Vinyl vs. top-notch digital

Bravo Violin....

Hi Jeff,

If you happen to live in LA or get out this way come over to my house and hear the difference. I own the Lector Digicode/Digidrive. Harry Pearson(and other major reviewers-do a google search) considers the Lector to be one of the most analogue sounding digital rigs out there. I happen to agree with him. Having said that it still doesn't come close to my analogue setup.

If you can't come out my way find a dealer near you that sells turntables. Bring your CD player over and compare. That's what I did. I walked out of there with a turntable.

As far as the time investment it's really not that bad. Unless you buy a really tweaky turntable like the Walker(or any table that has a linear tracking arm for that matter) you shouldn't have to adjust your turntable once it has been setup properly. Yeah you have to clean the records(but I don't do it all the time only when they need it), and yes you have to get up and switch sides but other than that it's really not that bad. Plus not being able to skip tracks is a bonus in a way. You start listening to albums instead of songs.

As far as noise goes 95% of my records(new or used) are as quite as CD.

Speaking of setup it is the key to good vinyl playback. Only a properly setup turntable will sound better than CD. If you do decide to go vinyl do yourself a favor and find a dealer in your area who really know how to setup a turntable correctly.

As to the statement that new music is not being put out on vinyl that is incorrect. Please go to the following link for some interesting info on this.

http://www.wired.com/entertainment/music/commentary/listeningpost/2007/10/listeningpost_1029
http://blog.wired.com/music/2008/04/riaa-admits-vin.html

One last thing only you can decide what sound you prefer. To me analogue sounds more like the real thing, but there are plenty of guys on Audiogon that prefer digital. So, again, go check it out for yourself and see which you prefer.

Justin

"If there's a better format for listening to hissing, popping, and crackling, then on a cumbersome, yet fragile 12-inch piece of vinyl, I'd love to hear it." -THE ONION

Like the man or not,
Harry Pearson of the Absolute Sound has repeated over the past few years the Very best digital has not equaled the Very best analog play back.

You can contact the man directly yourself via his e-mail address in TAS or AV guide to tell him he's a fool if you like.

Whom Else on the planet have equipment available to him on a scale like this?

Just recently he took delivery of ClearAudios Statement turntable, to his absolute delight there's even more musical information on these 50 plus year old Lps in his collection.

The best digital player that I have heard to date is the Canadian made emm Labs cd/sacd.
Affordable to many and easy to use like any digital player at this price. Very nice for short term listening.

However, I will put up with the maintenance level of my record player and vintage and reissue Lp collection over digital any day.

If you read the Hoffman link provided above it will descibe the difference very well in the favor of vinyl. I recently had an experience while listening to Bill Evans 45 RPM Acoustic Sounds pressing of "Everybody Digs Bill Evans". We put the recently released remastered CD (Keepnews Edition) on right after listening to the vinyl. The difference in tone was quite noticeable. We turned off the CD and returned to a night of vinyl listening. Also, Violin has it right about listener fatique. Plastic, be it SACD or CD, tire my ears well before vinyl does, which is hardly ever.
If you love music and have the money you owe it to yourself to try vinyl.