I own CDs and LPs. I play mainly CDs due to 'ease of use'. Stick a bunch in a changer and press play. Where LPs I have to want to play one. My CD and LP playback are pretty equal in sound quality. They just sound different. I could live with either one.
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From a high of 13,000LPs I now own 4500. CDs a high of 4000 I now own 2500 or so. The number one problem for a beginner would be buying LPs at this time. For years cheap and great used LPs were abundant. Now, used LPs are way more expensive, and lower quality.
I have stopped buying LPs anymore ,Even the very best used shop is full of way lower quality records now, They just cannot get anything top tier anymore.
CDs on the other hand, are overflowing out of the used bins currently. And perfect CDs, rare CDs in the $1 bins are easy to find. Online also, the cheap fifty cent CDs, the shipping os the big expense.(Aside from SACD and MoFi which still are very overpriced)Anyway, when it comes down to economics, the CD is way more accessible and far cheaper to accumulate at this time.I predict that will change in five years, and CDs will also become a craze to collect, again. So. IMO buy them now, before the prices goes up ten times.. (and remember records, everyone said records are DEAD, well?)
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atmasphere wrote: "
My biggest objection to digital is the distortion in the highs which in
the digital world is known as aliasing. The ear converts it to a sort of
brightness. These days its not nearly the problem it was years ago so I
can listen to digital without much complaint. But when I play the LPs
for my girlfriend, she hears the improvement right away (extra detail
for some reason) and she hears the same things I do, so I think digital
still has a way to go. Her daughter, who is 30, can't listen to digital
at all; she says it makes her jittery and annoyed. She's not
particularly pleasant to be around in that state, so when she comes over
we have to have the stereo either off or on LP only.
"
I agree the high frequency problems in digital have generally needed to be masked by other equipment, or artially solvedwith big buck equipment.When I recently bought a $7000 SACD/DAC Marantz SA-10 it was for one reason. That DSD upsampling (even for CD data) almost completely solves the digital glare. (and a lot better than cheaper DACs)I still can hear some problems on a few less well recorded material,(particularly as I reestablish the clarity throughout the system, which had been set to hide the worst of the HF grunge) and I still use a glorified tube buffer to ameliorate the small issues. but now I can get my system to be more revealing and not wince!
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No problem with CD reproduction other than the usual high frequency harshness problem. My recent purchase of a Marantz SA-10 solved that issue totally. Now the only problem is the same as LPs.. Some recordings are not great. Others great. Sad some great performances have poor sonics. and some great sounding CDs have dull performances.. Gee just like LPs.
Used to be I noticed this less on CD than I do now. When I had just an average DAC.
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Your argument.. not mine. I'm not the one trying to prove ...
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Geoff sez: " The best laid plans of mice and men oft go awry " I say specially when the mice are in the Man’s underpants.
I am pumped as I have spent all day listening to LPs, weeding. And not once (until just this moment) thought about changing a power cord or something. So it seems the 'adjusting' is done. Down to just listening to music.
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How did we get back to some sort of High School level debate on the 'merits' of digital? If you have to FIGHT SO HARD to 'prove' digital is deficient, maybe you are the one with a problem? IMO usually folks who have a firm belief and need to prove it to others really have no belief at all. Just a lot of pompous horse droppings dandied up as some theory they fool themselves with.
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What? I am awestruck you need some sort of explanation. awry?"
There may be other situations where things just suddenly go from zero to a hundred ’awry’. But this was the one connecting men and mice I could think of at the moment. John Steinbeck has a scarier answer. Better watch out if Lennie wants to pet you....
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dynaquest4: What receptacles? Oh all THOSE Furutech GTX receptacles..
They are breaking in still. Probably mostly broken in, but maybe not totally.. Anyway I am through listening for them. I have recently been fiddling with the midrange resistor in my Magnepan 20.7s. One ohm is too much, Have it down to about 0.5 ohm with Mundorf 10 watt resistors. Bought some Duelund Cast. Not here yet. Going to arrange so I can continue to fiddle, and allow me to add on parallel resistors to try 40 ohm, 29 ohm, with at least the Duelund there. Clearly I believe the Mundorf are not as clean... Otherwise I am just weeding my Jazz LPs by at least listening partway... to cut back on clutter. This is my life, Saturday, October 6, 2018
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The largest negative for vinyl is the equipment choice and setup. IF one has the skills, or a really good tech person to chose the right cart/arm combo, then set it up. At this point I would say almost no one has a person really skilled to do it. Most are half way guessing and klutzing to 'good enough'. Where CD is just plug and play. Then the cleaning of LPs. Really it has gotten to a new level, but I have not made that leap to an ultrasonic cleaning machine. I should I think, but I just have not done it yet.
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All those statistics 'have little bearing on the actual sound. There are LPs and CDs that sound wonderful. and then there are LPs and CDs that sound dreadful. Particularly Rock and Roll CDs with such heavy compression.. And then old early 50's LPs. I have been going over my LP collections to weed. And have to say way too many early 1950's mono LPs sound congested, too warm a tone. (As if being played through some old 1930's radio) Oddly the same music on CD usually has a much better balance. Now some of the problems may be the LPs are worn.. Can't deny most were bought at GoodWill for $0.50 a pop over many many years. Where all my used Jazz was bought at one used record store, and even the oldest mid 50's era, sound great (compared to the Classical LPs) And CDs made from 78's.. wow very good. Sure they have some limitations in frequency response. But the music is glorious.So my early mono Classical LPs may just have seen better days. They are (at least half) being re gifted to Good WIll!
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While I am weeding my LPs, I have noticed an odd thing. When I play a variety of older LPs, (early 50's Classical) They clearly have a warm, 'tube' sound. Jazz Lps from the same era do not, nor do later Lps at all.
So i 'postulate' the love for "Shaded Dog' RCA is just the desire for that sort of tube sound created by the equipment used to create the Lps. Personally I find it useless. For me it is like listening to some stereo I owned back in 1965. Where most all other LPs have an amazing clarity and natural sound. Unlike the very warmed over, and rather muddy sound of those overly tube based recordings. I have to admit this all may be just due to worm pressings. and not the actual recordings in a pristine state. Later Shaded Dogs seem more normal sounding.. Just sayin'..
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I own hundreds of Classical CDs I bought in the mid to late 1980s. Playing some right now!.
As for 'practical'. I have been weeding down my LP collection for the past month. MY shelving was six (12"x13") cubes high, and ten across filled with LPs. I wanted to get rid of the top row entirely, and empty out the bottom row. So basically get rid of 1/3 of all LPs. After a month of hard work, I have managed to empty the top row and removed it! Woo whoo! Sold piles to my favorite used record store.And gave away six 12" by 8" canvass shopping bags full of Classical 'junk' to Goodwill. One plus of all the work is I now have enough removed high quality outer sleeves from dumped Rock and Jazz, to cover the rest of the Classical which was half naked. (just finished that task of putting them on this morning) ALL of that has no enjoyment. Just work. CDs ARE way easier to keep. And I can say having three or so of every Classical title is going to change, but that means I have to listen to all 3 of them and decide which 2 to keep. Half of my future life may be spent completing the task. LOL
It is supposed to be a hobby, not a life consuming experience.
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Confirmation bias is a straw man argument. The person stating it as a truth, (he believes it must be true, so he thinks it has to be true in reality) then never backs up with any proof. The proof is on the person claiming it is confirmation bias. And where is the proof? Nowhere. All it is is the person claiming it is confirmation bias believing that is what it is.
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dynaquest4 shows the way to know.. By going back to the old stuff. "Do you hear a difference?" yet he is 'certain; no one ever does this???
Guess what.. I do swap back and check on how stuff changed. Blows the theory right out of the water....
For ihcho.. I used to have to use an extra tube preamp for my digital gear before I bought a Marantz SA-10 ($7000 US) Now my digital is better than the vinyl. But the digital also costs more than the vinyl setup in my current rig.I am certain if I added a better cartridge and phono box... I could reverse the scenario.
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