Request for new Forum - Vinyl

[Kimo]

10 hours ago, John Dyson said:

Frankly, a vinyl forum makes sense.  Unfortunately, vinyl is sometimes the best mastering, but it shouldnt be so.

 

It will likely remain so in many cases.  I have a feeling remastering for streaming isn't going to take off.

 

It also works better for certain types of music.  Rock certainly benefits from the "sound" of vinyl in many cases.

[wgscott]

55 minutes ago, Kimo said:

 

the clippity clop of hooves or coconuts to be digital.

 

 

[Le Concombre Masqué]

3 hours ago, kumakuma said:

 

The endless opportunity for tweaking that it provides for neurotic audiophiles?

digital offers even more opportunities

[Ralf11]

4 hours ago, Norton said:

 

Very on trend. We will be expecting pics of your Nakamichi Dragon in the new forum (unless, of course,  you were not being entirely serious...)

 

I always wanted one - and wanted the 1000 before that, but went thru the 550 portable, some others and wound up with a 680zx which I still have.  I 'need' to get it working but life intervenes.  I have a half dozen tapes not available on digital I'd like to do needle drops on.

 

Unh... I mean tape to head presses, not needle drops.

[Ralf11]

The first thread in a vinyl forum should be what recordings are only available on vinyl, and I have a list.

 

Also, what recordings are done better on vinyl than on digital - I do not have a list for that one.

[Kimo]

18 minutes ago, Ralf11 said:

 

 

Also, what recordings are done better on vinyl than on digital - I do not have a list for that one.

 

I can list a few.  Many are cut from digital masters.

[StephenJK]

I was going to write a heartfelt and impassioned plea on how LPs are still relevant and are what got us to where we are today.  

 

But it’s clear that on this site that would fall on deaf ears.  

 

And you know what?  It only matters to people who think it does.  And to those of us who think that way, remember this.  

 

We don’t mock your mini stereo systems with your exotic power supplies and your fancy USB cables and your endless comparisons of the same digital file in different formats and bit depths. 

 

There should be room at Audiophile Style for all of us.  If you don’t care about LPs, fine.  But don’t mock and denigrate those who do.

[wgscott]

31 minutes ago, Kimo said:

 

I can list a few.  Many are cut from digital masters.

 

This is the real scandal.

[wgscott]

5 minutes ago, SJK said:

I was going to write a heartfelt and impassioned plea on how LPs are still relevant and are what got us to where we are today.  

 

But it’s clear that on this site that would fall on deaf ears.  

 

And you know what?  It only matters to people who think it does.  And to those of us who think that way, remember this.  

 

We don’t mock your mini stereo systems with your exotic power supplies and your fancy USB cables and your endless comparisons of the same digital file in different formats and bit depths. 

 

There should be room at Audiophile Style for all of us.  If you don’t care about LPs, fine.  But don’t mock and denigrate those who do.

 

 

[wgscott]

55 minutes ago, Ralf11 said:

The first thread in a vinyl forum should be what recordings are only available on vinyl, and I have a list.

 

The second thread should be on the resurgence of the popularity of vinyl amongst generation wuss.

[sphinxsix]

I'm not a vinyl fan, my LPs have been in the garage for 30 years so I'll join the hard(est)-core anti vinyl crowd: on AS I'd forbid every discussion on everything that is not purely digital, including every device that has any mechanical (mechanical means it's not digital after all) parts. I also demand a cable forum (obviously for discussing digital cables which don't have any mechanical parts only).  

Death to vinyl and analogue !!!  

 

 

[Norton]

7 hours ago, wgscott said:

If there is to be a vinyl forum, it is essential that the forum itself be run entirely as analogue.  This means, no computer display, but instead manual typewriters, paper, and postage stamps.  Send a self-addressed stamp envelope, and Chris, in his infinite spare time, will mimiograph the latest updates to each thread and send them out to subscribers.

 

I like your thinking ( I’m imagining an early 1980’s parish newsletter vibe here) and will fire up my Lubitel TLR once I’ve bought some 120 roll film. Allowing time for film processing, postage, reprographics etc, Chris should be in a position to share some (blurry) pics of my system with you in about 6 months time.  Do Gestetners do photos?

 

PS  any of you stateside born again vinylphobes  who happen to have an extensive collection of mint first pressing Mercury Living Presence LPs, I’ll take them off your hands for  $1  a piece if you pay shipping to UK. Can’t say fairer than that, worthless really, what with all the added distortion and euphonics...

[Ralf11]

pick a Rega or VPi in your price range - if not the best performance/$$ then they will be very close

if you play music loud, or have wood floors, then sand box it, but BEST is to put it in a different room or rip at low SPL

a cover on while playing helps

high quality phono stage (Audio Research - used) and everything else...

 

DONE

[AudioDoctor]

40 minutes ago, wgscott said:

 

 

 

Peacocking or  support animal?

[AudioDoctor]

4 minutes ago, Ralf11 said:

pick a Rega or VPi in your price range - if not the best performance/$$ then they will be very close

if you play music loud, or have wood floors, then sand box it, but BEST is to put it in a different room or rip at low SPL

a cover on while playing helps

high quality phono stage (Audio Research - used) and everything else...

 

DONE

 

I am, or was, slowly using my new technics 1200G to do some needle drops of my vinyl albums that are not available on digital formats.

[Ralf11]

List?

[Kimo]

22 minutes ago, Ralf11 said:

pick a Rega or VPi in your price range - if not the best performance/$$ then they will be very close

if you play music loud, or have wood floors, then sand box it, but BEST is to put it in a different room or rip at low SPL

a cover on while playing helps

high quality phono stage (Audio Research - used) and everything else...

 

DONE

 

Not quite done yet.

 

I also have heard it said that for best results, I should consider using a dedicated phono stage.  Basically low output vs. high output.  Some vinyl studs have stated that a cheaper dedicated MM stage, if competently designed and constructed, will out perform more expensive and complex models. 

[AudioDoctor]

44 minutes ago, Ralf11 said:

List?

 

You expect me to be that organized?

[Ralf11]

ok, how about a FLight log of the titles?

[Doak]

12 hours ago, kumakuma said:

 

The endless opportunity for tweaking that it provides for neurotic audiophiles?

Precisely my description of what goes on here regarding digital audio. 

I enjoy both analog and digital, though getting the best out of digital playback can be  and is more tweaks than analog. 

Ill leave it at that.

Not here to argue.

Would rather be doing nearly anything else, particularly listening to music - via digital or analog format. 

[sandyk]

8 hours ago, Ralf11 said:

pick a Rega or VPi in your price range - if not the best performance/$$ then they will be very close

if you play music loud, or have wood floors, then sand box it, but BEST is to put it in a different room or rip at low SPL

a cover on while playing helps

high quality phono stage (Audio Research - used) and everything else...

 

DONE

 

It would appear that you have never thought of using something like Headphones for this purpose. DUH !

[Norton]

Re. the proposed new sub forum and respectful of the heritage of this site, I’ve put together a sticky for those new to vinyl and looking for an experience as close as possible to their digital system:

 

Being up and running playing music really quickly with vinyl may be an unfamiliar experience for the digital fan.  Switch your turntable off and on again waiting a few minutes each time, replicating how long it takes to boot your power supplies, server, endpoint, decrapifier, clock, DDC, DAC etc each day

 

Rub some dirt into your LPs’ lead in grooves.  The resulting loud pop through your speakers will remind you of when your DAC’s relays trigger when changing tracks or formats.  For added authenticity get a cheap clicker to press every time this happens.

 

Get a friend to secretly replace one of your favourite LPs with a white noise test disc.  The resulting sound will replicate your DAC randomly failing to lock onto a signal.  You were planning on replacing those speakers anyway, weren’t you?

 

Missing the sound of jitter or a fan of the latest DAC chips?  Use VTA adjustment to raise your tonearm really high to get that familiar thin, bright sound.  Alternatively  set  it really low to get a muddy sound with no separation of instruments or discernible soundstage to remind you of pretty much every 20th century CD player you’ve ever owned.

 

Wait a while before lowering the stylus onto  an LP - replicating how long it takes to load local files into RAM or for your streaming service to start playing music.  For added authenticity, while doing so also stare intently at a piece of card on which  you have written the word “buffering...”.  Alternatively, don’t lower the stylus at all, to remind you of  those times when your digital system just stops working for no apparent reason.  

 

Used to a digital system that won’t play gapless? Raise the arm and wait a while between tracks. Maybe then  lower the stylus just a little bit into the music, missing the first couple of secs or so.

 

Deliberately set your cartridge tracking weight too low, the resulting skips and dropouts will be a comforting reminder of when your network couldn’t cope with that HiRes file or when you tried that up sampling software.

 

Too quick and easy to find  music in your neatly ordered LP collection?  Pull out two thirds of them at random and mix them up on an “unknown album” shelf to emulate importing files into you favourite library management software.  Classical fans will feel particularly at home here.

[kumakuma]

9 hours ago, sandyk said:

 

It would appear that you have never thought of using something like Headphones for this purpose. DUH !

 

In my experience, listening to vinyl or needle drops using headphones is often quite unpleasant.

[Rt66indierock]

On 8/31/2019 at 9:02 AM, Norton said:

 

Well now we know that all DACs sound the same, bits are bits as far as sources are concerned and HiRes is unnecessary when we have RBCD, there’s not much digital left to talk about anymore.  Analogue on the other hand...

 

I’m all for talking about amplifiers that are too noisy to play CDs in this new section.

[Rt66indierock]

19 hours ago, wgscott said:

 

 

 

Great picture but I have little interest in discussing amps that can’t play CDs in the digital areas of this site.