I had never listened to a vinyl record before a couple of years ago. I pulled my dad's 45 year old system out of storage on a whim, and I'm still in disbelief at how good they sound. I've listened to records every day since. Maybe it's just me but when the music is literally spinning there in front of you I can feel some connection to the music.
Yeah I agree I used to have a really crappy family all in one and 2 years ago I played an old record with my new system and it’s sooo darn good! I could not get enough of it.
*Plus* The One thing Records can do that no other media can, is they can be played without Electricity! It's what makes ANALOG Unique among the many advancements. IF ELECTRICITY Disappeared, it's possible to make mechanical Players that will PLAY what is on the RECORDS and I hate losing MUSIC because I didn't have cash for everything in life!
@@keplermission4947 You'll have to excuse me because I honestly don't know much about audio at all. I just really like listening to music. My dad's stuff (it's mine now, I guess? lol) is a Marantz 2220B and a JVC QL-A5 turntable with an Empire 400TC cartridge. Super old, but it sounds great to me! And it was free!
@@keplermission4947 If you listen to Rolling Stones from that time period it will have the same F.R. no matter what format. The limitation was the tape decks of the time. NOT vinyl! Vinyl itself can go out to 60Khz as used for CD4. Try to get that F.R. on a CD or any digital format. And those electric parts inside you know from the '70's that the Voyager spacecrafts still use? Yes parts CAN and many DO deteriorate. But to claim it is 100% and you have to be lying to claim it still sounds good? SAD! Now please explain how stereo separation can only be artificial when it is actually being heard.
Interesting video. To counter: Top 5 Reasons to Get Into Vinyl 1, You are off grid, nobody knows what you are listening to 2, You own your music 3, Artwork/Lyrics 4, You listen to a whole record as it was intended 5, Record shopping and hunting for wants is part of the whole vinyl experience and an instant memory is made when you buy them.
Agree in album art etc but will stick to my massive collection of cds and multi ch SACD DVD A AND Blue Ray music. I still own that and off grid. I only stream to seek out music I want in my collection. Nothing like a top loading vacuum tube cd player and my legacy focus se powered with my iV 2 AMP AT 1000WPC @ 4 ohms!
I was the guy, back in the 90s and early 00’s, accepting everyone else’s record collections. They were literally giving them away, and even though I still had a big move ahead of me, and I wasn’t necessarily even into their genre, I happily loaded them into my trunk and added them to my collection. I’ve got so much more Willy Nelson, Country, and Bob Dylan than I’ll ever need, but I like having access to those alternate worlds, right on my shelf. I enjoy putting on my guest’s favorite music when they stop by, so they can hear how warm, lush and musical their favorite music can sound.
As a retired individual. All of the #3 reasons he listed are exactly why I am enjoying my vinyl now more than ever. The steps it takes to enjoy playing an LP "force" me(just figuratively speaking) to slow down and enjoy the moment. I don't always want to be in "hurry-up" mode because everyone is. It's my time to just...relax!
I started vinyl a year ago because I got fed up with myself and Spotify. I couldn't handle having all that choice. Rarely did I listen to a full album on Spotify. It's always skip skip skip. Vinyl is almost like meditation. Love it ❤️
I do not want to participate in digital platforms exploiting artists and profiting massively from it. The explanation for the Apple logo can be found in Genesis chapters 2 and 3.
I got out of vinyl in the late 80's and thought CD's were the end game. I then thought that creating playlists and streaming was really "it". Now.....I am back to vinyl and just love the whole experience of listening to an LP. I love to experiment with different phono preamps, cartridges, etc. I enjoy the music better listening to an entire record vs skipping to my favorite songs. Researching and buying new music on vinyl, as well as 1980's and 90's reissue LP's is just fun. It can definitely get expensive. I know that my wife has no idea what I spend on certain records......
Same here, all of it. Never.thought I’d be back but here I am. Additionally, sound bars are so good now I am moving away from home theater systems to pure two channel music systems.
Its not for me anymore, but I still love the type of harmonic distortion it provides so I love the sound. BUT - there's a reason my 35 year old Roksan Xeroxes' rosewood turntable remains sitting in my attic, in fact several. As I've gotten older and lost my heath and mobility, finding the music you want, putting it on and then getting up to change it is so much effort I listened to less and less music. My 2000 LP's take up so much room its impractical to keep them in my room. Now I use a Naim Atom and I have access to just about everything in the world, I've never enjoyed music more and myself and my wife have gone back to spending most evenings just sitting down and listening. Digital has made me get my hi fi mojo back.
"Harmonic Distortion"? You mean, LP has LESS of it than digital! Digital distortion increases A FULL ORDER OF MAGNITUDE for every 20db drop in the recording level. Loud sounds within 20db of the "0 VU/db" maximum recording/output level have less THD in digital formats, true. But at levels below -20db, LP's, cassette tape for that matter! have LOWER DISTORTION than 16-bit digital. That's why low-level sounds literally "disappear" in digital formats, & why LP's, EVEN OF DIGITAL RECORDINGS(!), have more detail & sound far more realistic. What has 0.005%THD @ 0VU has 0.5%THD @ -40db. Feh! Analog format distortion drops dramatically with decreases in level AND KEEPS DECREASING whereas with digital it KEEPS INCREASING (-60db is 5%THD with 16 bit digital !!!😛). Even LP will have like, 1/100th the THD at those low levels! Which may approach the subliminal at that level, just barely above the noise floor. But God is in the details. No wonder digital sounds SOULLESS! You have chosen convenience over fidelity. Enjoy!
@@joerosen5464 what an extraordinary rant, I had no desire to trigger anyone. Whilst I can see you have a strong preference I do wander why you are so vitriloic in your opposition for what is the recording medium of choice for the vast majority of commercial studios. I just enjoy excellent music and dont begrudge anyone enjoying music their way.
Been there done that and don't want to go down that road again for nostalgia's sake. My number one reason is that nowadays there are very few albums that I can listen to without wanting to skip a track(or two or three). With vinyl that's a major PITA. Having said that...if I ran into a large amount of cash I'd probably buy a turntable anyway.
In 20 years, people will be complaining of the PITA of having to line up a track in iTunes and pressing play, or choosing the song from a playlist. Or putting the cd in the tray, pressing play, or pressing skip button a couple of times to find their favourite track. People are idiots.
@@snakeobias Hopefully I won't be around to witness that era. I didn't switch from vinyl to streaming. I got rid of my high end turntable (an Oracle at the time) and vinyl records, then listened to radio and had friends make tapes for me that I would listen to on a very entry level system. Then one day I walked into an audio shop and heard some good jazz playing on a very nice system but couldn't figure out where/what the source was until the shop owner pointed to a tiny device called a Squeezebox. I ordered one immediately and subsequently my first high end system in over 20 years. I've since moved on but that little black box was responsible for getting me back into hi-fi and music like never before.
@@snakeobias dude iTunes IS a massive pita anyway... That's why I vowed never to use any computing device for audio ever again. I'm a record guy all the way
@@mikemcguinness1304 yeah, I won't disagree with you there. I think I need to get away from the iPhone/ipad hold Apple has over my listening habits. The new Music application is terrible
The whole thing is a complete pain in the arse and expensive. The whole ‘holographic stereo image realism’ thing is a load of bollocks as well - the thing is trying to reproduce two discrete channels of audio from one groove using one stylus - the sound people crave is just euphonic distortion. Bought myself a rather nice technics 110 a while ago to revisit my old vinyl and it’s seldom used. Have moved on from distortion, sibilance and most of all lack of dynamic range and don’t want to go back. New vinyl is also crap - suspect due to being brick walled for digital and just turned down for vinyl pressing. So what choice - worn out second hand old material or inferior new. I just want an age of hi res digital, with ganFET amps and active dsp to sort out my room - good job it’s already here (better start saving up!).
We who have a real passion for music can get into it on either system. An album is a body of work that represents an artist at a particular point in time. Playing it in sequence from first track to last is a great connection to a band or an orchestra or a musician. The streaming paradigm breaks that level of connection. The tracks are isolated and some are never played or given a chance to grow on us. Albums and record players in their way, are such a great way of becoming musically knowledgeable. Your assessment is a good one. You have to install a record player and spend difficult moments trying to get it to accurately transcribe the signal whilst preventing the playback from degrading the signal with resonances and feedback. The tendency to try to find a sweet spot where the magic is can become a frustration that can’t be assuaged. Digital systems are less prone to outright failure in terms of maintaining ideal sound.
#6 ---?---> MOVING HOUSE with records. The last time we moved I was done. After 20 plus years in the same apartment my collection of vinyl was just too heavy & bulky to go to our new condo space, so I gave everything to a close relative who said "they'll always be with me if you want them back." Three years later all I miss are a few of the album covers; I'm thrilled my life got a lot lighter, & I adore rocking out to the moving pictures of youtube! Thanks for the great video, you're a lot of fun!
Great video, Steve. I needed to hear the voice of reason. I was considering going back to vinyl but I sold all of my records years ago. If I had kept them I could justify buying a good turntable. At this point it would just be money wasted that could be spent on better components.
Vinyl v. Cd is a debate that will outlive most of us. At 68 years of age, I still play vinyl that I bought 50 years ago. Since my records have only been played on audiophile turntables, their sound remains extraordinary. I have two tables, a Rega P6 and a Rabco ST-8, each with hideously expensive cartridges. It is difficult to put into words the sonic beauty that comes from them.
I personally prefer vinyl. I guess because it’s not perfect. But I love CDs and their portability as far as listening in the car is a huge plus over cassettes.
I feel no need to join that debate. Each medium has it's time and place to enjoy it. I own around 2300 vinyl titles some of them I bought in the late sixties. And I still listen to them regularly. But I also own a serious collection of CD's and have a server with a huge collection of flac albums. And in my car I listen to Spotify.
Why would someone have two turntables? Why would you pay hideous cartridge $.Put a cd into a player, forget your hiss and pop, forget your interrupted get up and flip your black floppy vinyl over, take another sniff as you Vinyl heads get your kicks from, and enjoy the sounds. Yea right. Move on. We here at the real in 2021 world have a new idea. Put a CD into a tray, ahhhhhhh. Kick back and enjoy the whole album on cd. Light up and enjoy.
Oh, what a fun topic and hilarious and informative way you tackle it. I got into vinyl about 10 years ago and am way deep into the rabbit hole. It is more expensive and of course there are so many rituals involved so it takes a lot more time and effort, but when it all comes together it is by far a more heart and soul experience that brings you closer to the music. That said, I'll never want to move out of my house now because all this stuff is heavy!
I still buy and listen to my records (CD's) everyday. I'll use YT, BC and my local community radio for sourcing new artists but never the streaming services. They pay the artists a miniscule amount and make a huge profits
Last weekend I setup a fanless NUC pc with "Daphile" open source streaming software running on Linux in bit-perfect mode. The real-time kernel and dedicated PC finally makes my Schiit Bifrost sing. Tidal finally sounds good, really good! The music just hangs in the air, black background. It exceeds anything I could get out of my vinyl. I took down my Kyocera PL601 W/ Shure 94(?) off the wall and put away my 100 or so albums. I'm done. Digital never sounded better and I'm walking away from my beater vinyl that served me well when CD's cost 15 and albums were 9. I had to be thrifty in 1984 and they're all used and beat up. Moving on!
I thought I was out, but vinyl pulled me back in. I put away the turntable in the mid-'90s. I didn't want to be that guy who was always yelling at his kids over stuff. A few years later I divested 90% of my album collection. But CDs were never a passion for me. They did not sound right, did not feel right. No emotional connwction.. The kids grew up. Four years ago my daughter gave me a suitcase record player and the remastered Led Sell debut album. It all came flooding back! I now own twice as many LPs as I did in my heydey. I'm running my vintage Demon DP2550A with Micro Seiko MA505 arm and a Pioneer PL41 set up for mono. I can't quit you, vinyl, and I will never try to again.
@@keplermission4947 Happy to share. Main System Gear · Denon DP2550A turntable with Micro Seiki MA505 tonearm and Audio Technica AT450 cartridge (connected to Schiit Mani) · Pioneer PL41 turntable with Audio Technica VM610MONO cartridge (connected to SA3 internal phono preamp) · Schiit Mani phono preamp · IOTAVX SA3/PA3 amp stack (dual mono configuration) · Triangle Borea BR03 standmount speakers · Schiit Bifrost 2 DAC · Chromecast Audio streaming device (optical to Bifrost 2) · Lenovo Windows 10 PC (USB to Bifrost 2) w/ 15 Tbs for audio/video files · Massdrop THX AAA 789 Linear headphone amp · Massdrop Alex Cavalli Liquid Carbon X headphone amp · TCL Roku 42” TV (optical to SA3 internal DAC) · Sony DVD/CD player (coaxial to SA3 internal DAC) · Morrow Audio interconnects · Software:: MusicBee, BubbleUP, Spotify Connect, others · Headphones: o Massdrop Sennheiser HD6XX balanced o Thinksound ON2 o Dekoni Blue by Fostex o Massdrop Koss Porta-Pro X o Philips Audio Fidelio X2HR o SIVGA SV006 o Status Audio OB1 o Status Audio CB1 o Anker Soundcore Life Q20 Hybrid ANC wireless o Avantree Audition Pro aptX Low Latency wireless o An equal number of IEMs (Status Audio, Thinksound, Hifiman, etc)
Not mentioned for vinyl, is it is noisy! I suspect wifi and 5 gee etc. isn't helping. Also noisy power. Walking on your floor bouncing the needle and making more noise. Feedback loops. Grounding issues. Snap crackle and pops.
You don't say what gear you have! But fix a nice solid shelf to the wall and put just the turntable on it. That will stop the walking feeding through.Put some felt bads under the turntable feet. That will minimise the resonances. Get yourself some reasonable quality shielded interconnects. All cheap-ish fixes for a massive improvement.
I have been enjoying music for seven decades. What I hear and feel when playing VINYL is a physical, mental, emotional and spiritual experience I don't have with digital Hi RES files. I enjoy digital music just not the same feeling as analog especially open reel tape playback.
There aren't many of us that are still using reel to reel...I agree...there is something physical that touches you with analog, that you just can't access with digital..the closest I have to digital is a transport and a dac...don't see changing that anytime soon. I listen to analog, almost exclusively.
Vinyl in the year 2021 is just a hipster sophisticate wannabe trend. Whatever theoretical gain one might obtain with an LP on a turntable over a well recorded CD run through a good DAC is greatly outweighed by the extremely annoying clicks and pops that cannot be eliminated from an LP, no matter how well the vinyl junkie contends his fabulous disc cleaning system works.
Well said Steve and agree with all 5. Had my fill with distortion in the late 1970's and early 80's. Most of my listening is on a 1973 Kenwood w/ amplified antenna (analog) FM Tuner from a local commercial free Jazz station here in Long Beach Calif. and the sound is just incredible, streaming does not compare.
I listen to vinyl at home and stream on the go. I see streaming like a walkman. It is to late as in alot of old good records cost a fortune. Love your videos Steve
like cd never existed??? cds came right on the heels of vinyl and tape. nearly 40 years now. yet its often lumped in with all this new streaming nonsense. nothing in common. cd is as much of a collectible hands on format as vinylever was. it never got better than cd yet analog is touted as superior. in what universe is vinyl and analog superior? its strictly opinion of vinyl diehard ludites who see vinyl as some combination of nostalgia and elitist snobbery. use your common sense. cd vs vinyl. with cd no wear factor. needle vs laser. no scratches and skipping like vinyl. portability. car cd players are cheap. vinyl needs to be transferred to files for car use. storage. 1000 cds fit easily on bookshelves. try that with 1000 lps. collectible as lps and often better liner notes. i have cds i bought 35 years ago that after continuous playing sound as good as then. would vinyl hold up as well after continuous playback. unless you have the hearing of a dog no need to lift the needle to move to another track. cds much cheaper and more durable than vinyl. cd players dirt cheap compared to a decent turntable. and virtually no maintenance compared to vinyl. cd sound beats vinyl hands down.
There’s nothing like putting the needle on the record. I love interacting with my system like if it was a human being. Plus streaming high quality streaming is actually $20 not $10. And there are very good records out there even used in great condition for as little as five dollars. I don’t think it’s never too late when you know what you’re doing.
I'm a vinyl fanatic too, however there is a place for digital. Your comparison of $10-$20 a month for virtually unlimited music to a rare price of $5 for a single, used album in good condition is Apples & Oranges my friend. Streaming has opened up my musical world tenfold or more. I can spend the evening listening to wonderful music and musicians that I've never heard of before. I can also make playlists based on any criteria. Many, many times I've brought an album home, only to find that I only like 2-3 tracks. With streaming that's no problem..just put the ones you like in a Playlist you can make for that artist. I purchased many vinyl albums because I discovered then online first and liked them so much that I had to hear the usually better, vinyl version. Keep on spinning! But don't cheat yourself out of streaming either...you're missing out!
I Ile vinyl but I have to clean the record every single time I get it out. Video idea Steve. How to properly clean records. I just got a chap cleaning kit off amazon and I don't know if maybe there's a better way?
Will they even remember the music of their time? I know I forget songs or bands or albums for long periods of time, until I come across it on the shelf one day and go “oh yeah” and slap it in/on. Stuff that would never pop in my head to search for on streaming service. But when I come to it on the shelf, I’m reminded. Good stuff
Grew up with vinyl and bought tons of sealed records when CD’s became the rage. Now things have flipped and CD’s are a tremendous value. Still love vinyl but I have walked out of many a store where the lowest price for a record is 20 bucks.
Yup, 69 years old and have had the passion since spinin’ records on my parents record player when I was 3 years old. No better experience. Nice video, Steve.
Even thought I was a Technics dealer in London in the 1970s & 80s I still have some fantastic turntables. Starting with an SP10 Mk 2 and three other Technics Decks I have had to give up on Vinyl and settle for digital due to old age and disability. My wife won't let me get rid on the turntables and my record collection. If I could list it on eBay I would but even that is beyond me now. I still have a couple of SACD players and a large collection of CDs and SACDs so I will stick with digital. Thanks for your video Steve.
I've written about this. Back when CD was launched I blind A/B'd them against LPs. I didn't believe in CDs but they lived up to it so I was convinced and I converted. Today I have 2 simple reasons for not going back: 1. Too much palaver. You covered this. Its too labour intensive. 2. LPs are way too expensive and the money isn't going to the performers.
What's the percent that goes to the artist for either Vinyl or CDs? (I'm assuming it's the same for both formats but maybe not) From what I've read for Spotify streams it's around $0.003 to $0.008 depending on the artist.
@@garrybayford5734 I was talking about older records. The ones that original owners sold for pennies at a yard sale and which traders would now like to sell you for $200.
I will admit it may not be the thing for all newbies as vinyl costs 2 to 3 times more than it did in the 70's and 80's when I was growing up. I already had speakers and a pretty good vinyl collection so after 35 years I decided to treat myself to a turntable upgrade and bought a reasonably priced phono preamp. I'm a subscriber to Audio Advisor as I love looking at electronics but there is no way in hell I'm paying 1000 plus dollars for a phono preamp. At some point sanity has to come into play and you definitely want to save your marriage. 🤣
When I grew up I got familiar with vinyl and turntables and now I'm 39 and I still love the nostalgic sound and feeling of the vinyl and turntable, just looking at how the vinyl turns and how the tip follows the grooves and automatically picks up the arm at the end of the record is just magical on its own. Ow, yes you forgot to mention one more important thing about vinyl, if you have many of them and want to store them against the wall you better make very sturdy shelves because it is a lot of weight so something from Ikea isn't fit for the job.
My wife doesn't understand any of this stereo stuff. Just got my 1978 stuff out of storage and refurbished because our new house will have a back room in basement that I will be allowed to have my stuff. Love it. I can live with a few dozen record albums and 50 CDs. I am listening in storage room now. Wife listens to music streaming from her phone to ear buds or cheap speaker. You didn't mention cleaning records or cartridge every time or expense to have a separate room.
Another reason for not getting into vinyl: the pairing of analog equipment is so very critical. So many choices of cartridges with different stylus shapes and output, phono preamps, the table itself, platters, tonearms, belt/DD, head shells, connecting cables. And throw in a cleaning regiment or machine to add even more time/cost/uncertainty to the mix. With all of that said, I’m currently cleaning and listening to hundreds of records that I picked up, and am enjoying it immensely.
but when one use the same turntable that is at home since 1974 in Africa then in late 75 at home in Portugal and several cds sound worse than the vinil record to the point of not even like the songs as released on cd with a high-end cd player to listen ,the dozens of lp´s that one took care off to the point of not hearing a single out of the recording sound i think that keep listening to the records i stoped buying in 1993 with perfect sound one should question if cds are that good that not being able to reproduce mainly analog instruments as most of the bands that play analog instruments kept recording till today in analog recording devices that most of the good studios kept using or they would decrease the quality of the recording . I really think that records are very good as in quality of sound not refering to the new releases of vinil that i bought one to substitute a late 70´s record and the first thing i notice was a hiss inbetween tracks but not all i also have hundreds of cds that i bought since 93 not earlier because when to choose to buy a lp in cd or two in vinil i kept choosing vinil and i do use digital but saying its bad , no just one more format but what was lost was the record itself had covers that one could see the work to doing that possible and reading the words of the songs that with cds i have them bought in early 90´s that still today i never took of the inlay pappers to read litle printed texts this not refering the lost art of having beautifull covers that some bands try to make the cds as atractive as all old covers but that´s only a couple of bands, i also have a technics turntable with direct drive and both since new have been working without giving any problem the maintenance is easy and made from more than a decade to decade, the stylus if used correctelly are also good for a lot of years as the belt for my 74 turntable , the 76 technics ,even i feel amazed with the quality of it no need for a new engine since 76, but for those who had high-end stereos and bought lp´s as they were coming out but after listening they put one on top of the other this on top of a speasker, for those cds were a real fantastic improvement but when damaged not one song they could listen while a record can sound worse but one can hear it not like cds but i teach some to clean those unplayable cds as if they were cleaning dishes and 90% of them would start to play again, just not one better than the other but both complement the problems of each format, it´s only my opinion i use all the formats released till today except the DCC ,the DAT i had the first sony at home but it´s expensive but without a doubt the best digital format for regular users but expensive as hell ,never bought one, also some new expensives turntables are a laugh, and when someone is spending a fortune in a new cartridge and stylus first i would try a amplifier with a good phono stage, that 99% of the 70´s receivers or integrated amplifiers have, so in reality not for lazy guys as other already comented mr.geddy geddy (Rush, also a band that their old lps are much better sounding in vinil compared to the cd) and basically resumes all i´ve said, regards
Had it not been for the vinyl I started buying back in the 80's I probably wouldn't own a turntable today, so the interest was grandfathered in I suppose. Vinyl is the most inconvenient & costly way to enjoy music - I agree that you have to be a hobbyist with some level of passion to even wanna be bothered.
Steve, thank you so much. Turn as many people as you possibly can to streaming and cd's... More albums for me! You did touch on something that hit home to me. Before we moved into our new forever home in 2003 I culled my record collection which included both LP'S and 7 inch singles down from over 8000 to just a little over 5000. I am desperately trying to replace some of those well worn LP'S now. It has not been easy.....
As an older audiophile I had many large systems with reel to reel, 8 tracks, cassettes and of course many different turntables. As a Sound Engineer and a Theater Technical Director I have tuned analyzed and listened to Multi hundred thousand dollar systems for a living. As a DJ and music lover since the 70's I've never been a fan of records due to skipping, noise and general hassle using them. Once I got a good Marantz cassette deck I transferred my records to cassettes, eventually getting a 3 head Teac deck with DBX noise reduction. Was a big cassette fan, even had DBX in my car. Once CD's came out I never looked back. I did finally buy a Pioneer DJ turntable with a decent cartridge a few years ago and my old albums are in great condition as I barely played them. Some of my old albums aren't available on CD or streaming so I occasionally play them. I prefer smaller simple systems now, Have a Yamaha R-100 receiver, Marantz CDR510 CD player, TeacV2RX cassette deck, Pioneer PLX-500 and ADS 710 speakers. It's by no means the finest audiophile equipment available and most of it is way over 20 years old. Good records on a great system sound good. For me digital sounds better and is way more convenient so yes, I agree with your 5 reasons and have a few of my own as well...
I've had a turntable since the early 1980's and with the advent of the CD player, never dumped the LP's. Saying that, for those who did not already have a collection of records, I am not sure if I could recommend it unless they were really into the format. I think that a lot of people these days buy turntables for the "cool cat vintage" aspect of it and not for the sound.
If you are getting into vinyl, because you read about or heard about how amazing it sounds, please note that to achieve sonic bliss with vinyl, it is a time consuming and expensive endeavor. 1) You need a quality turntable. 2) You need a quality phono amp. 3) You need to isolate your turntable from feedback or any vibrations. 4) You need to dial in: -- the effective length of the tone-arm. -- the cartridge's weight. -- the vertical tracking alignment / rake angle. -- the anti-skating. -- the overhang. -- the offset. -- the zenith angle. -- the cartridge's azimuth -- although all of the above requires special tools, this particular setting requires tools that are not part of the usual turntable set-up kits. And after you get all of the above as good as your ears are telling you they can be, then there is the chore of finding quality vinyl pressings. 80% to 90% of vinyl pressings are between suck to decent. Perhaps 10% are very good. Only 1% or 2% have magical sound quality, and for only one of the two sides -- and often not for every song on the same side (the studios have different recording sessions, botching a track here and there, and it makes it to the side of an album where it pales in comparison to the other songs on that side). And you will also need a good record cleaning machine and cleaning fluid. If you are able to accomplish "all" of the above (and the rest of your stereo is very good), then you will be in for a real treat that few people have ever experienced. If you fall short on any of the above, you simply will not have great sound quality, and the problem is compounded if you fell short on more than one of the above items. With everything at its best, your record will probably play very quietly, and have outstanding stereo separation, and realism that has to be heard to be believed. If you did not dial everything in properly, and you did not painstakingly re-purchase the same album over and over, seeking out the best stamper codes, etc... ...if you did not do absolutely everything right, and you think that your vinyl playback sounds very good, then pray you never hear a set-up where someone actually got everything right, because you will then hear what your system is missing. Vinyl is fantastic, if 1) you know what you are doing, 2) you have the $$ to do it right, and 3) you have the time to devote to getting everything right. I am not dissuading anyone from this hobby. I am just letting folks know what they have in store for themselves, if they have their hearts set on hearing the best that vinyl has to offer. It is probably a much harder goal than many folks expect it to be. If the ultimate sound quality is not your goal, then by all means, jump in and enjoy! ----- By the way, digital is no picnic either, if you want to hear it at its best. Between jitter (yes, you have jitter -- unless you have a pricey transport to minimize jitter), and endless compressed releases from the record companies, finding the rare gems in the digital content offerings is hard work. That hit song you have is likely available on an original release, a re-master, a re-re-master, a greatest hits, a best of, an anthology, and several compilations -- and almost without exception, they will differ in sound quality (and, still, most of them will not be great). And note that when there is more than one re-master, then that is the record company admitting that the blew it on their first re-master. And they probably blew it on the re-re-master, too. But digital is far more convenient, and less costly, to get good sound quality. Cheers!
There's a gag cartoon that says "the two things that really drew me to vinyl were the expense and the inconvenience", and that seems to be my case. I am perfectly aware of the technical and practical advantages of CDs over vinyl but still, CDs have never exerted the fascination that vinyl records did on me from the cradle. I started buying CDs just when I realized that I had to do it if I wanted to keep collecting music, when the vinyl industry died in my country in mid 90s. During that time, my lifelong vinyl fever remained in a hibernation state and, fortunately, I didn't make the mistake of getting rid of my LPs. My vinyl collection didn't grow on those days, but I never stopped taking care of it. As soon as I realized that vinyl wasn't dead, my fever returned stronger than ever. I appreciate CDs for what they are, but I can never feel toward them the same I feel about vinyl records.
You missed a big reason: It’s not portable. You can’t listen to vinyl in the car, on the bus, jogging in the park, etc. Heck you can’t really even listen to it in your home outside of the room your system is in (unless you’ve installed speakers throughout your home). So many of us vinyl people have a secondary means (usually digital) to enjoy music outside of our listening rooms. And while I love my records, I find over half of my listening is done on my car or away from home.
Amazing video! Love the angle you gave to someone trying to make the decision to go in now or not. You could also say that the vinyl technology continues to improve (both media and equipment) and it's never too late. But I agree 100% that you need to be passionate at this point as there're plenty of cons if you're coming from a 'plug and play' digital world.
Getting rid of all of my vinyl in the 1990s was a mistake. I regret it every time I purchase a record that I had in the past. My vinyl back then was in excellent shape. Makes me cry. I will say now, hunting down a great copy of that special record to replace has been a great part of the hobby for me. I am certainly very selective of what I buy and I think it makes me appreciate the music even more. I saved almost all of my cassettes factory as well as personally recorded. That was probably because of the cassette deck in my automobiles. I have also been enjoying that aspect of analog. I am impressed with some of the recordings I made that do sound incredible given the format and age of those tapes.
I've saved the cassettes I have bought "factory" but just don't listen to them on the Nakamichi ZX9 because they literally sound terrible and the tape they used were terrible and make a mess in addition to not sounding good. I mean sure in your car what the heck. I guess my point is that the old chrome particularly Maxell UDXLII sound great, the mechanism works great, they record great, and boo hoo the current maxell tapes suck hard.
@@JohnDoe-np3zk you´re right the last 90´s maxell cassetes were garbage but i have ur and older ul´s that today sound as perfect as in the day i recorded them and type I
CD's, Vinyl, and Cassettes are the best formats for audio. I've been at it for 40 years now. I kept all my stuff with no regrets. A good Nakamichi like the ZXL 700 or 1000 is a good as a reel to reel. Also, get your hands on a Revox B 215. They are just as good as the Naka's.
A good way to start was always raiding your family's old record collection. I've scored three dumps in my lifetime but I've also spend a ton on brand new vinyl. The best part for me is streaming the analog over Sonos in real time. I'm literally the house DJ now lol
Spinning vinyl since the 70’s. Love it. But I love the unbelievable access to music that streaming provides. This is the golden age of access to music. Thank you Digital.
Steve, all you have said is true, for me - UNTIL, I acquired a DENON 59L turntable at a thrift store for $35.00, (near mint!), and dusted off my LP's, and purchasing many others, so now it is a regular part of my listening enjoyment!
well I have both. but when I come back to digital after couple of days listening to records, it feels for first 10 minutes some how claustrophobic, but in an endless room...
“WOW N FLUTTER” - THAT’S WHAT I THOUGHT WHEN I SAW TODAY’S SHIRT, STEVE….holy shit! NUMBER 1 reason not to get into vinyl? It’s to much “work” for lazy dudes…lazy dudes need not apply for vinyl, especially 45rpm discs!!! Period- end of story
What drives me crazy about streaming music is what my wife does. She has like a thousand random songs on a Playlist & she just bounces from song to song, artist to artist. What bothers me about this is, she may listen to a couple of Bad Company songs that she's heard on th radio, but she's never listened to a Bad Company album all th way through in her life & it drives me batshit crazy!! 1 of th Greatest joys of my adolescence was saving up $ & buying a cassette/CD & sitting down, listening start to finish & reading th linear notes. Yes, there's an age gap between us & it just makes me sad many younger people don't know this joy of collecting music that many of us do. When I stream, I stream th entire album w/e it is. I just feel obligated to do so & plus, ik th artists are getting screwed over badly, so it's th least I can do. Whether it's record or CD, owning th physical copy is special🍻
Steve, good video BUT It’s NEVER too late to Embrace Vinyl !!!! People will still be playing records in 100 years! And, yes vinyl can be expensive but if you’re careful, if you shop carefully you can get a decent TT system that doesn’t break the bank and will rival even moderate priced digital. Remember, top-end digital cost about as much as top vinyl!
Vinyl is TOO expensive. And speaking as an old fart, I'm not in the least bit surprised that all the same issues still crop up all over again - just like they did in the 60s, 70s, 80s. Noisy pressings, warping, scratches and marks, offset centres etc etc. Plus if you buy from bloody Amazon you WILL get a damaged sleeve to annoy the hell out of you.
You didn’t mention because your wife gave you a turntable as a retirement present six years ago. But unfortunately I hadn’t realized what I was missing after buying only CDs for 30+ years and had about 600 unplayed LPs from 60/70’s in storage. Vinyl does bring me back to my youth. You’re so right it’s a lot of work… Thanks again , I should have seen this 6 years ago.
All my audio gear purchases since the 70s have been in low end. I was into vinyl til the mid 90s but I've never been able to capture the "you are there" moment with CDs that I did on occasion with a Systemdek 2x turntable, a Shure V15 cartridge and cheap Mordaunt-Short speakers.
Nonsense, it's much simpler than that, just get a decent sound system, no need to be an audiophile freak to enjoy a good sound, it's never too late if you love music, just get your favorite albums on vinyl, grab a beer, whiskey, tea..sit down , relax and enjoy the experience.
Something tells me you're not a musician. First analog vinyl wasn't meant to capture the moment. The imperfections like real life not digitized. just need more moving Parts in our society today! Not sterile.
Great post. I turned 60 earlier this year and decided to upgrade my Hi-Fi system. I haven't played my vinyl collection for over 20 years so after some deliberation I made the decision to add a new turntable that would allow me to reconnect with my collection that's been stored in the attic. I have no intention of buying any new vinyl at today's crazy inflated prices, this is simply a nostalgia trip. I settled on a Technics 1500C not cheap but not crazy expensive. It's a decent no nonsense deck. I've been amazed at some of the nonsense I've seen and heard on Y Tube and the various snake oil gizmos that are being punted to the audiophile community. Us old timers survived in our analogue world for decades without half this stuff and we certainly didn't cook our albums in the family oven or slather them in PVA glue. My twitch has returned at the thought. As for the term VINYLS... NO NO NO! I've enjoyed reconnecting with the best of my collection and the pops clicks etc don't sound anywhere near as bad as my memory had me believing! Yes it's fiddly and a pain in the a*se to get up after 20 minutes to turn the disc over. I still prefer digital- CD, SACD and my tentative steps in embracing streaming (I still prefer to own a physical copy of the music along with the case, cover art and notes etc). Playing vinyl will only ever be an occasional event- even then I've had to force myself at several points in order to validate the expense of my investment in the new turntable. I'm happy to live in my multi format bubble.
I am a fan of CDs as I have the best audio quality in my opinion. However if there is a product that has only been released on vinyl then I get the vinyl. I prefer any physical product to streaming. It is rare for me to do digital downloads.
Alas, I was one who jettisoned his album collection, some two to three hundred’s worth. CD’s came along, they sounded better, and carousel players were so much easier to operate. Yet…I wish to hell I had kept the albums.
Picked up a mint Pioneer Pl 518 for $12.99...save the rotten feet. I purchased new vinyl copies of my favorite 50 Albums or so. I may never buy another record, but man I'm glad I made this abbreviated journey into vinyl. At 58, I'm not going to make music appreciation a hassle. Steve, you speak truth. Peace.
Up until the dawn of CDs I bought LPs. Having made the switch to CDs, and finally digitizing it all in .wav lossless format, I have no intention of going back to LPs. I gave my entire LP collection to a friend who did make that switch back to LPs. I also gave him my marble-based Kenwood turntable to enjoy the records.
+1 The same here. Last year i bought out of curiosity a Thorens TD160 with SME arm for comparison. Had my old Ahmad Jamal record Rossiter road still. Compared it to my ripped CD on a Topping DAC. It all came back why i switched to CD's esspecialy the quite parts an the whispers where more detaild an intimate than with Vinyl IMO. No intentions to go back to vinyl. The Thorens was sold in 48 hours to somebody that could appreciate the sound.
@@Ssection31 You can have both CD and records... I prefer vinyl most of the time... but CD is indeed a better choice for music with lots of quiet and soft passages... too noisy on vinyl. For example... I have some King Crimson records and CDs... the Cds are a better choice due to the many soft quiet parts. However.... I have both the CD and record of Ziggy Stardust by Bowie... vinyl record has nicer punch and works better for that kind of rock and roll music.
@@kevingoodwin5177 Hi Kevin Most of older recordings for Vinyl (especially before digital times) are made of a so called Vinyl masters at the time lots of record companies where using the vinyl master to produce there Cd's. Story go's that Roger Nichols (sound engineer Steely Dan) did recorded The Nightfly from Donald Fagen fully digital 48khz at the time. In 82 it was one of the first records produced fully digital. So he was listening to the just released Nightfly on CD. An was horrified by it sound compared to the Vinyl record the cd sounded inferiour. He Found out that the record company used the analoog vinyl master instead of the original 1602 digital master with it full dynamics an transients. Lately i got this original master Nichols referd to an the album is not harsche any more way more balanced an more dynamic. Nichols produced some years ago a surround version of the Nightfly on dvd you can find the 2 channel stereo original 1602 master version of the Nightfly on that dvd. Priceless But most important Digital or Vinyl enjoy your listening. The perceived sound is in the ear of the beholder. ;-) Rodger Nichols: The first project I worked on that became a Compact Disc was Donald Fagen's Nighrfly album. I couldn't wait to get the CD in my hot little hands and compare it with the original mixes. When the CD arrived, I ran to my audio system and threw the CD into my player. After about 30 seconds I was ready to throw in the towel. The CD didn't sound anything like the final mixes. Was I wrong about digital audio? Was the Compact Disc truly inferior to the vinyl disc that it was to replace? I started doing some checking with the mastering facility where we mastered the album. Bob Ludwig at Masterdisk in New York told me that the record company never asked for the 1610 digital master that we'd made. Instead, they had requested a 30 ips half-inch analog tape copy of our digital mixes. They then made the CD master from this analog copy. No wonder my CD didn't sound like the original mixes. After we raised enough hell, new CD masters were prepared and new CDs were pressed. I compared the new one to the original mixes. It matched perfectly. Whew! This was in late 1982. I figured that there was a necessary learning curve for the record companies to get their act together and realize that digital audio Compact Discs should not be made from second or third generation analog tape copies. Isn't nine years enough time?
Started collecting 4 years ago in earnest 4,000 cds and 300 albums later I find the hunt for the grail albums on my wish list ocuping my idle time more and more .aka I got the Buggggggg!!!!!!!!!!!1🎧
Thank Zeus I grew up with records starting in the sixties and always took care of them. Also, LA had great used record stores and I haunted them constantly. Vinyl has become so very expensive but I continue to buy though my CD purchases far outnumber my vinyl and have for years. Since I like having music in a physical medium, I have yet to buy any digital tracks. I use two turntables. A Rega Planar 6 and a heavily modified Technics 1200 with a Rega arm and an acrylic platter and integrated bearing.
Record the output of your turntable into an audio interface and see if you can tell the difference between the two when they are played back on the same system. I certainly cannot. Before doing this experiment, my turntable did seem to sound better to me but I think that's because I was so accustomed to listening to those records for 50 years. Or maybe the CD versions of lps were not the same. Or whatever. Point is the recorded output of the turntable is indistinguishable from playing that turntable on the same system.
I stopped collecting LP's in 1994 . I have about 800 . Alot from the 60's and 70's. , I converted most my CD's to files and gave them to my brother. But I took care of them and they are fun to play. But I like the way Digital sounds on my speakers and dac and tube preamp better. P.S . My Daughter likes Vinyl so she gets my collection and I bought her a nice system for Xmas . So she can play her records she invests in for a long time .
My reasons for having a turntable….records do sound better (most of the time), storing records in your listening room provides decent acoustic treatment (even when I’m streaming), it promotes exercise (gotta get off my ass every 20-25 minutes to flip the record), it helps prevent ADD . I stay focused when listening to an entire album as opposed to jumping from song to song while listening to Qobuz and playing a record promotes a physical connection with the past. It’s simply not the same with streaming.
@@keplermission4947 maybe his records sound better because technically vinyl and analog are superior? As in vinyl has a higher frequency response than anything digital can touch. Is a continuous stream of data instead of chopped stair steps. And the music itself is not destroyed in the mastering process by slamming it against brick wall filters. Or then destroyed by running it through integration/ low pass filters on the output. S/N? With most rooms having about a 40dbSPL noise floor at best and Threshold of Pain, where ears start bleeding, about 110dbSPL, anything over 70db S/N is lost in most listening rooms. You can hear the tape deck being turned up at the beginning of tracks on my ttble showing it is again the quality of tape decks from back in the day. Not limitations of the vinyl as proven by some dead quiet Direct to Discs.
Great reasons! I feel the same. I actually think working with music playing on the turntable in the background is great because it forces me to get up every 20 minutes or so and stretch.
@@glenncurry3041 I'm not trying to be rude, but please do some more research. The best analogue reel to reel machines are excellent. Those are worth getting if you have the time and money for them, as well as the specialized calibration tools needed to maintain them. Aside from the best analogue reel to reel machines, digital is the best.
@@revokdaryl1 I get tired of reposting it. I need to do some more research? After a degree in electronics? Repping for Sony/Superscope selling their RtoR back in the '60/'70's? (I went to the PlayBoy Mansion with Joseph Tushinsky). I came in 2nd for National Service Dept Manager for Studer/ Revox because of my handwriting fail!. I lived in Nashville selling Audio to stores and studios. A member of AES. As a Rep I got the just introduced A/T mic line onto the Opry stage because the CE was a friend! I've had discussions about digital recording with Dr. Thomas Stockham. I repped Maxell and supplied tape duppers pallets and pallets of tape. (Can't talk about the limo rides with Gene LaBrie, Maxell's national sales manager in Vegas!) RtoR, especially anything consumer level, has a bad low end because of head bump! Laws of physics you can not get around! It has high end roll off, same reason. Being highly inductive, heads cause frequency related phase shifts. Each generation will lose 3DB S/N and hi end roll off...... So much for access to masters! Maybe 3rd- 4th gen copies at best? Direct to Disc has significantly better EVERYTING! Bandwidth Red Book can't even dream of! A measured S/N (lowest noise floor to highest level recorded) of over 120DB! And a complete lack of the digital artifacts that keep digital from sounding as good as analog!
@@glenncurry3041 Thank you for replying. You certainly have more impressive credentials than I do! I suppose why I'm frustrated is because my favourite music wasn't recorded direct to disc, as far as I know. The majority of it was recorded to 24 track tape.
@@robh9079 oh i know, been attacked many a times. Funny thing is i like vinyl and tapes. But CDs are typically superior IMO. There are some exceptions but not many that i found. Usually if a CD had a piss poor transfer to digital.
I am one of these few and I am happy to be 😀 sounds better than any other media (can’t talk about tape though) although one get get close to that enjoyment with really high end digital gear. But the best thing is that even an entry level turntable based system gives you that magic sound and is far more enjoyable than an entry level digital system that would sound lifeless and harsh in comparison.
From what I've heard and seen, they're are old school audiophiles that adore the process of taking a record out the jacket, placing it on the platter and putting the tone arm on. But again, they're old school.
By the time you buy a decent Dac and a SACD player, you can buy a turntable, cartridge and phono preamp. For people who listen to their little Alexis cube, Sonic Quality doesn’t matter anyway.
Alexis! That is very sad. This is not to knock younger people but I call them, "The soundbar generation." The first time they went to buy something to play music on, that was the only kind of crap that was in the stores.
I am definitely for streaming. But I think streaming has a big downside: simply too much music is available. Earlier, when I both a CD in a month or in every 2 months, I spent lot of time with one album. I had time to dive into into each song deeply. Now with streaming I just skip to the next song before I understood it and started to really enjoy it. Too much music, I cannot focus my attention. It's probably my fault, I am not disciplined enogh, I should work on it. Because streaming otherwise is fantastic. I hope you understand what I mean.
Hmm... does "that analog magic" also include cassette, Steve? I ask because, like vinyl, it's measurably inferior in sound quality to digital but has a distinct analogue sound, and yet audiophiles don't seem to leap to its defence like they do with vinyl!
It is not too late for vinyl if someone actually comes to my place and hears my vinyl setup they can be blown away if they actually relax and listen to a familliar album or song.I don't have crazy high end rig but a good sounding stereo. .analog is the dominant for me. I do play vinyl copies digitally and on cassette tapes(mostly old stock type 2 tapes) more often than lps. I try to record a vinyl record at least once a day. I actually record to both my tascam da-3000 high resolution mastering recorder at 24 bit 192 khz and cassette on an old Pioneer CT-F950 with Dolby b. I am always perfering to listen the cassette copy than digital. Sounds so much like the LP its crazy. That tape deck is one of the best ones I have used certainly far better than my much newer Yamaha and the pioneer ct-f950 last manufactured in 1980. The digital loses the magic of the records such as original pressings of Pink Floyd Obscured by clouds and meddle that I recorded on one tape.All the music just sounds more real. I actually chose a new stock maxell ur tupe 1 normal bias and it sounds really good and very relaxing at the end of a day. So much easier than flipping my vinyl when I'm just too tired.So due to the fact that Analog sounds better to me with my current equipment I will continue to listen and enjoy analog formats more often than digital. Having said this there will be days where I'm playing nothing but my high resolution copies from vinyl and cds mostly on my fiio portable music player on random with headphones,small portable speakers or the truck stereo. At home really sitting back and listening its analog!
Growing up, I didn’t have two nickels to rub together. Now, in my 50’s I have a modest digital system (Denafrips/MF/Maggies). I can afford to upgrade and I’m really wrestling with diving into vinyl at this point. 🤔 Oh, will you be at the Capitol Audio Fest this year?
I'm 35 yo, and I still prefer Digital over analog, I know this is totally personal preference but, at least to my ears, I've felt better with Hi Res digital music than analog media. I have a big collection of DVDs, CDs and Blu-Rays (most of my video collection are concerts)
I had never listened to a vinyl record before a couple of years ago. I pulled my dad's 45 year old system out of storage on a whim, and I'm still in disbelief at how good they sound. I've listened to records every day since. Maybe it's just me but when the music is literally spinning there in front of you I can feel some connection to the music.
Yeah I agree I used to have a really crappy family all in one and 2 years ago I played an old record with my new system and it’s sooo darn good! I could not get enough of it.
*Plus* The One thing Records can do that no other media can, is they can be played without Electricity! It's what makes ANALOG Unique among the many advancements. IF ELECTRICITY Disappeared, it's possible to make mechanical Players that will PLAY what is on the RECORDS and I hate losing MUSIC because I didn't have cash for everything in life!
@@keplermission4947 You'll have to excuse me because I honestly don't know much about audio at all. I just really like listening to music. My dad's stuff (it's mine now, I guess? lol) is a Marantz 2220B and a JVC QL-A5 turntable with an Empire 400TC cartridge. Super old, but it sounds great to me! And it was free!
@@keplermission4947 If you listen to Rolling Stones from that time period it will have the same F.R. no matter what format. The limitation was the tape decks of the time. NOT vinyl! Vinyl itself can go out to 60Khz as used for CD4. Try to get that F.R. on a CD or any digital format.
And those electric parts inside you know from the '70's that the Voyager spacecrafts still use? Yes parts CAN and many DO deteriorate. But to claim it is 100% and you have to be lying to claim it still sounds good? SAD!
Now please explain how stereo separation can only be artificial when it is actually being heard.
@@rossalthor Don't let some digital fan boy stop you from enjoying equipment that was made better than most of the junk sold today!
Interesting video. To counter:
Top 5 Reasons to Get Into Vinyl
1, You are off grid, nobody knows what you are listening to
2, You own your music
3, Artwork/Lyrics
4, You listen to a whole record as it was intended
5, Record shopping and hunting for wants is part of the whole vinyl experience and an instant memory is made when you buy them.
Agree in album art etc but will stick to my massive collection of cds and multi ch SACD DVD A AND Blue Ray music. I still own that and off grid. I only stream to seek out music I want in my collection. Nothing like a top loading vacuum tube cd player and my legacy focus se powered with my iV 2 AMP AT 1000WPC @ 4 ohms!
I was the guy, back in the 90s and early 00’s, accepting everyone else’s record collections. They were literally giving them away, and even though I still had a big move ahead of me, and I wasn’t necessarily even into their genre, I happily loaded them into my trunk and added them to my collection. I’ve got so much more Willy Nelson, Country, and Bob Dylan than I’ll ever need, but I like having access to those alternate worlds, right on my shelf. I enjoy putting on my guest’s favorite music when they stop by, so they can hear how warm, lush and musical their favorite music can sound.
@@keplermission4947
Do you name your streaming device when you tell folks the music you're listening to? 🙄
As a retired individual. All of the #3 reasons he listed are exactly why I am enjoying my vinyl now more than ever. The steps it takes to enjoy playing an LP "force" me(just figuratively speaking) to slow down and enjoy the moment. I don't always want to be in "hurry-up" mode because everyone is. It's my time to just...relax!
I started vinyl a year ago because I got fed up with myself and Spotify.
I couldn't handle having all that choice. Rarely did I listen to a full album on Spotify. It's always skip skip skip.
Vinyl is almost like meditation. Love it ❤️
That's a perfect description. When I discovered CD way back end 80's beginning 90's I found CD-listening to be enervating, for just the same reason.
Same 🤣
I do not want to participate in digital platforms exploiting artists and profiting massively from it. The explanation for the Apple logo can be found in Genesis chapters 2 and 3.
Telling people not to bite into forbidden fruit makes them want to do it more. Excellent plan Steve!
This is ONLY for the cool kids…
Hahaha, good point sir.👍
The next hot shit ?? Mechanical typewriters … so much cooler than Microsoft Word.
And so so much more fun to fiddle around with…
Just my thoughts!
Overaged , almost rotten fruit …
I got out of vinyl in the late 80's and thought CD's were the end game. I then thought that creating playlists and streaming was really "it". Now.....I am back to vinyl and just love the whole experience of listening to an LP. I love to experiment with different phono preamps, cartridges, etc. I enjoy the music better listening to an entire record vs skipping to my favorite songs. Researching and buying new music on vinyl, as well as 1980's and 90's reissue LP's is just fun. It can definitely get expensive. I know that my wife has no idea what I spend on certain records......
Put me down for everything he jus said!
I think the difference is everybody got into home theater 6.1 7.1 and so on digitized sterile. So forgotten was (High Fidelity)
Same here, all of it. Never.thought I’d be back but here I am. Additionally, sound bars are so good now I am moving away from home theater systems to pure two channel music systems.
records ... shoes ... pick your poison
Its not for me anymore, but I still love the type of harmonic distortion it provides so I love the sound.
BUT - there's a reason my 35 year old Roksan Xeroxes' rosewood turntable remains sitting in my attic, in fact several.
As I've gotten older and lost my heath and mobility, finding the music you want, putting it on and then getting up to change it is so much effort I listened to less and less music. My 2000 LP's take up so much room its impractical to keep them in my room.
Now I use a Naim Atom and I have access to just about everything in the world, I've never enjoyed music more and myself and my wife have gone back to spending most evenings just sitting down and listening. Digital has made me get my hi fi mojo back.
I bet that Roksan is worth real money! Best of luck to you. 🧡
Good for you!
"Harmonic Distortion"? You mean, LP has LESS of it than digital! Digital distortion increases A FULL ORDER OF MAGNITUDE for every 20db drop in the recording level. Loud sounds within 20db of the "0 VU/db" maximum recording/output level have less THD in digital formats, true. But at levels below -20db, LP's, cassette tape for that matter! have LOWER DISTORTION than 16-bit digital. That's why low-level sounds literally "disappear" in digital formats, & why LP's, EVEN OF DIGITAL RECORDINGS(!), have more detail & sound far more realistic. What has 0.005%THD @ 0VU has 0.5%THD @ -40db. Feh! Analog format distortion drops dramatically with decreases in level AND KEEPS DECREASING whereas with digital it KEEPS INCREASING (-60db is 5%THD with 16 bit digital !!!😛). Even LP will have like, 1/100th the THD at those low levels! Which may approach the subliminal at that level, just barely above the noise floor. But God is in the details. No wonder digital sounds SOULLESS! You have chosen convenience over fidelity. Enjoy!
@@joerosen5464 what an extraordinary rant, I had no desire to trigger anyone. Whilst I can see you have a strong preference I do wander why you are so vitriloic in your opposition for what is the recording medium of choice for the vast majority of commercial studios. I just enjoy excellent music and dont begrudge anyone enjoying music their way.
@@joerosen5464 what a crock of shit ....you try to use static evidence and ignore the rest what makes vinyl outdated and FAR FROM superior.
I’d rather spend the money and buy vinyl 😂 and a good turntable
The experience and memory for me outweighs the other reasons
yeah before streaming it's tough to imagine referring to the "work" of putting a record on
Absolutely agree. Thanks. I have numbers 6,7,8,9 & 10 if you need them.
Been there done that and don't want to go down that road again for nostalgia's sake.
My number one reason is that nowadays there are very few albums that I can listen to without wanting to skip a track(or two or three). With vinyl that's a major PITA.
Having said that...if I ran into a large amount of cash I'd probably buy a turntable anyway.
In 20 years, people will be complaining of the PITA of having to line up a track in iTunes and pressing play, or choosing the song from a playlist. Or putting the cd in the tray, pressing play, or pressing skip button a couple of times to find their favourite track. People are idiots.
@@snakeobias Hopefully I won't be around to witness that era. I didn't switch from vinyl to streaming. I got rid of my high end turntable (an Oracle at the time) and vinyl records, then listened to radio and had friends make tapes for me that I would listen to on a very entry level system. Then one day I walked into an audio shop and heard some good jazz playing on a very nice system but couldn't figure out where/what the source was until the shop owner pointed to a tiny device called a Squeezebox. I ordered one immediately and subsequently my first high end system in over 20 years. I've since moved on but that little black box was responsible for getting me back into hi-fi and music like never before.
@@snakeobias dude iTunes IS a massive pita anyway... That's why I vowed never to use any computing device for audio ever again.
I'm a record guy all the way
@@mikemcguinness1304 yeah, I won't disagree with you there. I think I need to get away from the iPhone/ipad hold Apple has over my listening habits. The new Music application is terrible
The whole thing is a complete pain in the arse and expensive. The whole ‘holographic stereo image realism’ thing is a load of bollocks as well - the thing is trying to reproduce two discrete channels of audio from one groove using one stylus - the sound people crave is just euphonic distortion. Bought myself a rather nice technics 110 a while ago to revisit my old vinyl and it’s seldom used. Have moved on from distortion, sibilance and most of all lack of dynamic range and don’t want to go back. New vinyl is also crap - suspect due to being brick walled for digital and just turned down for vinyl pressing. So what choice - worn out second hand old material or inferior new. I just want an age of hi res digital, with ganFET amps and active dsp to sort out my room - good job it’s already here (better start saving up!).
We who have a real passion for music can get into it on either system. An album is a body of work that represents an artist at a particular point in time. Playing it in sequence from first track to last is a great connection to a band or an orchestra or a musician. The streaming paradigm breaks that level of connection. The tracks are isolated and some are never played or given a chance to grow on us. Albums and record players in their way, are such a great way of becoming musically knowledgeable. Your assessment is a good one. You have to install a record player and spend difficult moments trying to get it to accurately transcribe the signal whilst preventing the playback from degrading the signal with resonances and feedback. The tendency to try to find a sweet spot where the magic is can become a frustration that can’t be assuaged. Digital systems are less prone to outright failure in terms of maintaining ideal sound.
#6 ---?---> MOVING HOUSE with records. The last time we moved I was done. After 20 plus years in the same apartment my collection of vinyl was just too heavy & bulky to go to our new condo space, so I gave everything to a close relative who said "they'll always be with me if you want them back." Three years later all I miss are a few of the album covers; I'm thrilled my life got a lot lighter, & I adore rocking out to the moving pictures of youtube! Thanks for the great video, you're a lot of fun!
Great video, Steve. I needed to hear the voice of reason. I was considering going back to vinyl but I sold all of my records years ago. If I had kept them I could justify buying a good turntable. At this point it would just be money wasted that could be spent on better components.
Listen to your voice. Your passion. Your gut instincts. That the best way to come to a decision.
Growing with the sound of vinyl made me love it.. The tweakiness of all the gear makes it fun.
Vinyl v. Cd is a debate that will outlive most of us. At 68 years of age, I still play vinyl that I bought 50 years ago. Since my records have only been played on audiophile turntables, their sound remains extraordinary. I have two tables, a Rega P6 and a Rabco ST-8, each with hideously expensive cartridges. It is difficult to put into words the sonic beauty that comes from them.
Even now people debate cd vs streaming
I personally prefer vinyl. I guess because it’s not perfect. But I love CDs and their portability as far as listening in the car is a huge plus over cassettes.
I feel no need to join that debate. Each medium has it's time and place to enjoy it. I own around 2300 vinyl titles some of them I bought in the late sixties. And I still listen to them regularly. But I also own a serious collection of CD's and have a server with a huge collection of flac albums. And in my car I listen to Spotify.
CD's don't really have all that much to with anything, it's "digital"
Why would someone have two turntables? Why would you pay hideous cartridge $.Put a cd into a player, forget your hiss and pop, forget your interrupted get up and flip your black floppy vinyl over, take another sniff as you Vinyl heads get your kicks from, and enjoy the sounds. Yea right. Move on.
We here at the real in 2021 world have a new idea. Put a CD into a tray, ahhhhhhh. Kick back and enjoy the whole album on cd. Light up and enjoy.
Oh, what a fun topic and hilarious and informative way you tackle it. I got into vinyl about 10 years ago and am way deep into the rabbit hole. It is more expensive and of course there are so many rituals involved so it takes a lot more time and effort, but when it all comes together it is by far a more heart and soul experience that brings you closer to the music. That said, I'll never want to move out of my house now because all this stuff is heavy!
I still buy and listen to my records (CD's) everyday. I'll use YT, BC and my local community radio for sourcing new artists but never the streaming services. They pay the artists a miniscule amount and make a huge profits
Last weekend I setup a fanless NUC pc with "Daphile" open source streaming software running on Linux in bit-perfect mode. The real-time kernel and dedicated PC finally makes my Schiit Bifrost sing. Tidal finally sounds good, really good! The music just hangs in the air, black background. It exceeds anything I could get out of my vinyl. I took down my Kyocera PL601 W/ Shure 94(?) off the wall and put away my 100 or so albums. I'm done. Digital never sounded better and I'm walking away from my beater vinyl that served me well when CD's cost 15 and albums were 9. I had to be thrifty in 1984 and they're all used and beat up. Moving on!
I thought I was out, but vinyl pulled me back in.
I put away the turntable in the mid-'90s. I didn't want to be that guy who was always yelling at his kids over stuff. A few years later I divested 90% of my album collection. But CDs were never a passion for me. They did not sound right, did not feel right. No emotional connwction..
The kids grew up. Four years ago my daughter gave me a suitcase record player and the remastered Led Sell debut album. It all came flooding back! I now own twice as many LPs as I did in my heydey. I'm running my vintage Demon DP2550A with Micro Seiko MA505 arm and a Pioneer PL41 set up for mono. I can't quit you, vinyl, and I will never try to again.
Led Zepp. Curse you autocorrect!
@@keplermission4947 why are you being a tool?
@@keplermission4947 Happy to share.
Main System Gear
· Denon DP2550A turntable with Micro Seiki MA505 tonearm and Audio Technica AT450 cartridge (connected to Schiit Mani)
· Pioneer PL41 turntable with Audio Technica VM610MONO cartridge (connected to SA3 internal phono preamp)
· Schiit Mani phono preamp
· IOTAVX SA3/PA3 amp stack (dual mono configuration)
· Triangle Borea BR03 standmount speakers
· Schiit Bifrost 2 DAC
· Chromecast Audio streaming device (optical to Bifrost 2)
· Lenovo Windows 10 PC (USB to Bifrost 2) w/ 15 Tbs for audio/video files
· Massdrop THX AAA 789 Linear headphone amp
· Massdrop Alex Cavalli Liquid Carbon X headphone amp
· TCL Roku 42” TV (optical to SA3 internal DAC)
· Sony DVD/CD player (coaxial to SA3 internal DAC)
· Morrow Audio interconnects
· Software:: MusicBee, BubbleUP, Spotify Connect, others
· Headphones:
o Massdrop Sennheiser HD6XX balanced
o Thinksound ON2
o Dekoni Blue by Fostex
o Massdrop Koss Porta-Pro X
o Philips Audio Fidelio X2HR
o SIVGA SV006
o Status Audio OB1
o Status Audio CB1
o Anker Soundcore Life Q20 Hybrid ANC wireless
o Avantree Audition Pro aptX Low Latency wireless
o An equal number of IEMs (Status Audio, Thinksound, Hifiman, etc)
Cool story.
You have learned your lesson! Vinyl forever!
Not mentioned for vinyl, is it is noisy! I suspect wifi and 5 gee etc. isn't helping. Also noisy power. Walking on your floor bouncing the needle and making more noise. Feedback loops. Grounding issues. Snap crackle and pops.
You don't say what gear you have! But fix a nice solid shelf to the wall and put just the turntable on it. That will stop the walking feeding through.Put some felt bads under the turntable feet. That will minimise the resonances. Get yourself some reasonable quality shielded interconnects. All cheap-ish fixes for a massive improvement.
I have been enjoying music for seven decades. What I hear and feel when playing VINYL is a physical, mental, emotional and spiritual experience I don't have with digital Hi RES files. I enjoy digital music just not the same feeling as analog especially open reel tape playback.
There aren't many of us that are still using reel to reel...I agree...there is something physical that touches you with analog, that you just can't access with digital..the closest I have to digital is a transport and a dac...don't see changing that anytime soon. I listen to analog, almost exclusively.
Digital comes out as analogue for the ear to hear. If you need to sniff black plastic to enjoy sound, you need serious help.
You nailed it.
@@sandyearllarsen2820 lol you really don’t understand it do you
@@paultuerena no sorry I don’t get hiss, crackle and pop. But enjoy.
Vinyl in the year 2021 is just a hipster sophisticate wannabe trend.
Whatever theoretical gain one might obtain with an LP on a turntable over a well recorded CD run through a good DAC is greatly outweighed by the extremely annoying clicks and pops that cannot be eliminated from an LP, no matter how well the vinyl junkie contends his fabulous disc cleaning system works.
Well said Steve and agree with all 5. Had my fill with distortion in the late 1970's and early 80's. Most of my listening is on a 1973 Kenwood w/ amplified antenna (analog) FM Tuner from a local commercial free Jazz station here in Long Beach Calif. and the sound is just incredible, streaming does not compare.
I listen to vinyl at home and stream on the go. I see streaming like a walkman. It is to late as in alot of old good records cost a fortune. Love your videos Steve
like cd never existed??? cds came right on the heels of vinyl and tape. nearly 40 years now. yet its often lumped in with all this new streaming nonsense. nothing in common. cd is as much of a collectible hands on format as vinylever was. it never got better than cd yet analog is touted as superior. in what universe is vinyl and analog superior? its strictly opinion of vinyl diehard ludites who see vinyl as some combination of nostalgia and elitist snobbery. use your common sense. cd vs vinyl. with cd no wear factor. needle vs laser. no scratches and skipping like vinyl. portability. car cd players are cheap. vinyl needs to be transferred to files for car use. storage. 1000 cds fit easily on bookshelves. try that with 1000 lps. collectible as lps and often better liner notes. i have cds i bought 35 years ago that after continuous playing sound as good as then. would vinyl hold up as well after continuous playback. unless you have the hearing of a dog no need to lift the needle to move to another track. cds much cheaper and more durable than vinyl. cd players dirt cheap compared to a decent turntable. and virtually no maintenance compared to vinyl. cd sound beats vinyl hands down.
In spite of all that, after 10 hour work days it is nice to put on vinyl and not look at a screen.
There’s nothing like putting the needle on the record. I love interacting with my system like if it was a human being. Plus streaming high quality streaming is actually $20 not $10. And there are very good records out there even used in great condition for as little as five dollars. I don’t think it’s never too late when you know what you’re doing.
Amazon Music HD (up to 24/192) is £8 per month. You’re thinking of Tidal … which is not high quality but MQA rubbish….🙂
I'm a vinyl fanatic too, however there is a place for digital.
Your comparison of $10-$20 a month for virtually unlimited music to a rare price of $5 for a single, used album in good condition is Apples & Oranges my friend.
Streaming has opened up my musical world tenfold or more. I can spend the evening listening to wonderful music and musicians that I've never heard of before. I can also make playlists based on any criteria. Many, many times I've brought an album home, only to find that I only like 2-3 tracks. With streaming that's no problem..just put the ones you like in a Playlist you can make for that artist.
I purchased many vinyl albums because I discovered then online first and liked them so much that I had to hear the usually better, vinyl version.
Keep on spinning! But don't cheat yourself out of streaming either...you're missing out!
@@markwagner1997 Well said! 👍
I don’t use a turntable anymore, as I switched to cd’s thirty years ago. I still use only cd’s for music (I’m an old dude).
I Ile vinyl but I have to clean the record every single time I get it out. Video idea Steve. How to properly clean records. I just got a chap cleaning kit off amazon and I don't know if maybe there's a better way?
Watch Michael Fremer RUclips channel he goes into great detail.
Will they even remember the music of their time? I know I forget songs or bands or albums for long periods of time, until I come across it on the shelf one day and go “oh yeah” and slap it in/on. Stuff that would never pop in my head to search for on streaming service. But when I come to it on the shelf, I’m reminded. Good stuff
Grew up with vinyl and bought tons of sealed records when CD’s became the rage. Now things have flipped and CD’s are a tremendous value. Still love vinyl but I have walked out of many a store where the lowest price for a record is 20 bucks.
Yup, 69 years old and have had the passion since spinin’ records on my parents record player when I was 3 years old. No better experience. Nice video, Steve.
Even thought I was a Technics dealer in London in the 1970s & 80s I still have some fantastic turntables.
Starting with an SP10 Mk 2 and three other Technics Decks I have had to give up on Vinyl and settle for digital due to old age and disability.
My wife won't let me get rid on the turntables and my record collection. If I could list it on eBay I would but even that is beyond me now.
I still have a couple of SACD players and a large collection of CDs and SACDs so I will stick with digital.
Thanks for your video Steve.
I've written about this. Back when CD was launched I blind A/B'd them against LPs. I didn't believe in CDs but they lived up to it so I was convinced and I converted. Today I have 2 simple reasons for not going back:
1. Too much palaver. You covered this. Its too labour intensive.
2. LPs are way too expensive and the money isn't going to the performers.
What's the percent that goes to the artist for either Vinyl or CDs? (I'm assuming it's the same for both formats but maybe not) From what I've read for Spotify streams it's around $0.003 to $0.008 depending on the artist.
@@garrybayford5734 I was talking about older records. The ones that original owners sold for pennies at a yard sale and which traders would now like to sell you for $200.
I will admit it may not be the thing for all newbies as vinyl costs 2 to 3 times more than it did in the 70's and 80's when I was growing up. I already had speakers and a pretty good vinyl collection so after 35 years I decided to treat myself to a turntable upgrade and bought a reasonably priced phono preamp. I'm a subscriber to Audio Advisor as I love looking at electronics but there is no way in hell I'm paying 1000 plus dollars for a phono preamp. At some point sanity has to come into play and you definitely want to save your marriage. 🤣
Well done! By all means look down that rabbit hole, but don't dive in, you'll never get out alive.
When I grew up I got familiar with vinyl and turntables and now I'm 39 and I still love the nostalgic sound and feeling of the vinyl and turntable, just looking at how the vinyl turns and how the tip follows the grooves and automatically picks up the arm at the end of the record is just magical on its own.
Ow, yes you forgot to mention one more important thing about vinyl, if you have many of them and want to store them against the wall you better make very sturdy shelves because it is a lot of weight so something from Ikea isn't fit for the job.
Analog? Digital? whichever you go with. . . that shirt is the real winner . . . WOW!
My wife doesn't understand any of this stereo stuff. Just got my 1978 stuff out of storage and refurbished because our new house will have a back room in basement that I will be allowed to have my stuff. Love it. I can live with a few dozen record albums and 50 CDs. I am listening in storage room now. Wife listens to music streaming from her phone to ear buds or cheap speaker. You didn't mention cleaning records or cartridge every time or expense to have a separate room.
Another reason for not getting into vinyl: the pairing of analog equipment is so very critical. So many choices of cartridges with different stylus shapes and output, phono preamps, the table itself, platters, tonearms, belt/DD, head shells, connecting cables. And throw in a cleaning regiment or machine to add even more time/cost/uncertainty to the mix. With all of that said, I’m currently cleaning and listening to hundreds of records that I picked up, and am enjoying it immensely.
Its not for the lazy guys
but when one use the same turntable that is at home since 1974 in Africa then in late 75 at home in Portugal and several cds sound worse than the vinil record to the point of not even like the songs as released on cd with a high-end cd player to listen ,the dozens of lp´s that one took care off to the point of not hearing a single out of the recording sound i think that keep listening to the records i stoped buying in 1993 with perfect sound one should question if cds are that good that not being able to reproduce mainly analog instruments as most of the bands that play analog instruments kept recording till today in analog recording devices that most of the good studios kept using or they would decrease the quality of the recording . I really think that records are very good as in quality of sound not refering to the new releases of vinil that i bought one to substitute a late 70´s record and the first thing i notice was a hiss inbetween tracks but not all i also have hundreds of cds that i bought since 93 not earlier because when to choose to buy a lp in cd or two in vinil i kept choosing vinil and i do use digital but saying its bad , no just one more format but what was lost was the record itself had covers that one could see the work to doing that possible and reading the words of the songs that with cds i have them bought in early 90´s that still today i never took of the inlay pappers to read litle printed texts this not refering the lost art of having beautifull covers that some bands try to make the cds as atractive as all old covers but that´s only a couple of bands, i also have a technics turntable with direct drive and both since new have been working without giving any problem the maintenance is easy and made from more than a decade to decade, the stylus if used correctelly are also good for a lot of years as the belt for my 74 turntable , the 76 technics ,even i feel amazed with the quality of it no need for a new engine since 76, but for those who had high-end stereos and bought lp´s as they were coming out but after listening they put one on top of the other this on top of a speasker, for those cds were a real fantastic improvement but when damaged not one song they could listen while a record can sound worse but one can hear it not like cds but i teach some to clean those unplayable cds as if they were cleaning dishes and 90% of them would start to play again, just not one better than the other but both complement the problems of each format, it´s only my opinion i use all the formats released till today except the DCC ,the DAT i had the first sony at home but it´s expensive but without a doubt the best digital format for regular users but expensive as hell ,never bought one, also some new expensives turntables are a laugh, and when someone is spending a fortune in a new cartridge and stylus first i would try a amplifier with a good phono stage, that 99% of the 70´s receivers or integrated amplifiers have, so in reality not for lazy guys as other already comented mr.geddy geddy (Rush, also a band that their old lps are much better sounding in vinil compared to the cd) and basically resumes all i´ve said, regards
i forget to say that moist and excessive heat are the enemy of vinil records
@@RUfromthe40s I do remember turning a Men at Work album into a candy dish by leaving it in a semi-hot car one day.
@@keplermission4947 you know. You know. You know
You know. You know.
You are not fooling us, you are trying to thwart us so you can have all the vinyl for yourself !
Had it not been for the vinyl I started buying back in the 80's I probably wouldn't own a turntable today, so the interest was grandfathered in I suppose. Vinyl is the most inconvenient & costly way to enjoy music - I agree that you have to be a hobbyist with some level of passion to even wanna be bothered.
Steve, thank you so much. Turn as many people as you possibly can to streaming and cd's... More albums for me! You did touch on something that hit home to me. Before we moved into our new forever home in 2003 I culled my record collection which included both LP'S and 7 inch singles down from over 8000 to just a little over 5000. I am desperately trying to replace some of those well worn LP'S now. It has not been easy.....
As an older audiophile I had many large systems with reel to reel, 8 tracks, cassettes and of course many different turntables. As a Sound Engineer and a Theater Technical Director I have tuned analyzed and listened to Multi hundred thousand dollar systems for a living. As a DJ and music lover since the 70's I've never been a fan of records due to skipping, noise and general hassle using them. Once I got a good Marantz cassette deck I transferred my records to cassettes, eventually getting a 3 head Teac deck with DBX noise reduction. Was a big cassette fan, even had DBX in my car. Once CD's came out I never looked back. I did finally buy a Pioneer DJ turntable with a decent cartridge a few years ago and my old albums are in great condition as I barely played them. Some of my old albums aren't available on CD or streaming so I occasionally play them. I prefer smaller simple systems now, Have a Yamaha R-100 receiver, Marantz CDR510 CD player, TeacV2RX cassette deck, Pioneer PLX-500 and ADS 710 speakers. It's by no means the finest audiophile equipment available and most of it is way over 20 years old. Good records on a great system sound good. For me digital sounds better and is way more convenient so yes, I agree with your 5 reasons and have a few of my own as well...
I've had a turntable since the early 1980's and with the advent of the CD player, never dumped the LP's. Saying that, for those who did not already have a collection of records, I am not sure if I could recommend it unless they were really into the format. I think that a lot of people these days buy turntables for the "cool cat vintage" aspect of it and not for the sound.
If you are getting into vinyl, because you read about or heard about how amazing it sounds, please note that to achieve sonic bliss with vinyl, it is a time consuming and expensive endeavor.
1) You need a quality turntable.
2) You need a quality phono amp.
3) You need to isolate your turntable from feedback or any vibrations.
4) You need to dial in:
-- the effective length of the tone-arm.
-- the cartridge's weight.
-- the vertical tracking alignment / rake angle.
-- the anti-skating.
-- the overhang.
-- the offset.
-- the zenith angle.
-- the cartridge's azimuth -- although all of the above requires special tools, this particular setting requires tools that are not part of the usual turntable set-up kits.
And after you get all of the above as good as your ears are telling you they can be, then there is the chore of finding quality vinyl pressings.
80% to 90% of vinyl pressings are between suck to decent.
Perhaps 10% are very good.
Only 1% or 2% have magical sound quality, and for only one of the two sides -- and often not for every song on the same side (the studios have different recording sessions, botching a track here and there, and it makes it to the side of an album where it pales in comparison to the other songs on that side).
And you will also need a good record cleaning machine and cleaning fluid.
If you are able to accomplish "all" of the above (and the rest of your stereo is very good), then you will be in for a real treat that few people have ever experienced.
If you fall short on any of the above, you simply will not have great sound quality, and the problem is compounded if you fell short on more than one of the above items.
With everything at its best, your record will probably play very quietly, and have outstanding stereo separation, and realism that has to be heard to be believed.
If you did not dial everything in properly, and you did not painstakingly re-purchase the same album over and over, seeking out the best stamper codes, etc...
...if you did not do absolutely everything right, and you think that your vinyl playback sounds very good, then pray you never hear a set-up where someone actually got everything right, because you will then hear what your system is missing.
Vinyl is fantastic, if 1) you know what you are doing, 2) you have the $$ to do it right, and 3) you have the time to devote to getting everything right.
I am not dissuading anyone from this hobby. I am just letting folks know what they have in store for themselves, if they have their hearts set on hearing the best that vinyl has to offer.
It is probably a much harder goal than many folks expect it to be.
If the ultimate sound quality is not your goal, then by all means, jump in and enjoy!
-----
By the way, digital is no picnic either, if you want to hear it at its best.
Between jitter (yes, you have jitter -- unless you have a pricey transport to minimize jitter), and endless compressed releases from the record companies, finding the rare gems in the digital content offerings is hard work. That hit song you have is likely available on an original release, a re-master, a re-re-master, a greatest hits, a best of, an anthology, and several compilations -- and almost without exception, they will differ in sound quality (and, still, most of them will not be great).
And note that when there is more than one re-master, then that is the record company admitting that the blew it on their first re-master. And they probably blew it on the re-re-master, too.
But digital is far more convenient, and less costly, to get good sound quality.
Cheers!
Excellent write up.
There's a gag cartoon that says "the two things that really drew me to vinyl were the expense and the inconvenience", and that seems to be my case. I am perfectly aware of the technical and practical advantages of CDs over vinyl but still, CDs have never exerted the fascination that vinyl records did on me from the cradle. I started buying CDs just when I realized that I had to do it if I wanted to keep collecting music, when the vinyl industry died in my country in mid 90s. During that time, my lifelong vinyl fever remained in a hibernation state and, fortunately, I didn't make the mistake of getting rid of my LPs. My vinyl collection didn't grow on those days, but I never stopped taking care of it. As soon as I realized that vinyl wasn't dead, my fever returned stronger than ever. I appreciate CDs for what they are, but I can never feel toward them the same I feel about vinyl records.
You missed a big reason: It’s not portable. You can’t listen to vinyl in the car, on the bus, jogging in the park, etc. Heck you can’t really even listen to it in your home outside of the room your system is in (unless you’ve installed speakers throughout your home). So many of us vinyl people have a secondary means (usually digital) to enjoy music outside of our listening rooms. And while I love my records, I find over half of my listening is done on my car or away from home.
Amazing video! Love the angle you gave to someone trying to make the decision to go in now or not. You could also say that the vinyl technology continues to improve (both media and equipment) and it's never too late. But I agree 100% that you need to be passionate at this point as there're plenty of cons if you're coming from a 'plug and play' digital world.
👏💯🙏
Getting rid of all of my vinyl in the 1990s was a mistake. I regret it every time I purchase a record that I had in the past. My vinyl back then was in excellent shape. Makes me cry. I will say now, hunting down a great copy of that special record to replace has been a great part of the hobby for me. I am certainly very selective of what I buy and I think it makes me appreciate the music even more. I saved almost all of my cassettes factory as well as personally recorded. That was probably because of the cassette deck in my automobiles. I have also been enjoying that aspect of analog. I am impressed with some of the recordings I made that do sound incredible given the format and age of those tapes.
I've saved the cassettes I have bought "factory" but just don't listen to them on the Nakamichi ZX9 because they literally sound terrible and the tape they used were terrible and make a mess in addition to not sounding good. I mean sure in your car what the heck. I guess my point is that the old chrome particularly Maxell UDXLII sound great, the mechanism works great, they record great, and boo hoo the current maxell tapes suck hard.
Same here. Going through the same process.
Luckily, I did not get rid of my CD collection! Now enjoying them on my CEC transport.
@@JohnDoe-np3zk you´re right the last 90´s maxell cassetes were garbage but i have ur and older ul´s that today sound as perfect as in the day i recorded them and type I
CD's, Vinyl, and Cassettes are the best formats for audio. I've been at it for 40 years now. I kept all my stuff with no regrets. A good Nakamichi like the ZXL 700 or 1000 is a good as a reel to reel. Also, get your hands on a Revox B 215. They are just as good as the Naka's.
A good way to start was always raiding your family's old record collection. I've scored three dumps in my lifetime but I've also spend a ton on brand new vinyl. The best part for me is streaming the analog over Sonos in real time. I'm literally the house DJ now lol
Hi, Steve,
Most interesting, funny, informative and practical comments among your video clips.
Thank you for your video. From New Zealand
Thank you!
Spinning vinyl since the 70’s. Love it. But I love the unbelievable access to music that streaming provides. This is the golden age of access to music. Thank you Digital.
#1 - is the music you want to listen to available on vinyl
Steve, all you have said is true, for me - UNTIL, I acquired a DENON 59L turntable at a thrift store for $35.00, (near mint!), and dusted off my LP's, and purchasing many others, so now it is a regular part of my listening enjoyment!
Home is where the record player is. ;-)
well I have both. but when I come back to digital after couple of days listening to records, it feels for first 10 minutes some how claustrophobic, but in an endless room...
“WOW N FLUTTER” - THAT’S WHAT I THOUGHT WHEN I SAW TODAY’S SHIRT, STEVE….holy shit!
NUMBER 1 reason not to get into vinyl? It’s to much “work” for lazy dudes…lazy dudes need not apply for vinyl, especially 45rpm discs!!! Period- end of story
The ritual of playing vinyl has always been so important... rolling joints in the gatefold. lol.
best way to listen if you ask me!
In my circles it was usually a Roy Harper gatefold.
@@Crumbleofborg yes
What drives me crazy about streaming music is what my wife does. She has like a thousand random songs on a Playlist & she just bounces from song to song, artist to artist. What bothers me about this is, she may listen to a couple of Bad Company songs that she's heard on th radio, but she's never listened to a Bad Company album all th way through in her life & it drives me batshit crazy!! 1 of th Greatest joys of my adolescence was saving up $ & buying a cassette/CD & sitting down, listening start to finish & reading th linear notes. Yes, there's an age gap between us & it just makes me sad many younger people don't know this joy of collecting music that many of us do. When I stream, I stream th entire album w/e it is. I just feel obligated to do so & plus, ik th artists are getting screwed over badly, so it's th least I can do. Whether it's record or CD, owning th physical copy is special🍻
Steve, good video BUT It’s NEVER too late to Embrace Vinyl !!!! People will still be playing records in 100 years! And, yes vinyl can be expensive but if you’re careful, if you shop carefully you can get a decent TT system that doesn’t break the bank and will rival even moderate priced digital. Remember, top-end digital cost about as much as top vinyl!
Pass right on by Vinyl. Vinyl is for hipsters! Head right to real to real for the enthusiastic crowd 😉
Vinyl is TOO expensive. And speaking as an old fart, I'm not in the least bit surprised that all the same issues still crop up all over again - just like they did in the 60s, 70s, 80s. Noisy pressings, warping, scratches and marks, offset centres etc etc. Plus if you buy from bloody Amazon you WILL get a damaged sleeve to annoy the hell out of you.
You didn’t mention because your wife gave you a turntable as a retirement present six years ago. But unfortunately I hadn’t realized what I was missing after buying only CDs for 30+ years and had about 600 unplayed LPs from 60/70’s in storage. Vinyl does bring me back to
my youth.
You’re so right it’s a lot of work…
Thanks again , I should have seen this 6 years ago.
All my audio gear purchases since the 70s have been in low end. I was into vinyl til the mid 90s but I've never been able to capture the "you are there" moment with CDs that I did on occasion with a Systemdek 2x turntable, a Shure V15 cartridge and cheap Mordaunt-Short speakers.
Nonsense, it's much simpler than that, just get a decent sound system, no need to be an audiophile freak to enjoy a good sound, it's never too late if you love music, just get your favorite albums on vinyl, grab a beer, whiskey, tea..sit down , relax and enjoy the experience.
Something tells me you're not a musician. First analog vinyl wasn't meant to capture the moment. The imperfections like real life not digitized. just need more moving Parts in our society today! Not sterile.
Great post. I turned 60 earlier this year and decided to upgrade my Hi-Fi system. I haven't played my vinyl collection for over 20 years so after some deliberation I made the decision to add a new turntable that would allow me to reconnect with my collection that's been stored in the attic. I have no intention of buying any new vinyl at today's crazy inflated prices, this is simply a nostalgia trip. I settled on a Technics 1500C not cheap but not crazy expensive. It's a decent no nonsense deck. I've been amazed at some of the nonsense I've seen and heard on Y Tube and the various snake oil gizmos that are being punted to the audiophile community. Us old timers survived in our analogue world for decades without half this stuff and we certainly didn't cook our albums in the family oven or slather them in PVA glue. My twitch has returned at the thought. As for the term VINYLS... NO NO NO! I've enjoyed reconnecting with the best of my collection and the pops clicks etc don't sound anywhere near as bad as my memory had me believing! Yes it's fiddly and a pain in the a*se to get up after 20 minutes to turn the disc over. I still prefer digital- CD, SACD and my tentative steps in embracing streaming (I still prefer to own a physical copy of the music along with the case, cover art and notes etc). Playing vinyl will only ever be an occasional event- even then I've had to force myself at several points in order to validate the expense of my investment in the new turntable. I'm happy to live in my multi format bubble.
If you account for inflation, vinyl isn't really more expensive now.
I can’t not get into vinyl. My collection is over 50 years old. Too much time was invested hunting these things down and buying them.
I am a fan of CDs as I have the best audio quality in my opinion. However if there is a product that has only been released on vinyl then I get the vinyl. I prefer any physical product to streaming. It is rare for me to do digital downloads.
Why don't people ever seem to mention environmental impact? New vinyl much worse than CD and CD much worse than streaming.
Alas, I was one who jettisoned his album collection, some two to three hundred’s worth. CD’s came along, they sounded better, and carousel players were so much easier to operate. Yet…I wish to hell I had kept the albums.
Picked up a mint Pioneer Pl 518 for $12.99...save the rotten feet. I purchased new vinyl copies of my favorite 50 Albums or so. I may never buy another record, but man I'm glad I made this abbreviated journey into vinyl. At 58, I'm not going to make music appreciation a hassle. Steve, you speak truth. Peace.
Up until the dawn of CDs I bought LPs. Having made the switch to CDs, and finally digitizing it all in .wav lossless format, I have no intention of going back to LPs. I gave my entire LP collection to a friend who did make that switch back to LPs. I also gave him my marble-based Kenwood turntable to enjoy the records.
+1 The same here. Last year i bought out of curiosity a Thorens TD160 with SME arm for comparison. Had my old Ahmad Jamal record Rossiter road still. Compared it to my ripped CD on a Topping DAC. It all came back why i switched to CD's esspecialy the quite parts an the whispers where more detaild an intimate than with Vinyl IMO. No intentions to go back to vinyl. The Thorens was sold in 48 hours to somebody that could appreciate the sound.
@@Ssection31 You can have both CD and records... I prefer vinyl most of the time... but CD is indeed a better choice for music with lots of quiet and soft passages... too noisy on vinyl. For example... I have some King Crimson records and CDs... the Cds are a better choice due to the many soft quiet parts. However.... I have both the CD and record of Ziggy Stardust by Bowie... vinyl record has nicer punch and works better for that kind of rock and roll music.
@@kevingoodwin5177 Hi Kevin Most of older recordings for Vinyl (especially before digital times) are made of a so called Vinyl masters at the time lots of record companies where using the vinyl master to produce there Cd's.
Story go's that Roger Nichols (sound engineer Steely Dan) did recorded The Nightfly from Donald Fagen fully digital 48khz at the time. In 82 it was one of the first records produced fully digital. So he was listening to the just released Nightfly on CD. An was horrified by it sound compared to the Vinyl record the cd sounded inferiour. He Found out that the record company used the analoog vinyl master instead of the original 1602 digital master with it full dynamics an transients. Lately i got this original master Nichols referd to an the album is not harsche any more way more balanced an more dynamic. Nichols produced some years ago a surround version of the Nightfly on dvd you can find the 2 channel stereo original 1602 master version of the Nightfly on that dvd. Priceless
But most important Digital or Vinyl enjoy your listening. The perceived sound is in the ear of the beholder. ;-)
Rodger Nichols:
The first project I worked on that became a Compact Disc was Donald Fagen's Nighrfly album. I couldn't wait to get the CD in my hot little hands and compare it with the original mixes. When the CD arrived, I ran to my audio system and threw the CD into my player. After about 30 seconds I was ready to throw in the towel. The CD didn't sound anything like the final mixes. Was I wrong about digital audio? Was the Compact Disc truly inferior to the vinyl disc that it was to replace?
I started doing some checking with the mastering facility where we mastered the album. Bob Ludwig at Masterdisk in New York told me that the record company never asked for the 1610 digital master that we'd made. Instead, they had requested a 30 ips half-inch analog tape copy of our digital mixes. They then made the CD master from this analog copy. No wonder my CD didn't sound like the original mixes. After we raised enough hell, new CD masters were prepared and new CDs were pressed. I compared the new one to the original mixes. It matched perfectly. Whew!
This was in late 1982. I figured that there was a necessary learning curve for the record companies to get their act together and realize that digital audio Compact Discs should not be made from second or third generation analog tape copies. Isn't nine years enough time?
You should try ripping to FLAC - a lossless codec that takes up half the storage space of WAV.
Destroying soft plastic with gemstone chips is a relatively harmless eccentricity. Carry on, if it makes you happy.
Steve how do you stay so polite about it, with a decent Vinyl rig it isn't even close and that's compared to an expensive DAC.
A young 30 yr old friend just started on vinyl. So, it’s not too late.
Started collecting 4 years ago in earnest 4,000 cds and 300 albums later
I find the hunt for the grail albums on my wish list ocuping my idle time more and more
.aka I got the Buggggggg!!!!!!!!!!!1🎧
Thank Zeus I grew up with records starting in the sixties and always took care of them. Also, LA had great used record stores and I haunted them constantly. Vinyl has become so very expensive but I continue to buy though my CD purchases far outnumber my vinyl and have for years. Since I like having music in a physical medium, I have yet to buy any digital tracks.
I use two turntables. A Rega Planar 6 and a heavily modified Technics 1200 with a Rega arm and an acrylic platter and integrated bearing.
This video convinced me I'm a hopeless audiophile. Thanks Steve!
Record the output of your turntable into an audio interface and see if you can tell the difference between the two when they are played back on the same system. I certainly cannot. Before doing this experiment, my turntable did seem to sound better to me but I think that's because I was so accustomed to listening to those records for 50 years. Or maybe the CD versions of lps were not the same. Or whatever. Point is the recorded output of the turntable is indistinguishable from playing that turntable on the same system.
I stopped collecting LP's in 1994 . I have about 800 . Alot from the 60's and 70's. , I converted most my CD's to files and gave them to my brother. But I took care of them and they are fun to play. But I like the way Digital sounds on my speakers and dac and tube preamp better.
P.S . My Daughter likes Vinyl so she gets my collection and I bought her a nice system for Xmas . So she can play her records she invests in for a long time .
My reasons for having a turntable….records do sound better (most of the time), storing records in your listening room provides decent acoustic treatment (even when I’m streaming), it promotes exercise (gotta get off my ass every 20-25 minutes to flip the record), it helps prevent ADD . I stay focused when listening to an entire album as opposed to jumping from song to song while listening to Qobuz and playing a record promotes a physical connection with the past. It’s simply not the same with streaming.
@@keplermission4947 maybe his records sound better because technically vinyl and analog are superior? As in vinyl has a higher frequency response than anything digital can touch. Is a continuous stream of data instead of chopped stair steps. And the music itself is not destroyed in the mastering process by slamming it against brick wall filters. Or then destroyed by running it through integration/ low pass filters on the output.
S/N? With most rooms having about a 40dbSPL noise floor at best and Threshold of Pain, where ears start bleeding, about 110dbSPL, anything over 70db S/N is lost in most listening rooms. You can hear the tape deck being turned up at the beginning of tracks on my ttble showing it is again the quality of tape decks from back in the day. Not limitations of the vinyl as proven by some dead quiet Direct to Discs.
Great reasons! I feel the same. I actually think working with music playing on the turntable in the background is great because it forces me to get up every 20 minutes or so and stretch.
@@glenncurry3041 I'm not trying to be rude, but please do some more research. The best analogue reel to reel machines are excellent. Those are worth getting if you have the time and money for them, as well as the specialized calibration tools needed to maintain them. Aside from the best analogue reel to reel machines, digital is the best.
@@revokdaryl1 I get tired of reposting it. I need to do some more research? After a degree in electronics? Repping for Sony/Superscope selling their RtoR back in the '60/'70's? (I went to the PlayBoy Mansion with Joseph Tushinsky). I came in 2nd for National Service Dept Manager for Studer/ Revox because of my handwriting fail!. I lived in Nashville selling Audio to stores and studios. A member of AES. As a Rep I got the just introduced A/T mic line onto the Opry stage because the CE was a friend! I've had discussions about digital recording with Dr. Thomas Stockham. I repped Maxell and supplied tape duppers pallets and pallets of tape. (Can't talk about the limo rides with Gene LaBrie, Maxell's national sales manager in Vegas!)
RtoR, especially anything consumer level, has a bad low end because of head bump! Laws of physics you can not get around! It has high end roll off, same reason. Being highly inductive, heads cause frequency related phase shifts. Each generation will lose 3DB S/N and hi end roll off...... So much for access to masters! Maybe 3rd- 4th gen copies at best?
Direct to Disc has significantly better EVERYTING! Bandwidth Red Book can't even dream of! A measured S/N (lowest noise floor to highest level recorded) of over 120DB! And a complete lack of the digital artifacts that keep digital from sounding as good as analog!
@@glenncurry3041 Thank you for replying. You certainly have more impressive credentials than I do! I suppose why I'm frustrated is because my favourite music wasn't recorded direct to disc, as far as I know. The majority of it was recorded to 24 track tape.
The Trinity Ooops, wrong room.
CDs are cheaper and usually have a cleaner sound. Just my 2 cents.
On your wavelength. Be careful; Dissing vinyl is now considered a 'hate crime'!
Snap Crackle Pop and their cousins Wow and Flutter.
@@robh9079 oh i know, been attacked many a times. Funny thing is i like vinyl and tapes. But CDs are typically superior IMO. There are some exceptions but not many that i found. Usually if a CD had a piss poor transfer to digital.
Read a real newspaper, enjoy a cigar, and put on an album, listen to it fully-life enjoyed.
I am one of these few and I am happy to be 😀 sounds better than any other media (can’t talk about tape though) although one get get close to that enjoyment with really high end digital gear. But the best thing is that even an entry level turntable based system gives you that magic sound and is far more enjoyable than an entry level digital system that would sound lifeless and harsh in comparison.
From what I've heard and seen, they're are old school audiophiles that adore the process of taking a record out the jacket, placing it on the platter and putting the tone arm on. But again, they're old school.
By the time you buy a decent Dac and a SACD player, you can buy a turntable, cartridge and phono preamp. For people who listen to their little Alexis cube, Sonic Quality doesn’t matter anyway.
Alexis! That is very sad. This is not to knock younger people but I call them, "The soundbar generation." The first time they went to buy something to play music on, that was the only kind of crap that was in the stores.
Anyone who says LP sounds better than digital:
1)Is not being honest
2)Is not aware of what quality-digital can do
The cost and inconvenience of albums and owning a turntable is very appealing.
I am definitely for streaming. But I think streaming has a big downside: simply too much music is available. Earlier, when I both a CD in a month or in every 2 months, I spent lot of time with one album. I had time to dive into into each song deeply. Now with streaming I just skip to the next song before I understood it and started to really enjoy it. Too much music, I cannot focus my attention. It's probably my fault, I am not disciplined enogh, I should work on it. Because streaming otherwise is fantastic.
I hope you understand what I mean.
Hmm... does "that analog magic" also include cassette, Steve? I ask because, like vinyl, it's measurably inferior in sound quality to digital but has a distinct analogue sound, and yet audiophiles don't seem to leap to its defence like they do with vinyl!
I still use cassettes AND reel to reel. Tape has its own sound...after all...they did record with tape for forever...most still do...
Okay Steve is the shirt analog or digital? It is loud either way...
I DO LOVE both CD and Vinyl and I DO hate shitty streaming , streaming is for losers that don't love Music
#6Done it and it's over for me. There is no such thing as a vinyl playlist.
I love putting a record on and then using the lp cover to clean the seeds from my weed to roll a fat one.
It is not too late for vinyl if someone actually comes to my place and hears my vinyl setup they can be blown away if they actually relax and listen to a familliar album or song.I don't have crazy high end rig but a good sounding stereo.
.analog is the dominant for me. I do play vinyl copies digitally and on cassette tapes(mostly old stock type 2 tapes) more often than lps. I try to record a vinyl record at least once a day. I actually record to both my tascam da-3000 high resolution mastering recorder at 24 bit 192 khz and cassette on an old Pioneer CT-F950 with Dolby b. I am always perfering to listen the cassette copy than digital. Sounds so much like the LP its crazy. That tape deck is one of the best ones I have used certainly far better than my much newer Yamaha and the pioneer ct-f950 last manufactured in 1980.
The digital loses the magic of the records such as original pressings of Pink Floyd Obscured by clouds and meddle that I recorded on one tape.All the music just sounds more real.
I actually chose a new stock maxell ur tupe 1 normal bias and it sounds really good and very relaxing at the end of a day. So much easier than flipping my vinyl when I'm just too tired.So due to the fact that Analog sounds better to me with my current equipment I will continue to listen and enjoy analog formats more often than digital. Having said this there will be days where I'm playing nothing but my high resolution copies from vinyl and cds mostly on my fiio portable music player on random with headphones,small portable speakers or the truck stereo. At home really sitting back and listening its analog!
Growing up, I didn’t have two nickels to rub together. Now, in my 50’s I have a modest digital system (Denafrips/MF/Maggies). I can afford to upgrade and I’m really wrestling with diving into vinyl at this point. 🤔 Oh, will you be at the Capitol Audio Fest this year?
I'm 35 yo, and I still prefer Digital over analog, I know this is totally personal preference but, at least to my ears, I've felt better with Hi Res digital music than analog media.
I have a big collection of DVDs, CDs and Blu-Rays (most of my video collection are concerts)