2. analog
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Am I nuts or what?

I am a dedicated analog listener but have an open mind and am willing to give digital a chance...again and again...so I decide to listen to McCartney's Tug of War. I pull the vinyl off the shelf and give it a good cleaning noticing that I hadn't taken very care of my discs in the 80s. Anyhow, I slap it on the VPI TNT and start listening...not bad, but not great either due to the occasional tick - I notice on the cover that the album was digitally mixed. Hmmm - I go and pull the CD off the shelf - late 80s purchase when I got sucked into replacing my vinyl collection - made in Japan...I slid it into my ARC CD player and was shocked at the noise that came out of my speakers...it was so thin sounding that I thought that something must be wrong with my CD set-up - metallic, tinny crud...I was thankful to have even a mediocre copy in vinyl.
I just can't believe how an album that was digitally mixed could sound so bloody awful on CD. I do have some CD's that sound great but the vast majority can't even come close to the original vinyl. Sorry for the rant, but it's been awhile since I've listened to a CD.
ntscdan

Showing 1 response by ultrakaz

ultrakaz
187 posts
 
No you are not nuts. I just had a similar experience with the James Taylor JT album on my old Linn LP12. Only difference was that when I put on the record I was floored; I never remembered it sounding so good. So I quickly put on the cd and then proceed to run out of the room holding my ears. This happens when I only listen to cds for a couple of months, I begin to think that it sounds pretty good. Then when I put on an Lp, I think to myself how could I listen to something so mechanical sounding. Vinyl has a sense of completeness that cds cannot match. PRaT, is also more realistic.

Having said that, cds have significant advantages over lps such as convenience, availability, and can be listened to in the car. Therefore, cd music is much better than no music.
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