Sns has it right - analog IS a long hard road, especially if you've spent the last 15-20 years in the digital wilderness. Most folks ask what the path to analog nirvana is and the simple answer is there isn't one: however, I do believe one must spend in the $400-600 range to get an idea of what is possible from analog - a used Rega P[lanar]3 and a decent MM cart, properly set up will get you 80+% of the way there. Not to be cynical, but there's a reason why, when CDs first appeared, they (mostly) blew Joe Consumer's turntable into the weeds - cheap resonant plastic, poorly made with an extremely mediocre motor and needle is nobody's friend; at the same time, pre-recorded cassettes were outselling vinyl by a large margin (chew on that for a while...) mostly due to convenience, longevity and inferior LP playback equipment (sorry Bill, just like that nasty B&O you're hoping for something from). I certainly don't blame you for trying, but I do complain that you bemoan the fact that the POS isn't as good as your cd player...there is after all a reason why it was only $50. But, if you only have 5 records, why bother to spend the money? Hardware after all is merely a vehicle for the software at hand - I have 5000 LPs and 200 CDs, so it's pretty easy to choose where to put the money.
It is no coincidence that society has embraced the Ipod as well - cheap, efficient and functional - all the things analog isn't. Analog will forever remain a niche market as long as there is no demand (en mass) for anything better . With the advancements in video we see today, from hardware (plasma, LCD) to the software (Blu-Ray, HD-DVD, HDTV, etc, etc), it stuns me there hasn't been a commesurate demand for higher fidelity in the aural realm. The problem is, nobody gives a damn as sound (or noise, as I prefer) has become ubiquitous, and hence denigrated. Why is it that every public environment one wanders into today is "contaminated" with sound/noise?? One could argue that people are so conditioned by it, that without it the silence would be deafening to them (thus the need to carry a personal noisemaking doo-doo in the form of a cell phone/blackberry/blahblahblah). I could ramble on about this ad nauseum. Please enjoy the tunes regardless of your format - if it works for you, so be it. Cheers,
-Richard
It is no coincidence that society has embraced the Ipod as well - cheap, efficient and functional - all the things analog isn't. Analog will forever remain a niche market as long as there is no demand (en mass) for anything better . With the advancements in video we see today, from hardware (plasma, LCD) to the software (Blu-Ray, HD-DVD, HDTV, etc, etc), it stuns me there hasn't been a commesurate demand for higher fidelity in the aural realm. The problem is, nobody gives a damn as sound (or noise, as I prefer) has become ubiquitous, and hence denigrated. Why is it that every public environment one wanders into today is "contaminated" with sound/noise?? One could argue that people are so conditioned by it, that without it the silence would be deafening to them (thus the need to carry a personal noisemaking doo-doo in the form of a cell phone/blackberry/blahblahblah). I could ramble on about this ad nauseum. Please enjoy the tunes regardless of your format - if it works for you, so be it. Cheers,
-Richard