After years of “digital is the way” I’m a bit surprised that I took so much interest in the vinyl stuff once we got a tt. I think that in some big part it gave me something else to explore in the hi fi world. Particularly, I wanted to see / hear what I was missing, with so many people continuing to extoll the virtues of vinyl in this digital age.
For those of you who loved music 30+ years ago (meaning you likely had a tt and record collection), but abandoned vinyl for all the reasons I favor digital - try it again if it’s in the budget. And a “decent” tt is less money than many fancy digital interconnect cables. You can always sell it off.
I’m in the “different, but not necessarily better” camp. With a vinyl collection acquired in the '80s & '90s, I use my RP10/Apheta2/Aria regularly, but most of my listening is via ripped CD’s through a Core/272. While the vinyl is still more relaxed, the harshness of CD’s present through older systems is now almost completely gone, making for a very natural sound. I love 'em both.
We are aligned, Bob. Other than the occasional ‘bad mastering,’ I find nothing from the digital side of my system not to like. I find it very natural after a vinyl listening session, in addition to having found it very pleasurable before we had vinyl in the home. Listening to vinyl again did nothing to diminish my happiness with my digital music library and reproduction via ND555. And I know one need not get to the ND555 level to find that happiness with digital.
I suspect some nuance was missed between our different languages…
Indeed mp3 is compressed (and lossy), as is mpa, while flac os compressed but not lossy, however that is nothing to do with whether the music is compressed in the recording as unpacked. I had assumed @Thesurfer was referring to the music itself being compressed, as opposed to the transfer medium.
The meaning is the same in English - but there are two uses of compression in home audio, one is compresssion in digital file storage, where it is uncomressed during the play process (e.g. mp3, flac), which does not affect the sound if it is done well and is not lossy. The other compression of the music itself, reducing the dynamic range, which is applied for a variety of reasons, whether to keep quiet passages above the noise floor of vinyl, or for false loudness in reply, as in teh so-called “loudness war” that has afflicted some digital recordings. I assumed it was this to which Thesurfer objected, as it very definitely affects the sound you hear.
I remember owning many records with " Mike at the Exchange " scratched within the inner runs. Usually sounded better than most others without. is this still a thing ?
I’ve just replaced almost my whole system with an Upgraded Uniti 1 capable of playing Tidal and for the first week whilst I was having an arm rewired I listened exclusively to digital both CD and Tidal / iRadio and the CD player on the Uniti bettered the Tidal streams every time.
I then got my arm back and a used AT 150 AE cartridge and though the digital and vinyl sides of this system sound closer together than any of my previous systems the vinyl is in a different league IMO.
Probably the fairest comparison I’ve heard in a while too as I’d say my deck is probably about LP12 Malik level cost wise and the Uniti was about the same new.
I like to reply but I can’t vote: I have basically four ways to listen to music (excluding the Squeezebox Touch into a Tivoli One in the kitchen, at breakfast):
MacBook Pro with Apple Lossless files via Airplay into a Marantz Consolette
MacBook Pro with Apple Lossless files USB into nuforce DDA-100/Neat Iotas
In terms of mere quantity, Internet Radio wins over all, we have about one in each room including two bathrooms; if it’s mere sans souci musical pleasure, it’s a vinyl or two once in a while; if it’s about true pleasure from the beauty of the sound, it’s the nuforce/Iotas desktop combo. If it is audiophile listening – meaning that the size, name, cost and psychological weight of the system enter into the listening experience, it’s the big digital rig in the living room, the CDX2 based one. Which is the one which, although finally well balanced acoustically, interests me the least. If I had to choose only one, it’d be the MacBook/nuforce/Iotas.
About one hour after posting, I realize that the two years spent in therapy learning how to relate with people and circumstances have helped me little… That was true diplomacy on the Naim forum!
Vinyl, to reel to reel…all the digital stuff after that…including, cds, streaming or what not…takes a back seat…sound wise, convenience… a different story…BUT sound…analogue…all the way !
