I’d always imagined vinyl devotees were a bit deluded, after all, on paper CDs absolutely destroy the specs of vinyl in terms of channel separation, dynamic range, and frequency response, how good could be a format that traced its origins back to the 19tn century?
I had a wake-up call after hearing some of the set-ups at AXPONA. While most rooms had moved to streaming or servers, and some had ridiculous turntables that looked to be over four feet tall and probably cost as much as a house, the Focal room had a Clearaudio Innovation with their Virtuoso V2 cartridge and it sounded amazing through the Focal Sopra 3s.
I don’t know if I’d say it was better than a well mastered CD or lossless digital file, but it was at least as good.
Still, I don’t think I’ll be getting into vinyl, though I can see the appeal. For me the startup cost is too high, and then there’s the cost of the actual records. A Bluesound Node 2 and a Tidal Hifi subscription gives me all of the music I could want for a low cost, though I suppose it could be cool to drop the needle and sit back and watch the record spin while I listen.
I had a wake-up call after hearing some of the set-ups at AXPONA. While most rooms had moved to streaming or servers, and some had ridiculous turntables that looked to be over four feet tall and probably cost as much as a house, the Focal room had a Clearaudio Innovation with their Virtuoso V2 cartridge and it sounded amazing through the Focal Sopra 3s.
I don’t know if I’d say it was better than a well mastered CD or lossless digital file, but it was at least as good.
Still, I don’t think I’ll be getting into vinyl, though I can see the appeal. For me the startup cost is too high, and then there’s the cost of the actual records. A Bluesound Node 2 and a Tidal Hifi subscription gives me all of the music I could want for a low cost, though I suppose it could be cool to drop the needle and sit back and watch the record spin while I listen.