Vinyl

[valleys caveman]

Any of you lot reverted back to vinyl records?
If so, why? I've been thinking about getting a 'record player'.
Is it just a nostalgia trip, or do you prefer the sound?

[CopenhagenBlue]

Not stopped buying vinyl since I started mid 90s. Mostly house and techno, and often for mixing, so that also influenced things to some extent. Hard to really put my finger on what it is, but I've always just loved records. With regards to the music I'm mainly into, it's never gone away, so the whole resurgence isn't much of a thing to me, other than it's nice to see physical shops popping back up to browse and buy records in person rather than online...
People often comment that it's outdated but to be honest, I still find it mind blowing that a piece of vinyl with grooves cut into it and a needle running through them can produce amazing hi fi sounds. Far more impressive than modern digital sources.
And it does sound better, or nicer at least 😉

[cardiff55]

I have loads of vinyl, about 1000 LPS and singles, and also about the same number of CDs. It all depends on the equipment you play it on, the more expensive the better the sound. I recently upgraded by turntable, and the difference is startling, it's the same record but sounds much better. Also had my CD player serviced, with new capacitors, and it has improved the sound too. Whether you like vinyl or CD, they do sound different, play it decent kit.

[Eric the Half a Bee]

Any of you lot reverted back to vinyl records?
If so, why? I've been thinking about getting a 'record player'.
Is it just a nostalgia trip, or do you prefer the sound?

I haven't reverted back to vinyl as such, but I did buy myself a tidy deck for my 40th. A cheap record player just sounds shit.

Better? Different is probably more accurate. I like comparing original pressings with cds. One of my favourites is a Saint Saens organ symphony which I have on both. The record, made of quite a heavy and thick vinyl, is stunning, despite the odd pop and crackle. Some Dave Brubeck sounds better on vinyl. I've bought a few 45s from the 60s and 70s and they are better on vinyl. The digital remasters tend to lack depth and clarity. Much of that is down to the remastering, not the medium, though. Older recordings were intended for vinyl. Modern studio recordings aren't.

I have fought shy of buying any new vinyl pressings of old material. I'd firstly want to know if the pressing was made with the original recording, not some remastered attempt. I wonder how new material sounds on vinyl? Digital sound is only a sample of analog - there's no way of perfectly replicating analog on a digital format, though most will never tell the difference. I rarely can. If a digital recording has lost a fraction of the sound (mainly high pitched harmonics that we can't hear but are there), vinyl will just play back the analog pressing of a digital recording. That doesn't appeal to me.

There's also stuff released on vinyl that will never see a CD. I love my copy of the Portsmouth Sinfonia on vinyl (those who know of them will understand!). I recently found Agadoo on 12" in my local market for 25p. Bargain!

[NYCBlue]

I play records often. Still have a bunch of old ones and a lot of reissues. Had to knock the reissues on the head. It ws getting out-of-hand. It's nice to have your favorite records on 180 gram vinyl, but paying $30 for something that I paid £3.49 for thirty-odd years ago is a bit daft. I must have about $1000 worth of reissues. I used to get them delivered to work so the Mrs wouldn't notice.

[David Vincent]

I have a Linn Sondek and a load of records but I haven't used it since about 1986. For me the convenience of listening via the computer far outweighs the extra sound quality you get from vinyl. I spend about 3 or 4 hours a day listening to music and there is no way that I could do that if I had to put a record on every time. Also with a computer you can see the musicians. The sound quality in the following clip of Brubeck playing Audrey is just terrible. But this clever film more than makes up for that. Desmond wrote Audrey for Audrey Hepburn.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Q__a39yWsg

When you see a great performance you get so much more out of it than just listening to it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rwynxOAoKjo

[SLUDGE FACTORY]

Black Sabbaths debut album on vinyl

****ing have it

[cardiff55]

I have a Linn Sondek and a load of records but I haven't used it since about 1986. For me the convenience of listening via the computer far outweighs the extra sound quality you get from vinyl. I spend about 3 or 4 hours a day listening to music and there is no way that I could do that if I had to put a record on every time. Also with a computer you can see the musicians. The sound quality in the following clip of Brubeck playing Audrey is just terrible. But this clever film more than makes up for that. Desmond wrote Audrey for Audrey Hepburn.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Q__a39yWsg

When you see a great performance you get so much more out of it than just listening to it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rwynxOAoKjo

The Linn Sondek is a very nice piece of kit. I have an upgraded Rega with a new MC cartridge.

[cardiff55]

I haven't reverted back to vinyl as such, but I did buy myself a tidy deck for my 40th. A cheap record player just sounds shit.

Better? Different is probably more accurate. I like comparing original pressings with cds. One of my favourites is a Saint Saens organ symphony which I have on both. The record, made of quite a heavy and thick vinyl, is stunning, despite the odd pop and crackle. Some Dave Brubeck sounds better on vinyl. I've bought a few 45s from the 60s and 70s and they are better on vinyl. The digital remasters tend to lack depth and clarity. Much of that is down to the remastering, not the medium, though. Older recordings were intended for vinyl. Modern studio recordings aren't.

I have fought shy of buying any new vinyl pressings of old material. I'd firstly want to know if the pressing was made with the original recording, not some remastered attempt. I wonder how new material sounds on vinyl? Digital sound is only a sample of analog - there's no way of perfectly replicating analog on a digital format, though most will never tell the difference. I rarely can. If a digital recording has lost a fraction of the sound (mainly high pitched harmonics that we can't hear but are there), vinyl will just play back the analog pressing of a digital recording. That doesn't appeal to me.

There's also stuff released on vinyl that will never see a CD. I love my copy of the Portsmouth Sinfonia on vinyl (those who know of them will understand!). I recently found Agadoo on 12" in my local market for 25p. Bargain!

The 1960s singles in mono sound fantastic on a good deck. A really powerful sound.

[NYCBlue]

Black Sabbaths debut album on vinyl

****ing have it

[Eric the Half a Bee]

The 1960s singles in mono sound fantastic on a good deck. A really powerful sound.

Absolutely. I'm into ska and reggae. I've only ever heard the old stuff on CD. The old vinyls are significantly better and, like you say, more powerful.

It might be me, but I fancy vinyl was thicker back then. Would allow for deeper grooves and a greater sound.

[Heathblue]

Any of you lot reverted back to vinyl records?
If so, why? I've been thinking about getting a 'record player'.
Is it just a nostalgia trip, or do you prefer the sound?

Vinyl all the way as long as it is not a remastered copy., i do have a couple of remasters, half speed masters etc. but these are collectables rather than for playing, my lad has just had 3 Vinyl pressings made of their latest album just to check out what it would sound like, I have one of the copies, he listened to it, the 1st time he has ever listened to Vinyl, and whilst happy with it did not think any better than the CD, but slightly warmer,, I do not have the CD so have no comparison possible for me, a very good comparison is U2's unforgettable fire, it's a brilliant LP (sound) but a very bland CD sound I got rid of my Vinyl players years ago got a project deck a few years back, it's OK but I then bought a2nd hand dual 505, Linn Sondek would be my wanna get deck but for the amount of use, it would be an expensive ornament. Will try and sort a Thorens deck out this year, a vintage model.

[goats]

Any of you lot reverted back to vinyl records?
If so, why? I've been thinking about getting a 'record player'.
Is it just a nostalgia trip, or do you prefer the sound?

I’ve got a bit of decent vinyl, some collectors stuff too. Think I’m going to get a turntable again at some point and rig up my old amp and CD player. Got about 80 gig of music on my laptop which sonos currently won’t let me play, ultimate piss take so I reckon I’m going back to the old simple ways and not succumbing to paying to stream stuff I already own.

[stevo]

I got back into vinyl about 15 years ago although it never really went away for me. I just started getting into new music more and more. I have about 4000 LPs now.

Records do sound better than CDs to me, although my turntable (Roksan Radius 5.1) is way better than my CD kit. The trouble with CDs these days is the mastering, particularly remastered reissues. They sound awful when you want to crank it up on a decent system.

[valleys caveman]

Thanks lads

What sort of £'s are we talking about for a tidy deck?

[Eric the Half a Bee]

Thanks lads

What sort of £'s are we talking about for a tidy deck?

My deck cost me around £400. That might seem a lot to some. That's not even entry level to others! I'm very happy with it but I reckon if I heard a £2000 deck mine would seem ordinary.

[Optimistic Nick]

My deck cost me around £400. That might seem a lot to some. That's not even entry level to others! I'm very happy with it but I reckon if I heard a £2000 deck mine would seem ordinary.

But how many people could tell the difference between your £400 kit: a £2k kit and a basic cd player? I'm sure there is a difference and even to the untrained ear, i can tell the difference between analog and digital sound. But how much do you need to spend to have decent sound quality from vinyl?

[Eric the Half a Bee]

But how many people could tell the difference between your £400 kit: a £2k kit and a basic cd player? I'm sure there is a difference and even to the untrained ear, i can tell the difference between analog and digital sound. But how much do you need to spend to have decent sound quality from vinyl?

Absolutely. Beauty is in the ear of the beholder. There's also no reason why more expensive means a better bit of equipment for that person. There's no reason why someone couldn't pay £100 for a good entry level deck that suits them better than one several times that price.

[tricks]

A refurbished Dual off eBay would be 100 to 150 and a good purchase I reckon. If you properly get the vinyl bug back then sell and upgrade to suit your £

[RichardM]

My deck cost me around £400. That might seem a lot to some. That's not even entry level to others! I'm very happy with it but I reckon if I heard a £2000 deck mine would seem ordinary.

I've got an older model of https://www.project-audio.com/en/pro...but-carbon-dc/ It cost just over £100 20ish years ago, it's about £300 now and is considered good entry level.
I've never stopped buying vinyl but don't play it much. I rip it to flac and play from a server to various Bose speakers, using JRiver Media Centre to manage and stream the music https://www.jriver.com/

[Eric the Half a Bee]

I've got an older model of https://www.project-audio.com/en/pro...but-carbon-dc/ It cost just over £100 20ish years ago, it's about £300 now and is considered good entry level.
I've never stopped buying vinyl but don't play it much. I rip it to flac and play from a server to various Bose speakers, using JRiver Media Centre to manage and stream the music https://www.jriver.com/

That Jriver sounds interesting. All of my music is ripped as flac and I could consider doing the same with my vinyl. How does it work?

[RichardM]

That Jriver sounds interesting. All of my music is ripped as flac and I could consider doing the same with my vinyl. How does it work?

The Bose speakers are DLNA renderers and the JRiver media centre plays to them (it can be a DLNA, server, controller and renderer). JRiver catlogs the music files and builds a library, you can then build play lists, including smart lists e.g. Genre = Rock and not played for x months. You can then play the music using the JRiver Windows app, or their android app or other DLNA compliant apps. It also manages and plays videos and images and streams from the web.

There are versions that run on Linux, including Raspberry Pi, there is, or they are working on a Mac version. They also sell a NUC with software already installed.

It's a complex application and takes time to understand but I think it's worth it, I've been using it for years. It's continually developed and has a good community supporting via a forum. I would recommend downloading it and running the free trial to get used to it, but you need a techy aptitude to get the bet from it, otherwise it could be quite daunting.

[valleys caveman]

The Bose speakers are DLNA renderers and the JRiver media centre plays to them (it can be a DLNA, server, controller and renderer). JRiver catlogs the music files and builds a library, you can then build play lists, including smart lists e.g. Genre = Rock and not played for x months. You can then play the music using the JRiver Windows app, or their android app or other DLNA compliant apps. It also manages and plays videos and images and streams from the web.

There are versions that run on Linux, including Raspberry Pi, there is, or they are working on a Mac version. They also sell a NUC with software already installed.

It's a complex application and takes time to understand but I think it's worth it, I've been using it for years. It's continually developed and has a good community supporting via a forum. I would recommend downloading it and running the free trial to get used to it, but you need a techy aptitude to get the bet from it, otherwise it could be quite daunting.

*Throws Amstrad in the bin*

[StraightOuttaCanton]

*Throws Amstrad in the bin*

That made my night 🤣🤣🤣

[life on mars]

Any of you lot reverted back to vinyl records?
If so, why? I've been thinking about getting a 'record player'.
Is it just a nostalgia trip, or do you prefer the sound?

The sound is second to none and the physical form of vinyl cant be beaten or the the artwork and inner contents.