Even though the title of the video might seem a bit controversial for this forum it is really a light hearted philosophical survey on why ---- or why not to bother with records and the hardware that plays them. Guttenberg reminds me of a flower child straight out of Height Ashbury - summer 1967. Only I don't think he's old enough to have been there doing that.
I retired 10 months ago and am still struggling to get out of the time management mindset. I’m doing better. Other cars pass me on the road now- and I don’t care. Looking at this from a time management perspective Vinyl and reel to reel master tapes fall to the bottom of the list. For example, the most efficient way to listen to music is Satellite Radio. It has no commercials, plenty of genre choices and will just play and play and play. This is maximum music with almost no time investment. (Sound quality is well, ugh.)
Next is streaming digital. This is very efficient. This is the ultimate format for stressed and time challenged executives who can budget maybe 30 minutes a week to listening to music. (I have been there.) I can sit in my chair with my iPad and listen to just about any piece of music ever made. And I can listen to as many as 20 songs/hour. Yes, that’s right. I can play snippets of songs until I hit on something I really want to hear. The irony here is that I can’t stand current TV or many new movies because they switch cameras or viewpoints every 3 seconds or the camera is constantly moving. That drives me bonkers. I sure was one of those guys in the 90's that everyone hated if I had the TV remote. I had to know what was on all 135 channels.
CD’s are next on the list. I still have to get up and put the disc in the player but I can skip songs without having to get up. So I can play a CD anywhere from 5 to 45 minutes. I have a nice CD transport but I do not actually play CDs very often. Still, I find it relaxing and fun to spin discs now and then.
And then there is Vinyl. Reel to reel master tape is even less efficient but I have never owned such a rig as satisfying as it is. Vinyl is still king. It is more than just the great sound. It involves one in the recorded music. But it doesn’t start with the music. Vinyl starts with the setup of the gear. Every variable from cartridge, tonearm, table, cables and preamp selection to isolation, tonearm geometry and record preparation involves the listener and demands all of the listener’s attention. (Allow your mind to wander while preparing to play a record and PLINK! There goes the stylus.) I’m sure it is a dying art. After 50 years of playing records I still learn things about vinyl. Ok, so I started with my copy of Billion Dollar Babies on a portable record player and a penny on the tonearm. I’ve come a long way.
Every audiophile who plays records is a craftsman. It takes patience and skill to get that sound that startles the layperson. Admit it, it is always a thrill to play a record for someone and hear them exclaim how it is so clear and lifelike. We can debate over the best sound but Vinyl is the true payoff. Put in the effort and the reward is assured.
Steve should follow up with 5 reasons not to own a CD player. Personally I haven't spun an audio disc in probably over a dozen years. I still like bluray for video though, and even got a few 4k discs.
The price of new vinyl records...are you kidding me....the cost of a good diamond cartridge are you joking....the price of a vinyl cleaning machine...no way...the price of a good pre amp...no way......the price of a Good turntable....No thanks....the end.
You are absolutely correct. Many audio-gear-lovers (not music lovers) do not know how the room size and treatment are important.
<Music lover> Truly enjoy the very essence of music itself <Audio-gear-lover> Most time, try to change the sound from their stereo systems into their specific way such as more bass or tight bass. Try to believe more expensive stuff (cables etc.) to be better.
My low cost NOS dac with acoustic control of my rooms with speaker 2-way boxes sound better than my friend magnepan and turntable in a uncontrolled room...
And even if his magnepan are better in principle, the absence of acoustic control dont push them on their optimal level...
Dont bother with dac or turntable before acoustic inquiry in your own room...
I think for the "new to turntable looker" he brings some solid issues to the forefront.
I never recommend getting into vinyl if you have zero records and don’t have a current table. why its really not that much better, if at all, when comparing similar quality DAC/streamer (or computer) to a vinyl play back systems. lets not getting into the cost of the vinyl medium and the shody quality that’s coming out of the pressing plants these days. Also the cost of old records has sky rocketed in recent years. space to store records is an issue as well, mico loft anyone?
Very few people are comparing a $5000 table ( which is relatively cheep for a table/arm/cart/phono stage) with a $5000 DAC, usually the DAC in that system is less than the table system, by a significant margin. Most of my audio friends sort of compare the DAC purchases with a single part of the table playback system. example a new $2000 arm to a $2000 DAC. They rarely compare the price difference of a complete turntable playback system to the DAC/Streamer or computer system.
If you have built up a significant vinyl playback system it better be better than a digital system of much less value.
I know many people who’s vinyl playback systems as a whole cost upwards of $10k but there DAC is less than $2000.
The single box expensive item is harder to justify over a multiple component system built up over time. That’s one of the reasons it’s hard to move to exceptional digital. A $10,000 DAC sounds better than most (not all of course) vinyl playback systems of similar price. Not many people are spending that on a DAC though. Other than the converts or wealthier who can afford both.
People also forget there’s more difference in recording quality than anything else, mastering has a larger effect on sound than the medium IMO.
I find that playing my lps are better when I'm alone .Its very true it sucks getting up so often to turn the record over. I like cds when I'm working around the house or when people are over so I dont have the music stopping...Yes this was a pretty good .i mean i grew up in the 60s n 70s...having friends over and changing the records sucked especially after a few Cocktails that became a hard task, especially if you had a AR turntable.
CD music is much, much better than playing a turntable. I play the turntable only when music is available from a vinyl record only. I do not hear any difference between/among reasonably-made cables, BUT I clearly hear big difference between CD and vinyl playing same music.
To all music lover, please do not waste your money to buy unnecessarily expensive cables, amp, pre-amp, etc. But get a nice pair of speaker, usually the more expensive, the better. I hope
unnecessarily-expensive cable makers go to all bankruptcy.
...as Spock would mutter in a 'lisp-y fashion'....
"Fhathinathing...."
I can only 'scribe it to a 'locking groove' in ones' grey goo...
My nightly weird query is:
What happened to the laser-tipped LP player that was going to:
'Revolutionize LP Playback! No contact, no noise, nothing but the music!'
It came, it went, it left no trace nor mention of spiralizing any vinyls.....
Did dust mote detection sound like hitting a boulder @ 176mph? (Scaled Down, of course...)
...personally, I like CDs' that exhibit the digital version of a 'locking groove'....
Have one with the 'magic factor', a random reverse to anywhere on the disc.... It literally will play until you stop it. Endless on 'n on 'n on 'n anon.... Fun to play to 'highly altered people' who suspect nothing but expect 'something' to occur....
"Wow.....that's a long CD......" 3ish hours later....
Dear @jerryg123 : ""
afford the studio time it was laid to tape and is analog...""
There is where starts the analog higher distortions, the tape is totally imperfect for recording " analog " when in digital there is no single trouble about and way lower distortions.
Anyway, due that you have a misunderstood of my points or that I just did not explain it very well is useless to argue with you on that very specific issue facts because I'm not talking of what we like but what is rigth or wrong.. Each one of us like what we like and this is all what matters.
zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzboringzzzzzzzzzzzzz I have maybe 6 albums that snap crackle or pop out of 1200. 50 years and still love my vinyl and I do enjoy digital but not like I do vinyl.
Three reasons not to buy a turntable: snapcracklepop
@vladtheimpala
Three reasons not to buy a turntable: snapcracklepop
@vladtheimpala
Three reasons not to buy a turntable: snapcracklepop
@vladtheimpala
Three reasons not to buy a turntable: snapcracklepop
@vladtheimpala
Three reasons not to buy a turntable: snapcracklepop
I liked the video and think it is right on the money on all points. I feel sorry for him that he listens to such a small percentage of his collection. They are wasting space. I started buying records 40+ years ago, and listen to 90%+ of them at least 3-4 times a year. When CDs came out, they sounded like crap. Digital has gotten a lot better. Because of my record collection, I have continued to strategically improve the analogue set up. Stopped buying CDs once records started getting made again. Disconnected the CD player about 15 years ago, and now just listen in the car, garage and downloaded them to my iPhone.
I agree with the one poster who detests record scalpers (ticket scalpers too).
If I had no music and was starting out as an audiophile with limited budget like I did in college, I am sure that I would stream to the best of its ability. It is a pain trying to find things on vinyl, although it is getting better. I have no problem with the hipsters getting into vinyl because they think it's cool. If they help build the market, vinyl will be kept alive, unlike CDs which are dying off. It's hard for someone to say CDs are better than streaming, although I am sure there are a few SACD exceptions where the full file isn't streamed and it sounds better.
Very sensible. Steve usually brings a healthy measure of practicality to his videos. I’ve got a nice vinyl collection and setup, and enjoy the whole LP experience, but hey, I’m nearly 70. I also choose to pay for newspaper home delivery, but if you prefer to read online I’m good with that. Just as long as you’re participating one way or the other!
Just listening should help people understand the appeal of vinyl and why so many think it is superior to digital at a very fundamental level. Most of the appeal of digital has little to do with sonics.
My own theory about the vinyl experience is that the physical vibrations mined by a stylus mimics the aural mechanism of the ear, so that there is a subtle resonance at play between the two systems. The ear's bones and tympanic membrane operate very much like a cartridge. In defense of Guttenberg, he goes on to say how much vinyl means to him, but if someone discouraged me from "getting into vinyl" for practical reasons, I would ignore that. I suspect that Guttenberg sees the writing on the wall of youngsters abandoning him, so he may just be pandering to an audience still wet around the ears.
Right now, I cannot understand why anyone would use a turn table with today's streaming technologies. I must admit the $20,000 turn tables are gorgeous. But tracking a record with a needle produces a lot of noise. Also, digital amplifiers like a Luxman are really great sounding.
I first dropped a needle on "Peter and the Wolf" at the age of six on my father's Rec-O- Kut turntable, with a Sherwood mono amp and 15" Altec Lansing speaker. I remember it clearly- the rich, sonorous voice emanating from the system. That was 60 years ago. If you can't hear, feel, or experience the OBVIOUS superiority of vinyl over digital, it's your deficiency- not vinyl's.
That's your privilege and nothing to argue against it.
Then why are you?
You prefer the " analog section " and what this really means? only that
you like a medium that's not to close/truer to the recording a medium
that, like it or not, developed way higher any kind of distortions
everywhere.
No this means I prefer it period.
I love my " analog section " too but my target is to stay nearer/truer
to the recording with out any explanation today digital medium is the
only medium that can achieve my target and that target says that if you
are truer to the recording/nearer to then you are nearer to the live
MUSIC too.
Every move/action in my room system is for both
mediums ( no matters what ) been as nearer to the recording as its own
limitations can permit it.
And that is good for you Raul. All I did is post a video.
That you be a musician does not helps to stay truer to the recording and
you confirmed when posted : " prefer the analog section ". Period.
No you are wrong. When we preform it is analog. When we have had the privilege to record and could afford the studio time it was laid to tape and is analog.
You like what you like and I will do as I do. I am not here to persuade you I simply posted a funny video.
I guess Guttenberg's hair and shirts offend folks here because you all have crewcuts and wear preppie clothing...these are stylistic choices, they are not substantive... I agree with prof, but then again, I am one. And I am offended by the audiophiliac's twisting boomer song lyrics to use as click bait. Too much garbage on youtube, everyone there seems to be desperate to continue the monetization of their "channels."
Acc to Caelin Gabriel and very recently, me, all things being equal, it's good clock cables that reduce jitter enough to allow digital systems to sound as good as analog. Without all that baggage.
Dear @jerryg123 : ""
enjoy my digital components but prefer the analog section more. """
That's your privilege and nothing to argue against it.
Now, your targets are different from the listen targets of any one else.
You prefer the " analog section " and what this really means? only that you like a medium that's not to close/truer to the recording a medium that, like it or not, developed way higher any kind of distortions everywhere.
I love my " analog section " too but my target is to stay nearer/truer to the recording with out any explanation today digital medium is the only medium that can achieve my target and that target says that if you are truer to the recording/nearer to then you are nearer to the live MUSIC too.
Every move/action in my room system is for both mediums ( no matters what ) been as nearer to the recording as its own limitations can permit it.
That you be a musician does not helps to stay truer to the recording and you confirmed when posted : " prefer the analog section ". Period.
Right on Audioguy. I don't get snap crackle and pop either. In fact rarely any surface noise that can be heard against the programme. I have a wet clean vacuum system cleaner, Nitty Gritty Mini-Pro. I only clean discs that are noisy. So far I have cleaned less 150 of 3500 pieces - I know, I put on a new Nagaoka inner on all cleaned LPs and there are 50 in each pack
Do these guys eat pizza off their records? The big 12 inch ones. Or take them to bed with them when they are with the wife?
5 top stupid things people do with LPs anyone?
There are three kinds of audiophile: 1. Fetishistic cleaners who clean their new LPs with three different systems. 2. Those who eat off 'em. 3. Normal
Top five reasons not to read Miller's posts 5. Rude to everyone. 4. Spends too much on tweaks. 3. Opinionated and dogmatic. 2. Boing boing - say no more. 1. Cannot spell 'weird'.
1. Chronic diarrhea 2. You live in a van down by the river 3. You don’t believe in hand washing 4. Big round disks make you ill 5. If you play a record backwards, demons will enter your soul
Seriously, it’s just a personal (and costly) choice. Nobody should be criticized one way or the other. I spent a lot on a vinyl set up and I don’t use it much because I’ve found that my time is so limited and streaming is so much easier. I wish I had more time. It’s a luxury and lost art, but not a convenient one. Everyone has good points.
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