You Spin Me Right Round, Baby: Vinyl Appreciation

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[iPeter]

What do you think of modern music on vinyl? I guess most of my collection has been music of the period when vinyl was the highest quality available. The Beatles are "meant" to be heard on vinyl because that was the format it was recorded for. Is it dumb to think that the latest Coldplay album is "meant" to be heard on CD as opposed to LP? Or would LP offer something a CD version does not?

[Geese]

Is it dumb to think that the latest Coldplay album is "meant" to be heard on CD as opposed to LP? Or would LP offer something a CD version does not?

I think that sounds reasonable. LP sound certainly has it's own personality, but just throwing Coldplay on LP would be forcing that personality on it (assuming Coldplay recorded and produced with making their work sound best on CD).

[iPeter]

My brother got me these for Christmas. I couldn't be happier. Easily my #1 and #2 U2 albums.

[Rudy]

Pieter, are those used copies?  I have those two myself (Joshua Tree is desert island stuff here at Casa Rudy). 

I've been on a bit of a binge lately--I picked up three Mobile Fidelity "silver" series titles, and a handful of used ones.  I don't have too much in the way of recent recordings but I will say that the few I have do sound better on vinyl.  Something about it takes the edge off of what I don't like about digital (although I am looking at adding a new DAC or a tube buffer stage to help with that). 

And as for the Beatles vinyl reissues:  don't bother...unless you can get the versions pressed in the EU.  The US pressings are a shambles.  I bought two of them (Rubber Soul and Revolver) and...one of the tracks on Revolver had a skip in it, and "Eleanor Rigby" has an odd scratch in it from mishandling. The vinyl is also noisy, and one or two of the sides are off-center.  I got these from a third-party seller who clued me into something: he told me to file an Amazon A to Z Guarantee claim.  To my surprise, Amazon issued me an instant gift certificate for the full order price! 

I later ordered Past Masters and Magical Mystery Tour from Amazon UK to get the EU pressing.  Dead quite background, all on center, no odd scratches or skips...damn near perfect. 

Rumor has it Amazon.ca is shipping EU copies now, due to the complaints.  Maybe that will wake up EMI to find a better plant to press these at in the US.

[iPeter]

Yes I'm pretty sure they're used, Rudy. Again I bring up my brother the musician who says he's not pleased with their quality based on the price he paid, but to me they sound fantastic.

[adamsappel]

<a href="https://www.youtube.com/v/_gyvipBs6Vs" target="_blank">https://www.youtube.com/v/_gyvipBs6Vs</a>

[FLYING SE7EN]

Masturbation for hipster audiophiles.  High bit rate, lossless codecs FTW!!! 


[/runs]

[Rudy]

https://www.youtube.com/v/_gyvipBs6Vs

I've tried the glue method before.  Can't say it improved the record that much (I think it's just beyond its usefulness ) but it did get the crud out of the grooves. 

Hoping to pick up some work soon or get a much better job once I'm done with school in May: the stylus is worn out on the cartridge.  Best I can find for a replacement is $250-$300, or I am eyeing a new cart that is around $700 (the Ortofon 2M Black). 

Masturbation for hipster audiophiles.  High bit rate, lossless codecs FTW!!! 

[/runs]

Get back here for your beating! 

I actually can't stand the sound of CD-quality digital.  I realized it was causing headaches: I was gritting my teeth from what I realized was the jagged top end of the spectrum, something I didn't do when listening to SACD, higher bitrates or vinyl.  (If you see what a raw 44.1kHz/16-bit signal looks like at higher frequencies, it looks like a sawtooth waveform, which sounds rather nasty.)

One thing that has helped: I'm trying a tube buffer stage (a Musical Fidelity X10-D) that improves impedance matching between the CD player and the preamp.  The vacuum tubes (a pair of new old stock Matsushita/National 7DJ8s) really improved the sound quite a bit, but I still hear that distortion.  I have a Cambridge DACMagic (a digital-to-analog converter) coming my way in a few weeks that will help.  Since I am now streaming a lot from my NAS to a WD TV Live (which has only a crappy analog output, or SPDIF optical digital output), I can take the output of both the disc player (Pioneer Elite DV-45A) and the WD TV Live and run them through the DACMagic. 

Of the lossy codecs, I prefer WMA (or M4A) over MP3.  WMA has a lot of support in the devices I own (car in-dash player, Zune portables, a Sony player, and a Pioneer DV578A).  I keep them all in the Zune library, which is in a separate share on my NAS. 

I will say that moving 1.5GB of numerous data files from various computer drives to the NAS is a major PITA, but it's nice being able to stream a movie (up to 1080p) or music to any networked device in the house.