2. analog
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Analog is the new pink

I work with a lot of "kids" in their 20's who seem to think analog is cool, so they are buying cheap turntables and used vinyl and acting like they know the difference between the sound of records vs. CDs. I think it is great that they are discovering analog in an age that has gone digital, but in my experience CDs actually sound better when using lower end equipment. I didn't truly fall in love with analog until I was able to afford a serious system costing thousands of dollars. My ears are older now so I understand that I am not as able to hear certain frequencies, but my old ears can definitely hear the difference between good and bad sounding systems.
I am not complaining, just making an observation here. I also enjoy the fashion side of vinyl, but I wouldn't be listening to vinyl if I didn't have the great system that I own. It would not be worth the trouble. Thoughts?
snackeyp

Showing 3 responses by spinaker01

spinaker01
491 posts
 
Its hard to take the younger demographic's interest in vinyl too seriously. I doubt most of them have ever heard a decent (let alone great) stereo system fronted by either analogue or digital. Remember, this is the same group that happily downloads low res videos from Netflix and listens to 128 MP3 on stock IPod buds. Not saying they wouldn't love it if they heard better, they just don't get exposed to the higher end stuff. And sadly, many are content to trade off cheap (or free) at the expense of quality.
spinaker01
491 posts
 
Frogman, good to hear your son is on the right track for life-long music listening and enjoyment. I will have to temper this by stating that I don't think he would be in the majority of the "younger people" crowd I was refering to-rather the exception. I was of course speaking in generalities. We audiophile denizens as a group are the 1/10 of 1% of the normal listening and music buying population. The other posters makes some excellent points as to how things have changed since our generation was first exposed to stereo systems back in the 60/70/80s. Timrhu's comments basically endorse my original statement. They like vinyl 'cause its cool. Nothing wrong with that, but I can't extrapolate this trend into the next generation's burgeoning interest in all things audiophile. As usual, the 1/10 of 1% of them will move into the twisted and demented ranks of "soundstage" grail chasers like us.
spinaker01
491 posts
 
There seems to be two discussions going on here. 1:Are the kids listening to vinyl because they hear an inherant improvement over digital sources available (They don't and aren't-its a cool factor as mentioned) and 2: Would they appreciate a system that was high performing and well matched. (possibly, but there is no guarantee. Afterall most of our significant others listen to the systems we have and still could care less, why assume mere expoisure will create interest? In some small cases it might-that 1/10 of 1% again. But hearing a difference and actually caring about it are two different things. Face it, we are a obscure sector of an already niche market...
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