hi Paul,

great response and just what I was thinking. You do not need a great system to enjoy great music, it's about time the "all about the music" crowd accepted that they are deluding themselves (myself included) IMO

 

[Uncle Ants]

Originally posted by merlin
Hi Paul,

great response and just what I was thinking. You do not need a great system to enjoy great music, it's about time the "all about the music" crowd accepted that they are deluding themselves (myself included) IMO

I'm sure I'm deluding myself. Probably got a lot to do with going to too many live gigs and periodically buggering your ears up so's the real hifi guys can dismiss anything that's said with a dismissive - "well what would he know he's half deaf anyway"

 

[TonyL]

When I had less records I organised them once, but now, its to hard to much effort, so they just get put back where ever.

I got to the stage that the records were roughly in alphabetical order, i.e. all the 'Bs' were together, but not sorted within that, and also confusingly going right to left as they had previously been in plastic tubs on the floor (so A was at the front, i.e the wrong way for shelves) - I was just too lazy to sort them out properly when I shelved them up years back.

After what must be 25-30 years of record collecting with this rough ordering I was getting so pissed off with not being able to find anything without effort. I actually spent many hours hard labour a few weeks ago really sorting the things into proper order - they are the now right way round in strict alphabetical order. I now try to remember to pull the sleeve of the record next to the one I'm playing out a little so I can easily remember where it goes back. I found a lot of stuff I had totally forgotten about while I did it which was coolââ'¬Â¦ The CDs and 12" singles are still a total mess...

Tony.

 

[tones]

With classical LPs it's easy - alphabetical in composer and major artist order. So records by trumpeter Maurice André will come after Albeniz and before Bach, and the King's Singers are between Haydn and Mahler. Collections go at random order at the end.

 

[TonyL]

With classical LPs it's easy - alphabetical in composer and major artist order.

I've gone composer, work, conductor (or ensemble name if no conductor), then date.

I was very tempted to mix everything up genre wise and just file everything alphabetically, but I ended up keeping stuff in categories. I've got rock (which has punk, Kraut, pshych, dance, reggae etc all mixed up), jazz, classical, exotica (weird 50-60s nonsense) and odd shapes (boxes, 10ââ'¬Â, 7ââ'¬Â etc).

Tony.

 

[domfjbrown]

Originally posted by TonyL
I actually spent many hours hard labour a few weeks ago really sorting the things into proper order - they are the now right way round in strict alphabetical order. I now try to remember to pull the sleeve of the record next to the one I'm playing out a little so I can easily remember where it goes back.

That's exactly what I've been doing for years - simply because unlike you guys, there's no way in HELL I can read the writing on the spine of the LP (and most of the ones I have are battered secondhand, so unreadable anyway!).

I order by artist, then chronologically, so dIRE sTRAITS starts off with dIRE sTRAITS and Kate Bush starts off with The kick inside etc.

I also order like this with CDs, but have 2 racks in separate alpha order!! Oops...

 

[titian]

Well I don't have a large collection of LPs (I think about 7) but every time I have to switch back to them (from CD), I feel reborn. :boogie:
This was again this week after nearly one month of CD listening. Tomorrow my CD-player will go to a show but I won't miss it (any way only 4 days).
For me there is no doubt which format is better in quality.
Good to hear about the vinyl revival, I just wish that the new recordings of classical music would be released also on vinyl. I would certainly buy a couple of them but this will remain a dream.

 

[tones]

Originally posted by titian
Well I don't have a large collection of LPs

:ffrc: :ffrc: :ffrc: :ffrc: :ffrc: :ffrc: :ffrc::ffrc: :ffrc: :ffrc:

How many zeroes did you omit, Titian?

 

[ilockyer]

Excellent thread.

Buying vinyl definitely is more of an event... the longer time it takes to sift through the racks searching for that elusive bargain, the buzz of finding something, whether for yourself or for someone who's with you, it takes up a lot more time to sift through purchases than if you've got CDs, and, as someone rightly said, it feels like more of a substantial purchase even though often it's a lot cheaper, it won't hide amongst the rest of your shopping so you get people asking stupid questions like, "are you a DJ?" because you've got a bagful of records...

As for the respective merits in terms of sound, the White Stripes latest definitely was leagues ahead on vinyl, and it shouldn't be really as it's so recent a release. It's the only recent release I've got to enable a comparison such as that, on older stuff, Fishermans Blues on vinyl trounces the CD copy although I believe a remaster is due which may narrow the gap somewhat.

Bottom line though, is that there's stuff available on each format that you can't get on the other, so both are necessary really.

 

[PeteH]

Originally posted by tones
With classical LPs it's easy - alphabetical in composer and major artist order.

I file my CDs the same way as they're arranged in the Penguin and Gramophone CD guides: composers alphabetical, and for each composer concertante - orchestral - chamber - instrumental - vocal. Works for me anyway... And I always leave the case of the CD in the player sticking half out of the shelf to make it easier to find when I'm putting it back / remind me what's in if I've been out etc.

 

[amazingtrade]

Bottom line though, is that there's stuff available on each format that you can't get on the other, so both are necessary really. [/B][/QUOTE]

Yeah I get such enjoyment I don't get from CD or digital format, I guess to me digital just feels a tad souless. I still need a CD player though and CD is my main format.

 

[auric]

Buying vinyl definitely is more of an event

For me the act of buying records is both tactile (turning the disk over and over whilst looking for scratches and ingrained crud) and social (buy some records and then do a few pints of beer), what better way to spend money on a Saturday afternoon? Somehow CD's just don't seem so substantial because with records you get something big and heavy in exchange for your cash so it seems like a better buy.

Auric

 

[Snoo]

This may interest some of you:

http://diystompboxes.com/sboxforum/viewtopic.php?t=18577&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=0

It's a debate by some non hi-fi heads about who still uses vinly. It's over at the DIY Stomp Box forum. People that build their own guitar/ effects pedals.

 

[The Devil]

If it were possible (and feasible) to have a choice of two options as follows:

1. Ditch my vinyl collection (& TT) & replace it all with CDs, or

2. Ditch my CD collection (& CDP) & replace it all with vinyl.

I would choose option 2.

But life isn't like that.