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Can you imagine a world without vinyl?

Can you imagine a world without vinyl?
I have been into vinyl for 49 years - since the age of 8 & cannot imagine a world without vinyl.
I started out buying 45's & graduated to 33's (what is now considered LP's).
I have seen 8 tracks come & go, still have a kazillion cassettes, reel to reel & digital cassettes - have both the best redbook player & SACD players available, but must listen to my "LP's" at least 2 hours a day.
I play CD's about 6 hours a day as background music while I'm working, but must get off my butt every now & then & "just listen to real music".
I admit to being a vinyl junkie - wih 7 turntables, 11 cartridges & 8 arms along with 35K albums & 15K 45's.
For all you guys who ask - Is vinyl worth it - the answer is yes!
Just play any CD, cassette, or digital tape with the same version on vinyl & see/hear for yourself.
May take more time & energy (care) to play, but worth it's weight in gold.
Like Mikey says "Try it, you'll like it!"
I love it!
128x128paladin
zaikesman
3,017 posts
 
Agree that it makes sense for the LSB to lie below the noise floor, or for the system S/N ratio to be defined by that noise floor rather than the bit-depth. What I meant to suggest was that beyond a certain point there ceases to be a real world advantage to increased bit-depth in a multi-bit scheme, but please correct me if I'm wrong.
eldartford
4,262 posts
 
Three audiophiles agree on something!!! The planets must be aligned.
zaikesman
3,017 posts
 
130dB dynamic range is more than sufficient for our ears I think, but Eldartford's point about the resolution of low-level signals with fixed vs. floating LSB schemes is interesting, and seems like it could possibly have some bearing on why audiophiles hold reservations about the naturalness of digital sound. Anybody know of any subjective audition testing done in this area?
eldartford
4,262 posts
 
Zaikesman...."subjective audition testing done in this area?" That is exactly what I did with my Behringer DEQ2496. I noticed that the input signal level, displayed by a string of LEDs, never got even half way up, meaning that only the lower bits of the A/D were being used. Upon consideration this is not surprising since the DEQ2496 is professional gear, and expects line level signals to be higher than typical consumer electronics. I have introduced attenuation between the output of the DEC2496 and my power amps, and cranked up the preamp gain so that the peak level for a complete CD (detected and loged by the DEC2496) is 6 dB or less below cliping. Now I am utilizing all the bits I paid for. In my subjective opinion, it sounds better.
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shadorne
7,333 posts
 
Eldartford,

I noticed that the input signal level, displayed by a string of LEDs, never got even half way up, meaning that only the lower bits of the A/D were being used.

Now I am utilizing all the bits I paid for. In my subjective opinion, it sounds better.

It doesn't really matter according to Nika Aldrich. The dynamic range of playback music is far far less than 16 bits...so it is quite normal you only had half the lights on. Whether it is the top half or the lower half of the lights that light up it should really sound the same.

Check out "Digital Audio Explained" by Nika Aldrich...the last chapter has a list of common audio myths. Several of the myths would cause a storm here on audiogon so I won't mention what Nika claims ....but his book is highly respected (by folks like AKM who design/make these DAC/ADC chips) and worth reading, even if you disagree with his conclusions.
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