A simple question from the new guy ....


I have never listened to vinyl played with good gear. Are the pops and hiss still there when played on a good system? How about on a brand new record.....still there? I am constantly tempted to give vinyl a try, but I know the pops would drive me nuts if it is anything like I remember from long ago.
baffled

Showing 2 responses by ballywho

Here's the deal:

The trade-off is simply absolute dead silence with compressed dynamics, or a tiny bit of surface noise and the occasional static "sizzle" (if you will) with wide-open dynamics. Serious pops and what-not were most likely due to the owner not properly caring for the LP. If you have a clean, static-free record, you will hear some amazing stuff.

The way I finally came to the conclusion that analogue was far superior to digital, even though it was apparent I was hearing better sound with the vinyl from the get-go, was to play my vinyl copy of Michael Hedges' "Live on the Double Planet" and the CD version simultaneously.

The digital source was a DPA Renaissance CD player running through a DPA Bigger Bit DAC. The analogue source was a Nottingham Analogue Studio Horizon with a Rega RB300 arm and Grado Platinum Sonata cart. running through a Musical Fidelity X-LPS phono pre.

Then I just went back and forth, between the two, with the remote. It was a revelation - seriously. When you realize that what you thought was so special about a dead silent background (I would imagine tape and vinyl were cast aside so quickly because of this simple reason), compared to the incredible sound stage and overall resolution of vinyl, you want to kick yourself many, many times.

Cheers - have fun and good listening.
Three words for you - Half Price Books.

Over time, I purchased all my Bill Evans albums (18 in all) there for no more than $4.95 a piece, and they're all in great condition. Okay, there was one that was $17.50 - "Bill Evans at Town Hall" - but c'mon.

Cheap music that sounds better than more expensive music - it's a no brainer.