I’ve posted a lot of images of my almost daily Vinyl Hour listening showing the album that I’m listening to. Most of the time the albums that I’m listening to are from the pre-digital days when everything was 100% analog. In light of the recent Mobile Fidelity controversy and the fact that most, if not all, modern recordings have at least some digital in them, I pose the following question: what is the worth of the remaining 100% analog albums which are still out there?
The way I see it is that most of the catalog of any major artist is fully digitized and for the less than major artists it would depend on the entity hold the analog master tapes as to whether or not a fully 100% analog vinyl reissue would ever be released. Which leads me to believe that the original vinyl releases of almost any album are one of the only ways to get 100% analog sound (unless you have lots and lots and lots of money to spend on what may turn out to be not a 100% analog reissue).
This copy is a heavy vinyl reissue from 2003. Is it 100% analog or is it made from a digital master? I truly don’t know but it does sound pretty nice. Plus my original early 1970’s copy is pretty well trashed so this one will just have to suffice, regardless of its questionable provenance.
Ticketmaster has an extensive API that they will gladly release to you if you have enough (scalper) accounts with them sync’d using their trade desk application.
I wonder how much extra I’ve paid over the years, then I get upset and stop.
Second and third brand new vinyl to come into my house, though I will have to live with playing the digital versions for now, as Bandcamp have excellent policies in that area. Got the side eye from the Wife
My daughter is trying to convince me to buy a turntable. She has one of those $100 suitcase-style jobbies that she plays records on.
We had records when I was a kid, think 70s and early 80s. My Dad had a ton of records and what I assume was a middle-of-the-road turntable hooked up to a middle-of-the-road amp. Maybe some kind of radio shack situation. All I remember is that it was thin sounding and lots of pops and crackles.
I grew up on CDs and now Tidal streaming. I have a reasonable setup (Cambridge CXA81 + good speakers).
Can someone give me their impressions, what would I be likely to experience, sound-wise, with a reasonable turntable? (e.g. Rega Planar 1 or even 3).
I would love to go to a HiFi store and check things out but alas that is not possible right now.
@AceRimmer has already pointed out some issues with vinyl replay. As someone hopelessly lost in the vinyl playback, i can only say that “don’t cheap out”.
My absolutely cheapest turntable is a Rega Planar 3 (newest version) with a Neo PSU (allows 33 and 45rpm switching with a button) and i must say it is a really nice TT. Point is, you will need a good RIAA/Phono stage, thats where the battle is lost or won. A flexible and good sounding starting RIAA is the Lehmann Audio Black Cube in it’s iterations. It’s hifi without loosing the music in the process, and will replay whats in the groove, not the “snap, crackle and pop”.
I’m running my Rega with a Grandinote Celio phono stage and it’s competing with my bigger guns (albeit with a lesser footprint, both audiowise and real estate) even with an Ortofon 2M Silver pickup.
The enjoyment of vinyl comes with adequate equipment, as the two gentlemen have already described here, and then comes another important point - the type of music and the quality of the recordings.
I find many older records much nicer sounding than current pressings, but there are also sonically beautiful recordings among the newer ones. My strategy is that I stream a lot of new stuff first and then pay attention to how often I listen to an album. If it comes through the speakers regularly, there’s a realistic chance I’ll get it on vinyl.
But absolutely essential is a solid turntable with a good cartridge and a phono stage that can transport it well to the amplifier.
This is where things go off the rails…a bad rig will kill pressings and and already bad / dirty pressing will kill a decent stylus too.
Vinyl is a slippery enough slope even when you already have a good setup.
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AceRimmer
(Smoke me a kipper, I'll be back for breakfast!)
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I feel this is very relevant and could be of use to yourself.
Today I picked up a very lightly used ProJect Carbon Debut Esprit SB table off my local CL.
I couldn’t leave it at the price
Intention was/is to turn it into my mono only table but…
Of course I had to try it as is.
This comes with an Ortofon 2M Red cartridge as standard and a carbon fiber 8.6" tonearm.
I am honestly shocked and in awe of just how good this darn thing sounds as is!
I think these are about $450 new and I have to say I give it a huge double thumbs up as a great potential starter table.
Of course you still need a good Phonostage or amp with a decent built in Phonostage but I think this is a great value starter piece.
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