Vinyl is Back With a Vengeance

[richteer]

Originally Posted by ZoetMB

The reason why people think vinyl sounds better is because they remember the emotions they felt when they first listened to albums on vinyl. Every time I hear a CD that I think sucks and I think, "this sounded better on vinyl" and I go back to the vinyl, the vinyl sounds worse, many times remarkably worse. Those of us who are old enough to have been around for vinyl also listened to vinyl with better hearing. And that's what we remember.

No, the reason why people think that vinyl sounds better is because it does. Not a universal truth, to be sure, but pretty accurate.

Well before the advent of CD, audiophiles complained like hell about the poor quality of vinyl pressings in the U.S. That was one of the reasons collectors started seeking Japanese and European pressings of Beatles recordings, not just because of the different track configurations. So it really makes me laugh that so-called audiophiles are now seeking those very same bad pressings.

Eh? Dynaflex was a scourge, to be sure, but there aren't many audiophiles seeking them out.

Disclaimer: I have not yet listened to any of the new 180-gram vinyl that you now see in record stores for absurd prices. One of these days I will pick up one, but I don't expect to be impressed.

What record-playing gear do you use? It'd have to be pretty, umm, non-optimal, for the 180g records not to sound good.