Turntable got absolutely crushed by CD

Edgewear, that's your diplomatic way of putting it, but there are clearly two distinct camps here; "sound lovers" and music lovers.

Vinyl is much too expensive to last, but the only thing that can beat it is reel to reel which is also expensive.

Vinyl will live as long as the people who are willing to pay those high prices live.

While super expensive is not required, there is a minimum. More important, is the effort and knowledge required for the setup; this can not be overemphasized, it's essential for experiencing the magic.

I just received a CD today, and the only reason I ordered the CD is to determine how much I'll be willing to pay for the LP.

It's NOLA music by a Nawlins artist, and I'm here to tell you, every note of this music drips with that town;  you can visualize the bawdy houses where this music originated.

Needless to say, I will pay top dollar for the best LP of this music; while the CD sounds good, I'm sure the LP will sound much better and have me riveted to every note.


See if you can guess the music; it has received much discussion on this forum.

When I was in high school, we stacked 45's a mile high on a record changer at parties; this was in the 50's. In good condition, they would be worth big bucks now.

The owner of the biggest record store in St. Louis is still into "mid fi".

Each to his own.

For me, it's 100% about the music, but without the high end turntable and cartridge, there is no music.

Once you've been to New York or Paris, you can never go back home; or once you've been to the high end, you can never go back to "mid fi".

Pardon me, but I can think of nothing dumber than buying records for those so called "starter turntables" like bikes with training wheels. Records are expensive, and without an expensive high end analog rig, plus the knowledge to put it all together, they do not sound as good as CD's played on a cheap CD player; not to mention all the other headaches that go with records.

"Just the facts ma'am, nothing but the facts"

The OP has legitimate high end analog, and because he didn't adjust it properly, or have the right cartridge, it sucks; give me a break with all these young people buying records. Why?
and why don't statistics, such as the one's Tomycy61 posted on 12-03-2018 9:42pm support this?

I asked my young 40 year old neighbor, if any of his friends who he went to college with, were into records or CD's; "Neither", he replied, "They're into streaming"

I have my doubts about all these young people into records; maybe they aren't college educated, and therein lies the difference. Records are flat out dumb if you're not a "geezer", who already owns a bazillion records, or rich and bored.

First of all, I got a bazillion records, many that can not be found anywhere, plus I know the complete score, including the insanely priced hardware that's required; I have to go for a TD. While young people who don't own a record or a TT might be better off leaving it that way.

Elizabeth, if you read between the lines most of us are already "geezers", including yours truly.

Presently, I'm discovering a record collection that I didn't even know I had; mostly in the form of records I had written off, but after a number of upgrades, they're sounding pretty good.

Enjoy the music.

Analog is so very un-economical that it's only worth the price to people who had large record collections when CD's came on board. Although they initially went to CD's, all the fuss about LP's aroused their curiosity.

Since they already had the software, which was half the battle, they rationalized, why not go the rest of they way, even though they knew it was going to cost more than any so called "starter" crap, to hear the LP magic.

Now they're hoping to get young people into the game; why, I don't know, but the absurd economics of hearing the magic will stop that; unless you're talking the ubiquitous "starter analog".

That link with the charts confirms precisely what I posted 12-03-2018 9:44 AM, but nobody agreed with me. That confirms another one of my suspicions; we have a lot of "geezers" on this forum who are guilty of wishful thinking, and they express their wishful thinking thoughts.

Chakster, if nothing was available but the "mid fi" crap that we thought was good for playing records, I wouldn't give you a nickel for a boatload of vinyl.

The OP is right; if his analog rig isn't together, the digital will cream it, and all you have to do is stick it in the player. Since my rig is together, vinyl is all I'm doing lately.

Minor, not everyone see's things from an Audiophiles perspective; that means there are some very good buys out there.

I think young people and records is grossly exaggerated; I only know my son's friends who are college educated, and none of them own or think about records; they're mostly into "streaming".

Unless you're a "geezer", or "geezeress" who already owned a bazillion records when CD's came out, this analog thing doesn't make a lot of sense. As an example, the OP on one thread is crying the blues because he can not audition very expensive cartridges; I think he's considering cartridges in the neighborhood of 4K. Now unless you're exceptionally well heeled, that's a lot of dough.

As "audiophiles", we rationalize spending amounts that are out of proportion to our income, but this analog thing is even outside of that; rationalize or not, I had to see what the fuss was about, (especially since I owned so many records) and now that I've gotten there, I won't be climbing this ladder unless I can climb a money tree in my backyard.

I think young people and records is grossly exaggerated; that's because records don't make a lot of sense for young people, and the young people I've come into contact with are college educated and money savy.

In regard to the increase in sales, Geezers returning to vinyl would account for that, and those increases are compared to almost no vinyl sales, which makes them seem even larger.

After all of that, I'm going to spend the day enjoying my records; that's what geezers do; BTW, I'm discovering many new records that have hardly been played; although they're copies or replacement records, that's still a nice surprise.


Happy spinning.

Glupson, I felt like I was in a movie; I called it the "Glide Mobile", and we were constantly on the go while I DJ'd.

"Reverb" was popular then, and inside the car, it sounded like you were in a cave; a real out of this world sound; getting there was more than half the fun, because not long after reaching your destination, you were thinking about where to next.

Glupson, they had 45 RPM record players that were installed in the glove compartment, and there was nothing "lo fi" about them; my lady friend had one in her 66 Electra 225, and if you hit a big bump, it would let out a reverberating "ping"; I enjoyed it immensely.

When I was in the Air Force, back in the good old days of propellers; once we were taking off overloaded, approaching the "go no go line", and about 10 feet off the ground;  it was time to come down, throw on the brakes, and reverse props. (especially with trees near the end of the runway)

You got to know when to hold, and when to fold; I think it's time for the OP to cut his losses short.

When I listen to CD's, I hear music, when I listen to records (thanks to exquisitely set up high end rig) I hear music in a much deeper fashion; I hear nuances in records that I've heard hundreds of times, that I've never heard before.

I hope to God when I play CD's, I never hear what the "Vinylytes" hear (they're an analog religious order that describe in the worst way what they hear when they play a CD).   It would ruin my life if I ever began hearing "digitalis" or any of the other strange things they describe about CD's and everything digital; I would no longer hear music when I played my CD's.

Yes, the OP is far from starter; he's so close, all he needs is some professional help that will steer him into the necessary changes.

I've been listening to records since I was born, 78's; there is nothing special about a record until you add "expensive" high end hardware.

I hope young people who are deceived into believing that there is something special about a record with that "starter crap" can afford high end analog, otherwise they've wasted their money.

Ain't no way a starter level record player, can even beat cheap digital; or why else would millions of people chuck their mid fi turntables, and sell or give away records?

Why did millions of people chuck their TT's for CD players, and sell their records? It was because CD's and CD players sounded better.

After that fact, people in the "high end" said no, records sound better. They were right, their high end rigs sounded better than CD's and players, but they failed to mention the price.

Now, Michael Fremer, and his evangelistic followers, are claiming that a mid fi analog rig sounds better than CD; "What have they been smoking"?

According to the "Vinylites"; that's the religious order that resides here, a "Midfi" dual turntable will kill any CD player; that's crap, it takes a minimum of 3K before analog sounds better than digital.

Chad, if you want to get to vinyl heaven, and surpass your excellent CD player, you got to put out a lot more bucks, and get some help with set up.