Vinyl - Why Do You Buy It?

[Travis]

I moved over to vinyl for a few reasons, but the tipping point as Adele 25. I found the CD loud and harsh. Couldn’t enjoy the music.

Have been into SACD for a bit, trying to get the best sound, and even tried DVD-A, Blu-ray Audio, SHM-CD, HDCD, and LPCD. Vinyl has been the best.

Also, a friend of mine plays vinyl, and I really enjoyed the full sound at his place. It’s really about the warm, open feeling that won me over.

Well. for 2 years been running MoFi Studio Phono and ProJect Debut Carbon with OM10 into my Marantz SR6004 and B&W CM9 Series 2 towers. Collection so far: https://www.discogs.com/user/BD-Travis/collection

Only issue I have really had is buying new clean records. I find blues, jazz, and classical come in beautiful shape. Play with out a snap, crackle, or pop. Rock and pop can be covered in white (paper) dust and even had a vinyl shaving on one. I sweep new records with carbon brush and then a velvet brush. Annoying seeing the dandruff gathering around the platter.

Vinyl has been great. It fills the room with a fuller sound than CDs, or any other disc. Wish I would have started collecting sooner.

[adward7]

The current generation uses mostly spotify/itunes and others digital sites for music streaming and also the majority of the modern music doesn't release in vinyl format. Also quality vinyl players tend to be a little expensive for an average music listeners.

I personally rip my CDs into FLAC and save copies of my music collection on pc and on my phone because it is convenient for me that way.

You are right about the vinyl, it doesn't compress music waves into digital form, therefore it's the least compressed music available right now. But since I mostly listen to my music in headphones, I don't really find a use of vinyl records.

[fighthefutureofhd]

Actually, that's not true. Modern music is put out on Vinyl. In fact, almost all new releases get a Vinyl releases. It's rare for music these days not to get a Vinyl release. And this is driven in part by young consumers. It's not the boomers keeping Vinyl steady and going strong. It's the young folk. Vinyl is now the hip thing to collect along with Cassettes. As to the original question, I'm not sure I can really answer it. At least not with a direct answer or reason. I first got back into Vinyl (i'm old enough to remember when Vinyl was the dominant format) after getting The Perks of Being a Wallflower on Vinyl and wanting to hear it. I then got a turntable for Christmas and have used it ever since. Going on 9 years almost.

I've been buying ever since. I think part of that reason is because I like that you have to sit and listen to vinyl. Because you have to turn over to hear the rest, so you have to pay attention. You could put in a CD or Stream and never the music was over. It helps me get out of my headspace for awhile. Turn everything off, including the world, and just listen to some good music for awhile. I am a rare breed though, as I still buy CDs too. So when a new release comes out i have to have the vinyl version and the CD version if I can. And the reason for that is the other reason I am a rare bird.

I still listen to CDs in a portable CD player. I am as old school as they come. Music was my escape from life and was my Best friend. Until my REAL best friend died. Now music is only a temporary levy to try and stop the waves from flooding me ever so. Sometimes, it gets too much and I have take a break from it. I can't really handle music like I used to. The flame is there, but it's not the same. It's too twisted to recognize. Oh well. That's my two cents of nothingness.

[quickdraw]

Originally Posted by Travis

Collection so far: [url="https://www.discogs.com/user/BD-Travis/collection"]https://www.discogs.com/user/BD-Travis/collection[/url

Hey Travis, I really dig your collection. I think I'm a lot like you and gravitate to all sorts of genres of music according to my mood. BTW, I won't buy music unless it's vinyl.

[Travis]

Originally Posted by fighthefutureofhd

Actually, that's not true. Modern music is put out on Vinyl. In fact, almost all new releases get a Vinyl releases. It's rare for music these days not to get a Vinyl release. And this is driven in part by young consumers. It's not the boomers keeping Vinyl steady and going strong. It's the young folk. Vinyl is now the hip thing to collect along with Cassettes. As to the original question, I'm not sure I can really answer it. At least not with a direct answer or reason. I first got back into Vinyl (i'm old enough to remember when Vinyl was the dominant format) after getting The Perks of Being a Wallflower on Vinyl and wanting to hear it. I then got a turntable for Christmas and have used it ever since. Going on 9 years almost.

I've been buying ever since. I think part of that reason is because I like that you have to sit and listen to vinyl. Because you have to turn over to hear the rest, so you have to pay attention. You could put in a CD or Stream and never the music was over. It helps me get out of my headspace for awhile. Turn everything off, including the world, and just listen to some good music for awhile. I am a rare breed though, as I still buy CDs too. So when a new release comes out i have to have the vinyl version and the CD version if I can. And the reason for that is the other reason I am a rare bird.

I still listen to CDs in a portable CD player. I am as old school as they come. Music was my escape from life and was my Best friend. Until my REAL best friend died. Now music is only a temporary levy to try and stop the waves from flooding me ever so. Sometimes, it gets too much and I have take a break from it. I can't really handle music like I used to. The flame is there, but it's not the same. It's too twisted to recognize. Oh well. That's my two cents of nothingness.

I must say I love that I take in an album with vinyl rather than just a track.

I use Apple Music in the car, but not focused on the music as much as the maniacs driving around me. I still play CDs but lean towards vinyl when I really want to sit.

The ceremony of carefully removing an album, cleaning it, dropping the needle and sitting down to really relax is great.

Am moving towards 50; I get pleasure from anything that just slows everything down.Having time to sit and relax to one album is pretty precious. Don’t get to do it enough.

[fighthefutureofhd]

Originally Posted by quickdraw

Hey Travis, I really dig your collection. I think I'm a lot like you and gravitate to all sorts of genres of music according to my mood. BTW, I won't buy music unless it's vinyl.

I'm a bit of the opposite, but still similar. I won't buy anything, for the most part, if it's not on CD or Vinyl at least. There has to be some sort of physical product for me to want to listen to it. Either/or. Does not matter. Though I would prefer to have both.

[fighthefutureofhd]

Originally Posted by Travis

I must say I love that I take in an album with vinyl rather than just a track.

I use Apple Music in the car, but not focused on the music as much as the maniacs driving around me. I still play CDs but lean towards vinyl when I really want to sit.

The ceremony of carefully removing an album, cleaning it, dropping the needle and sitting down to really relax is great.

Am moving towards 50; I get pleasure from anything that just slows everything down.Having time to sit and relax to one album is pretty precious. Don’t get to do it enough.

I am the same way as far as Vinyl goes. I love being able to sit down and listen. It's like movies in that way. To get away for a while. I have to play CD though. I don't drive and don't have a car with a CD player. So my options are streaming or CD. I go with CD just about every time. Plus, there are lots of my music not available to stream or listen to on Vinyl.

[Travis]

Originally Posted by quickdraw

Hey Travis, I really dig your collection. I think I'm a lot like you and gravitate to all sorts of genres of music according to my mood. BTW, I won't buy music unless it's vinyl.

Think Adele 25 was the last CD I bought. Really find CDs are too hot; am convinced they are made for people listen with earbuds or Beats headphones. Also not really into new music.

Some I only listen to when I have a quiet house to myself. Others are for when family is around. ABBA and Lady Gaga is for my 10-year old daughter. I’ve always liked ABBA but the Lady Gaga record is growing on me. Played Bach Cello Suites for the kid recently because she’s learning about it in school. Played a CD as well, great CD, but then had to order the vinyl.


Christmas is of course family time music. Plugged in the iPad to play some while decorating the tree last year, then sat down to some records. Wow! What a difference in sound.

[fighthefutureofhd]

I don't know about how hot CDs sound, but i HAVE to have them. If I only listened to music at the house, I wouldn't listen much. And since I don't drive, CD's are a must. I will get the vinyl if there is one available as well. It just all depends.

[Travis]

Originally Posted by fighthefutureofhd

I don't know about how hot CDs sound, but i HAVE to have them. If I only listened to music at the house, I wouldn't listen much. And since I don't drive, CD's are a must. I will get the vinyl if there is one available as well. It just all depends.

CDs are still nice. I’ve only double dipped 25 CDs. Most music I’ll keep on CD.

Also not impressed with some remastered albums on vinyl. The Pink Floyd LPs are good, but missing something, wish they were great. ACDC Back in Black has probably been the most disappointing. Digitally Remastered has become a four letter word. Still I prefer the new vinyl to the CDs.

Then again The Police studio albums are a great improvement over CDs. https://www.discogs.com/The-Police-F...lease/16048510

Classical has seen the most improvement on my system.

[quickdraw]

Originally Posted by Travis

Also not impressed with some remastered albums on vinyl. The Pink Floyd LPs are good, but missing something, wish they were great. ACDC Back in Black has probably been the most disappointing. Digitally Remastered has become a four letter word. Still I prefer the new vinyl to the CDs.

Then again The Police studio albums are a great improvement over CDs. https://www.discogs.com/The-Police-F...lease/16048510

Classical has seen the most improvement on my system.

I tend to agree that "remastered" vinyl seems more a marketing ploy than anything, however there are some exceptions I can think right off the top of my head. Peter Gabriel "So" is absolutely stunning in 1/2 speed remaster, Talk Talk "The Color of Spring" is a huge improvement and comes with SACD, and Dave Brubeck "Time Out" are great examples of remastered vinyl that actually sounds dramatically better than CD. Anything Mobile Fidelity Sound Labs does in vinyl are usually great improvements too, although lately, they seem to be doing more SACD releases than vinyl.

To me, almost all of the Police's original vinyl releases sound much better in vinyl than CD. Their CD releases seem compressed to me, and Sting's bass sounds more natural sounding in vinyl. I've been on a quest for a while to track down the original vinyl recording at Discogs lately - and I own the complete recordings set in CD!

[fighthefutureofhd]

I have to say I have a number of remastered albums that sound wonderful to me. Here's my shortlist:

R.E.M. - Out of Time 25th anniversary deluxe Vinyl
Liz Phair - From Girlysound to Guyville deluxe Vinyl
Radiohead - Ok Computer OKNOTOK 1997-2017 deluxe Vinyl
R.E.M. - Green 25th anniversary Vinyl
Prince - Sign O the Times deluxe box set Vinyl
Tom Petty - Wildflowers And All the Rest deluxe box set Vinyl
R.E.M. - Automatic For the People 25th anniversary Vinyl
Lou Reed - New York deluxe box set Vinyl
Prince - 1999 purple remaster Vinyl (2019)
Wilco - Summerteeth deluxe box set Vinyl
Liz Phair - Liz Phair
R.E.M - Monster 25th anniversary deluxe Vinyl
The Replacements - Dead Man's Pop deluxe box set Vinyl

[Travis]

Originally Posted by fighthefutureofhd

I have to say I have a number of remastered albums that sound wonderful to me. Here's my shortlist:

R.E.M. - Out of Time 25th anniversary deluxe Vinyl
Liz Phair - From Girlysound to Guyville deluxe Vinyl
Radiohead - Ok Computer OKNOTOK 1997-2017 deluxe Vinyl
R.E.M. - Green 25th anniversary Vinyl
Prince - Sign O the Times deluxe box set Vinyl
Tom Petty - Wildflowers And All the Rest deluxe box set Vinyl
R.E.M. - Automatic For the People 25th anniversary Vinyl
Lou Reed - New York deluxe box set Vinyl
Prince - 1999 purple remaster Vinyl (2019)
Wilco - Summerteeth deluxe box set Vinyl
Liz Phair - Liz Phair
R.E.M - Monster 25th anniversary deluxe Vinyl
The Replacements - Dead Man's Pop deluxe box set Vinyl

Cool.

I just listened to R.E.M. - Automatic For the People 25th anniversary and Prince -Purple Rain Remaster a few days ago. They are great.

Will buy 1999 soon.

[fighthefutureofhd]

I forgot about the Purple Rain remaster. That one is quite good. Another one is coming out that I have high hopes for. It's the 30th anniversary remaster of Violent Femmes' Why Do Birds Sing? and it comes out Friday. Looking forward to it.

[quickdraw]

Originally Posted by Travis

Classical has seen the most improvement on my system.

Boy, that's the truth right there. I think initially when CDs first came out, a lot of classical fans jumped on the band wagon thinking "hurray, no more pops or surface noise!". To my ears I'm finding the vinyl versions of classical music is more natural sounding with more breathing room or presence than CD. It took me a while to figure it out. Instruments in the higher pitch range like cymbals triangles and even the higher registering octaves in orchestral strings sound more brittle, artificially bright and often more fatiguing on my eardrums on CD. To me acoustic instruments sound more realistic and natural on vinyl and seem to show a more nuanced presentation in general than digital CD counterparts.

[evilive]

I mostly got into vinyl because some albums didn't have a cd release and got tired of having to listen to them on YouTube. Then I started purchasing albums that I've never owned in my cd collection.

[Travis]

Originally Posted by quickdraw

Boy, that's the truth right there. I think initially when CDs first came out, a lot of classical fans jumped on the band wagon thinking "hurray, no more pops or surface noise!". To my ears I'm finding the vinyl versions of classical music is more natural sounding with more breathing room or presence than CD. It took me a while to figure it out. Instruments in the higher pitch range like cymbals triangles and even the higher registering octaves in orchestral strings sound more brittle, artificially bright and often more fatiguing on my eardrums on CD. To me acoustic instruments sound more realistic and natural on vinyl and seem to show a more nuanced presentation in general than digital CD counterparts.

Singing the praises of classical jinxed me.

Played some of my new Bach set: https://smile.amazon.com/Bach-Cello-...3826780&sr=8-5

Returning it. Told Amazon it looks used, but a lot of the same dandruff, dust I’ve had on new rock records. And scratches that look like they were slid in and out of rough sleeves.

But it’s from Warner Classics and the sleeves are nice. I got this from Warner Classics https://smile.amazon.com/Bach-Cello-...7FFZH5DK&psc=1 and vinyl is beautiful. Also didn’t swap out sleeves for MoFi which I do for all others.

Confused and Sad

[quickdraw]

Originally Posted by Travis

Singing the praises of classical jinxed me.

Played some of my new Bach set: https://smile.amazon.com/Bach-Cello-...3826780&sr=8-5

Returning it. Told Amazon it looks used, but a lot of the same dandruff, dust I’ve had on new rock records. And scratches that look like they were slid in and out of rough sleeves.

But it’s from Warner Classics and the sleeves are nice. I got this from Warner Classics https://smile.amazon.com/Bach-Cello-...7FFZH5DK&psc=1 and vinyl is beautiful. Also didn’t swap out sleeves for MoFi which I do for all others.

Confused and Sad

Sadly, quality has gone down due to the renewed popularity of the format and the backlog of demand, partly due to Covid and partly due to lack of stamping resources. Bums me out to see even classical titles are suffering the same QC issues as popular music.

A few months ago I bought a domestic pressing of the Beach Boys "Pet Sounds" and it was easily one of the worst new pressings I've ever heard and that's including the notoriously horrible period in the mid 70's when a lot of vinyl had truly wretched pressings during the energy crisis days. On the other hand, I recently bought the Beach Boys Greatest Hits double record and it was largely flawless. It was also an import I believe pressed in Croatia is I remember correctly (bought at B&N).

What I suspect is happening, is due to the processing plants cutting corners to pump out product. Typically a record stamper die only lasts about 1,000 pressings before it starts to wear out and needs to be swapped out for a new die. I think the larger record plants are pushing out those dies longer than their useful life in order to minimize costs and increase production. I think in the long run that's a losing formula, because vinyl record collectors are usually a more critical audience and won't hesitate to return shitty product.

[punisher]

Keira Knightley about vinyl records - YouTube

[Travis]

Originally Posted by quickdraw

Sadly, quality has gone down due to the renewed popularity of the format and the backlog of demand, partly due to Covid and partly due to lack of stamping resources. Bums me out to see even classical titles are suffering the same QC issues as popular music.

A few months ago I bought a domestic pressing of the Beach Boys "Pet Sounds" and it was easily one of the worst new pressings I've ever heard and that's including the notoriously horrible period in the mid 70's when a lot of vinyl had truly wretched pressings during the energy crisis days. On the other hand, I recently bought the Beach Boys Greatest Hits double record and it was largely flawless. It was also an import I believe pressed in Croatia is I remember correctly (bought at B&N).

What I suspect is happening, is due to the processing plants cutting corners to pump out product. Typically a record stamper die only lasts about 1,000 pressings before it starts to wear out and needs to be swapped out for a new die. I think the larger record plants are pushing out those dies longer than their useful life in order to minimize costs and increase production. I think in the long run that's a losing formula, because vinyl record collectors are usually a more critical audience and won't hesitate to return shitty product.

Yep, they don’t make ‘em like they used to.

The set was produced in 2021. Thought about buying another from Amazon, but if 2021 edition, nah. 2016 edition but according to Discogs price is out of my range, $200+.

Got a Bach suite from 2018 that was recorded in the 30’s that is far more enjoyable because it plays clean.

So think I will look for something else.