Tatty vinyl annoys just about everyone, but many here (including me) are adamant that our best LPs just sound better than the digital version. However, the generalisation is not universal.
Can members suggest some albums where buying a good LP is staggeringly better than any digital version they have heard? Conversely, can be attach a 'Buyer Beware) to some expensive LP pressings that are simply nowhere near as good as Qobuz or a CD can deliver?
My top pick for ‘Buy the vinyl if you can’ would be Zappa’s Hot Rats.
Any Deep Purple from In Rock to Come Taste the Band on either original vinyl or the recent vinyl remasters trump any of the horrendous anniversary digital releases.
I am not sure better is the case, different definitely, sometimes I prefer the vinyl to the digital version and sometimes the converse. Though to be honest I don’t have a great overlap, it is normally when I have seen a bargain best of CD that I have songs digitally and on vinyl. For me, I would normally go for something I haven’t got rather than buy on another medium.
I am sure that most of us would agree with you, but that doesn’t stop me trying to piggy-back off other people’s hard work.
There are also examples where the ultra-pure, 180g vinyl is a complete waste of money to me - see originals of the Zeppelin canon for an example of as-good-as-it-gets, no matter how many times it has been remastered. How about Kraftwerk?
I had the original first press vinyl release of DPs Made in Japan, and to me it was distinctly inferior sound quality wise compared to the studio albums (also first press vinyl), only enjoyable for having more extended and varied versions of songs. Decades later in about 2014 I bought the 24 bit 96khz digital version - and was stunned by how good it sounds, better than any of the Mk2 lineup studio albums whether ripped LP, ripped CD or downloaded 16/44.
In general I’ve learnt that not to jump at modern remastering of old records, all too often messing them up rather than improving, though of course there are exceptions.
I can promise that my original Fireball and Made in Japan LPs don’t ‘trump…digital releases’. They probably were high in SQ when new, but by the time Record & Tape Exchange in Notting Hill had got them, they were not mint. Then I owned them as a student, playing them on whatever someone in the house owned, including one-box items from Currys.
As more of my vinyl gets to the point that I just have to replace it, the question of whether to buy an LP at all gets important. It looks so far as if the advice on Deep Purple is disparate enough that I will need to use my ears.
Does anyone have views about new vinyl of the classics from from: -
The Stranglers
Bert Jansch
Nina Simone
Joan Baez
Stan Getz
Anne Briggs
Jeff Beck
Anything with Robert Fripp on it
If new vinyl on any of those is a definite waste of money, it could save me a packet!
I picked a copy of this up from my local used record store a couple of years ago, for about a tenner, I think. I thought the (ripped) CD version was pretty good…until I heard the LP - sonically superior by quite some margin.
I agree, the CD is a fine sounding thing indeed. I also agree with @IanF, that the LP is a far superior sound.
I got very lucky last year and picked up a collection of records which worked out at £2 each, in amongst which was the TC album, in excellent condition.
