Yes, me too, but the reason is simply that vinyl requires frequent care. Not only to flip the LP but also to clear any debris on the stylus which often becomes audible half way through a side. |
Shane, my perspective is that your analog rig is so far ahead of your CD player this is bound to happen. You will get more satisfaction out of your digital source if you move to a SOTA component. (IMHO)
Then again, you might not want to do it, as you would likely find you would spend that much less time "doing work around the house" and the like...
Cheers!
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I'm curious, Downunder, why the VPI & the Linn? What do you like about each? I guess it's the old compare and contrast.
Thanks. |
I do the same thing all the time. Though my analog collection and analog front end is way-way better than my digital side because of the way I've spent my money. Still, when outside, I do really enjoy my ipod. |
Eldartford.
Once sentence - clean your LP's. no debris on my stylus, unless the record is dirty. Try doing that with a dirty CD - It won't play.
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Cincy_bob
Please don't give me another reason to spend more money!!.
I'll skip the SOTA CD player for the moment and keep playing CD's for my kids or in the car where they belong. |
Ncarv
I bought the Linn new in 1985, had it upgraded etc and frankly can't bear to sell it as it was the Linn that forged the analog way for me.
The Linn is competitive or better than the HRX in treble smoothness and has a nice tight PRATty bass line. However the HRX is just plain better in most other respects, bass depth, power, dynamics,transparency soundstaging and just a bigger more lifelike presentation. |
Vinyl is simply more involving than digital - period. It is no wonder that you are being pulled into the listening chair when playing your analog rig; involvement is one of analog's main attributes. I listen to digital when I am feeling lazy or want to pop in some background music. Some folks have mentioned to me, "if your analog rig sounds that much better than your digital rig, you need a better CD player." Tee-hee...I already own one of the best CD player out there, so much for that logic. |
How about "if your digital rig sounds equal or better than your analog rig then your turntable isn't setup correctly!"
I do have to say that my Lector 7 CD player is the most analogue sounding CD player I have heard. It has it's moments where it draws me in like vinyl but at the end of the day it can't even come close. It's just there for those recordings I can't get on LP. |
Downunder...Sorry but that doesn't work. I live in a 200+ year old house in rural New England. To make things worse, at this time of year pollen is heavy in the air.
I never have a problem with CDs or DVDs. To my great surprise I even used a CD player in the room where I was doing a huge carpentry project, with sawdust level so high that it was hard to breathe, and no problem.
In my "real" system, which lives in a slightly better environment, I never, repeat never, have a problem with CDs. This for several decades of use. I never clean CDs (if it ain't broke don't fix it) although I do handle them with the same care as LPs so there are no fingerprints on them. So many people report problems with CDs that I really suspect that frequent cleaning may actually cause the problem. I know this is true of Lab optical devices, which you never clean except for brushing away any dust with a soft brush, and that every couple of years. |
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I have the same problem and I agree with Seasoned; vinyl is more involving. I have spent a ton of money on digital and it just doesn't stack-up (stack-up, records, get it?).
I have gotten close like Nrostrov, but at the end of the day CD's are for records that have seed burns on them. Damn my miss-spent youth! |
I'd say my CD and analog rigs are pretty comparable in quality: I have a Sony SC-2000 ES 5-disc CD/SACD changer (which was a huge improvement over a same-priced CEC from a few years before), and my TT is a Technics SL1210 M5G with KAB fluid damper and Denon DL-160.
I often spin vinyl when I'm puttering around the house--cooking, doing dishes, picking up things, etc. So often, when I'm in the kitchen cooking or cleaning, I HAVE to put aside the dish towel to sit in the sweet spot to hear it all. This was even true when my entire rig was worth about $570--before the DL-160 and fluid damper. Now the music *compels* me to come in and sit down.
I find it hardest to resist when it's a minimally mic'd recording that presents a true sonic hologram of the musicians and the venue. Recordings that come to mind include a Columbia Masterworks of Stokowski conducting the Bizet Carmen and L'Arlesienne suites, small jazz combos recorded live in real space, and some Living Stereo and Living Presence orchestral recordings.
The thing is, even with studio recordings of pop music, I come in and listen when I can. But if I stay in the other room and work, the music *still* gets under my skin and haunts me for hours and even days afterwards. A couple recent examples are "Moondance" by Van Morrison and "Catch Bull at Four" by the artist formerly known as Cat Stevens.
I played those LPs recently while I was in other rooms working, but still, those great songs and arrangements go around in my head in a way that digitally sourced music never did (and I have both Moondance and Van Morrison's Greatest Hits on CD)--not in 20 years of exclusively digitally-sourced music. |
Dear friends: I think that Cincy Bob has a very good point here: how good is our digital rig?
If we own a first rate digital source we can enjoy it. The very best digital recordings are wonderful and very near to the analog ones and in some ways better than analog.
Maybe Downunder does not have that digital experience, well he is losting a very good music experience but this is up to him.
Now, if we are doing some other activities and at the same time we are playing ( digital or analog ) music we can't make those activities in " calm " ( with analog ) because we are worried at what time we have to run to the TT to lift the tonearm and in this " meaning " the CD is a better way to do the things with other advantage: the digital recording gives at least the double the time than the analog recordings.
Now, if any one of us have love for music we can enjoy it it does not matter if the source is a digital or analog one and this fact IMHO has nothing to see with a " vinyl addiction ", of course that if we are " close mind " then exist that: " only vinyl is right ".
I think that digital is growing-up unfortunately there are not to much support to give the high-end community the quality performance that we need about: we are not good ( we are a very small audio community. ) commercial business $$$
Regards and enjoy the music.
Raul. |
Raul
You need to ligthen up dude!!
I have my tounge somewhat planted in my cheek, this is the analog forum you know :-)
I buy more music - mostly new stuff than I can listen to so regardless of my digital setup, exactly what music experience am I losing???. Bought about 20 albums today.
The only guy on this forum with a closed mind is you my friend - your way or the highway
Anyway, time to put on the new Brian Jonestown Masasacre LP, followed by the new Recoil album or 1st Black Mountain LP.
What new music are you playing Raul?? |
Vinyl is more engaging, period. It stops me in my tracks and makes me want to participate. CD, no matter how excellent it may be, does that to a much lesser degree. Can there be any dispute about this? |
Dear Chashmal: +++++ " Can there be any dispute about this?
" +++++
I don't think so, but as different as are both mediums ( analog and digital ) as different are opinions about.
Btw, if i re-call was you asking for a digital source with analog sound ( kind ) performance?, I ask here because of its huge differences: one is digital and the other " analog ", we can't compare it, both source mediums/way have its own advantages and its own disadvantages.
Regards and enjoy the music.
Raul.
Regards and enjoy the music.
Raul. |
That's right Raul, I have always tried to find satisfying digital solutions and have never really been to successful. I like the Lector CD player, and some modded stuff I have heard, but in the end I guess my heart is in analog. Therefore you are right to call me on an aesthetic bias. |
Generally no. Occasionally Yes. Only because I don't want waste the LP play and spend cartridge life and come back to TT set up every 20 minutes. Of course my digital and analog set up being extremely comparable helps.
BTW, Love the The Brian Jonestown Massacre's new LP ( and the old ones) |
My listening has never been at an ambience level and I used to sit down and listen intently to digital but in truth I am now so drawn to analog that I seldom listen to digital, even SACD. Yes, I do have a great deal more invested in analog than digital but that is because I found the medium so compelling before I got into truly high end analog gear that I decided this was where my investment priorities lay. I saw the light and started moving towards it.
Having to change LP's has nothing whatever to do with why I listen so intently to analog. It's the emotion that comes along with each performance, with some of the better LP's being quite addictive in the way they draw me into the music. No digital I have heard can do this for me. I look forward to the day that it can, if I can afford the price of entry as the medium certainly offers many potential advantages and I'm not with analog for the nostalgia. If digital gave me the same emotional experience as analog I would gladly have it as my primary source. |
