CD's vs Vinyl - Finally hear the difference


About 2 years ago, I decided to get back into vinyl. I had some old albums I wanted to play, so I blew the dust off my 35 year old TT and fired that mutha up. It took me about 13 months to get my accousic vibration problem licked and to put together some decent analog euipment-some new, some used. Anyway, I started listening to ONLY vinyl. I was surprised how well my albums had been preserved and how well the new ones I purchased sounded. I had read the vinyl purist's comments about how much better records sounded than CD's, but I must admit-I was doubtful. I had put together a fairly good Digital system with a tubed Kora Hermes II DAC. Anyway, I had a friend over the other day and for the first time in almost a year, I put on a CD. I have to say-there is absolutely no comparison how much better vinyl sounds than CD's. CD's sound as though they were recorded in an anechoic chamber. There is no ambience, no warmth, no soul. The music is accurate, but it isn't alive. You simply have to hear it to understand. All the years I wasted listening to CD's! I guess they have their place if you're on the go in cars, boats etc, but if you are wanting to really listen to good quality recorded music, there is only one choice.
handymann

Showing 2 responses by mapman

You can't make valid generalized statements regarding format based on a single system case.

My stance these days is they both sound good and sound best when they both sound mostly the same.
THink about back in the golden age of vinyl (50s-70s), the % of what vinyl lovers on this site would have considered good playback rigs in peoples homes. A fraction of a % I would guess. Most records sounded like crap on most peoples systems back then and the quality of the vinyl product tended to fall overall to that level over time when the novelty wore off and mass marketing set in.

SO the god news is that there were many sonically fascinating recordings on vinyl, especially in the earlier stages, that sound better than ever now on a modern high quality system more due to improvements n speaker and amplifiers more so than any major advancements in phono playback gear.