I was born to the world of cassette tapes and soon digital music. My only experience with Vinyl was the one rather audition I had recently. It wasn't feasible at the time for us to try a blind fold A/B test. So my question for anyone has experienced both, is that is it worth it to buy a turntable?
The entry level ones are not really expensive compared to the gears I currently have. However, it's my habit to not keep things that I would not use. That includes thing that is a hassle to use or requires a lot of maintenance. The shop owner where I auditioned a Rega turntable kind of insinuated it falls into both of the aforementioned categories. For instance, the Vinyl doesn't hold many songs so swapping is pretty much a necessity. Upon some research, I also found that vinyl albums recently issued are likely produced from a digital master anyway, some are even just slightly above CD Quality. I have a large library of songs from HDTracks that are at least 24bit / 48khz and honestly I cannot tell a difference once they hit 24 bit / 96khz.
With the above said, what's so great about Vinyl in your view? Thanks for the feedback.
If I had 20K to put in a digital playback system I would probably like digital as much as my vinyl setup. Right now though, I hear considerably more variation and realism in the vinyl domain,. Hey, I wish I had a digital setup that sounded as good and convincing as vinyl but I will not chase it because what I have is really outstanding. Not spending that kind of coin chasing what I already have. Could be the other way around for some. If so, you as well as I are blessed to have awesome music to listen to. So no debate from me. Frankly surprised it's such a bone of contention.
Once you get to hear the reference quality CD set-up and a reference quality TT set-up IMO there is no comparison. TT just does something special that CD playback cannot reproduce. I do not own a TT and probably won’t but hearing is believing.
>>>>>Oh, I don’t know, I think it all depends. I dislike generalizations because there are so many variables involved. The debate has been raging for almost 40 years with no end in sight. But, if you could hear what I’ve heard with my ears.....
^^Why would you or anyone even bother to compare the two...one is Analog and the other one is Digital. They ought to sound different, hello?
You say, you don’t or won’t own a TT, even though you know it’s something special....what does that mean? Is it a matter of preference / convenience or you’re perfectly happy to settle with a inferior format 😉
Once you get to hear the reference quality CD set-up and a reference quality TT set-up IMO there is no comparison. TT just does something special that CD playback cannot reproduce. I do not own a TT and probably won't but hearing is believing.
This has been a topic forever and I think it all gets down to what you enjoy and what ones lifestyles dictate. This is really not only about this topic but audio in general. Both mediums can be very fun if you want to "devote" the time to it. For me I have a dedicated listening room and DO NOT want to always be pinned down to the chair since it is in my basement location. For me I only had about a 350 count record collection and only about 1/2 of those were of VG sound quality. Now with other interests and retired vinyl became too much work and tweaking to get it right. I owned a Linn LP12 and later a Clearaudio with VG arms and cartridges but the expense vs. the difference in sound was simply not enough for me to continue. I also hated the fact that every time I played a record the stylus on my cartridge or wear on the record became a mind game. Vinyl became like driving a stick shift/clutch car. In addition, since cash flow became more prevalent I bought two 180G records at last years RMAF and one was noisy as ever and at $30 bucks a pop it kind of gave me a push. Used vinyl in my area is a crapshoot. I have since moved on to a really good streaming device with SACD/CD player housing both a PCM and DSD dacs separately and lastly internet radio with over 7000 channels all in one unit. It also has a remote I can play and stream from my upstairs as it works via antenna. Now streaming Qobuz Hires, listening to Internet radio which can be fascinating, playing one of my many Cd’s/SACD’s has been game over for me. For me discovery of new music takes precedence over what that differences in sound quality really mattered with this device. I am now down to only about 100 records left for sale and could not be happier since my vinyl rig was not being used much I moved on. Now I am down to this source, preamp, monoblocks, and speakers...... for me simpler was certainly better. This is not to knock one medium over the other as they both can be VG but my point is to make it enjoyable depends on one’s interests and lifestyles. Life is too short not to pay attention to what moves you. That really is audio in general.
I can offer another reason why people may be attracted to vinyl: its user-friendliness, i.e. it's fussy but I understand it. I have a high-performance digital front-end (pc-based music server-reclocker-dac, etc) and two TTs. When the server is down, I have *no* idea what’s going on and why. It can happen at, seemingly, random. The TT s/ware never crashes...
There is no mountainous economic barrier to entry to the vinyl world if one is patient. Just today in a high end audio equipment store I saw a perfectly functioning used 35 or so year old then TOTL turntable with a very fine vintage cartridge for $100 (reduced twice from a starting price twice that). This store offers 30 day audition to boot.
With patience one can find 30, 40, 50 and even 60 year old vinyl that is in NM- condition for $1-$2 in thrift shops. Jazz, rock, classical, you name it. Turn hunting for these gems into a part of your hobby.
I can't imagine not listening to vinyl which is always my preferred medium. Tape (again a vote for analog) would be next followed by streaming Tidal and cds.
Dear @millercarbon: My reference to you was because you posted inside the superiority of the LP alternative against the digital one but with no single fact that proves your take and certainly your last post has nothing to say about that LP superiority.
Hi Fi and I mean all of it is just a tool, a tool to play music. Most of the music I listen to from a time perspective is on Sonus remote speakers in my office, garage and workshop as back ground music. I am always humming and tapping along even though I am not listening seriously. It could be a transistor radio for all I care. I play records because I have thousands of them, it is tradition and it is much more of a challenge to set up and make really sing than digital. It is more rewarding. I had thousands of CDs. Now they are all happily living on a hard drive. Records make much better collectibles. Now I get Hi Def files online. I got into computer music at the onset and I really like it. It is relatively easy and trouble free. But it is all just tools, tools to keep the music going one way or another. Arguing that one method is better than the other misses the point. You can argue that when cost is an issue it is cheaper to set up a good digital rig than it is to set up a good Vinyl one but that would depend on your definition of what good is. Good is any way to keep the music going when it comes down to brass tacks. Yes, the audiophile in me wants to recreate the live experience particularly the visceral sensation you get from live music, even an acoustic guitar (Richard Thompson). Nothing beats that bass drum in Stravinski's Firebird or Dave Weckl beating the crap out of his kit. I want to be 20 feet away from that drum kit just as I was at Boston's Reggata Bar. That is the real challenge, making music sound live. I don't care what cables you use or equipment you have if you can close your eyes, see and feel the band in front of you, you are in business.
“Actually its kids that are driving vinyl sales these days- not older audiophiles.”
I respectfully disagree, I have yet to witness ‘kids’ buying the vinyl.
Just go through the record bins of new LPs and look at the titles. The store is buying titles that keep them in business. Who listens to all that stuff? I have pretty eclectic tastes and love to buy current titles, but there is way more stuff out there than I have any idea about. I have a preset on the FM radio in my truck, set to the UofM radio station (KUOM), which is run by and for college kids. I have to assume they are playing things that people of their ilk listen to, so when I see those LP titles in record stores its a pretty good indication that kids are driving LP sales. Of course, anecdotal evidence on my part is nothing so go look at Billboard or the like. LP sales have been driven by kids for a very long time, even if you aren't there at the time to see them doing it :)
And to answer your question “Why do you play music?”
Music entertain us by reiterating certain aspect of our lives. It makes us feel or connect to our emotions. And your enjoyment of music or favorite artist should not be contingent upon the format, shape or form; you enjoy them regardless.
Let’s not get caught up in the debate as to which format is better, just enjoy the music.
Could it be that whole lot of people are ‘stuck’ playing records cause it’s the only way they know how to enjoy their favorite tunes?
Could it be that whole lot of people invested so much money in buying vinyl, setting up their TT rig and they are just too stubborn to admit that their could be another format that’s equally good or better?
Could it be that most Vinyl lovers aren’t adventurous enough to explore other options to enjoy their favorite tunes? I mean why bother after painstakingly collecting thousands of records, most of them are probably out of print and holds sentimental and monetary value.
And if they did, they weren’t patient enough to setup their digital rig properly and gave up quickly. One vinyl lovers openly admitted to compare his $$$$ vinyl setup with a $100 CD player. Most people can’t get their heads to think beyond ‘digital bits are just 1’s and 0’s’
I am sure you or anyone else just didn’t start enjoying vinyl and TT out of the box. It took countless hours of fine tuning and gear swapping. Same rules applies to CD playback and digital streaming. Those taken the time to fine tune their digital setups are enjoying their favorite artists and music just as much as the next door Vinyl lover.
As I said before, listening music through Vinyl is a different experience not necessarily better.
Please don’t make the same mistake that millercarbon and thousands of LP lovers. This is not about what you or me like it more but facts that can tell us which is superior
Question: Why do you play music?
Do you play music to look at the patterns on the oscilloscope? I don’t think so.
Do you play music to print out a nice flat frequency response? I don’t think so.
On your all time favorite music list, are the songs rated by signal to noise ratio? I don’t think so.
Have you ever thought to yourself, "That Jimi Hendrix (Carlos Santana, Jimmy Page, fill in the blank) solo would be so awesome, if only it had the low distortion of a pure sine wave"? I don’t think so.
Instead, I think people listen to music because they like it. They play their favorite songs because they like them. Really, really like them. Like them a lot. Some people even play the music they like more than the music they don’t like. Sounds crazy, I know. Hard to believe. But true.
Question: Do you in general like things difficult, or easy?
Pretty sure we all know where this is going. If its making some people uneasy, well maybe a little less sticking to preconceived notions, and a little more acceptance of the facts?
Because playing a record sure ain’t easy. So if despite all the trouble a whole lot of people are playing more records, just maybe its because they like em a whole lot more.
Which, given we’ve already established that we by definition like what is better, means records are better.
Raul, I was not addressing the issue of which format is superior, but rather those of who is buying LP's and if they really are being bought more than are CD's. If Music Millennium is any indicator, the answers are all age groups and yes.
@folkfreak Thanks for the suggestion! I'll definitely check those out.
I think I got some pretty helpful suggestions here so thanks all for that! I want to point out two things though:
One, I am not a fan of specification based decision making. My ears are the only judge. This is mainly because everyone has some level of preference or let's say a certain "characteristic" that his brain accepts as "great sounding music". For instance, I've had several co-workers and friends came listening to the same track repeatedly on my Parasound Halo A51 and McIntosh MC275 (tube). The amps are closed in a cabinet and are not disclosed to the listener. I found that except 1 of them who says he couldn't hear any difference, the other 4 individuals all said that the MC275 sounded better to their ears and they were able to pick up some subtle instruments in the background. Yet, many science articles seem to suggest tubes carries more distortion.
Secondly, similar to #1, I think most of you who prefer LP had some experience with LP, perhaps before digital ever came to existence. I think our brains perhaps are conditioned to accept the norm as "the best". An analogy can be made for the choice of food. What taste good for one culture may be "inedible" for another or vice versa. As mentioned above, one may prefer a single characteristic in music and as soon as that
characteristic is missing, your brains notices immediately and thinks "WTF this isn't music". However, that characteristic or set of
characteristics may only be appealing to the one specific listener and is not universal.
So in the end, there's no double blind test that could resolve this because individual preference will still exist regardless whether the person knows what gears are playing. I think the best is for me to visit local boutiques and actually listen and find what my ears like.
Dear @bdp24 : So what?, that's no fact that the LP is superior to the digital alternative. Only histories/tales that means nothing on that specific regards and that proves nothing.
Please don't make the same mistake that millercarbon and thousands of LP lovers. This is not about what you or me like it more but facts that can tell us which is superior and till today no one of you posted any single true fact that proves the LP superiority and you know what: no one can prove it because that technology is really limited against the all days growing up digital technology/alternative.
Have you common sense or not even know what means common sense?
A market " trend " can't shows that LP superiority to you or any one: are only sales.
Come on I know you are not stupid to follow supporting " histories ", you are much better than that: or not?.
Let the other people whom posting about are only showing its very low knowledge levels.
Not because some one thosands of times repeat to him self : I'm living in Venus planet he is really in true living in Venus. No, he lives in the Earth planet ! ! ! ? ?
In line waiting to get into Music Millennium on Record Store Day, I saw all age groups represented, from the man-bun (what a hideous "look" ;-) and bearded 20-something year old dudes (they’re everywhere in Portland), lots of girls and women, middle-aged men (some with their kids), and old hippies (they too are everywhere up here in the Northwest. In L.A., they are extinct).
When I frequented Music Millennium back in 2010, the LP bins were up on the mezzanine, the four rooms on the street-level floor devoted to CD. Now, two-thirds of the street-level floor space is devoted to LP’s (there are thousands and thousands and thousands of them, all genre except Classical---they are all CD), and half of the mezzanine. Somebody is buying LP’s!
“Actually its kids that are driving vinyl sales these days- not older audiophiles.”
I respectfully disagree, I have yet to witness ‘kids’ buying the vinyl. My local vinyl stores (the two I frequently visit) , the typical crowd is 55-60plus. I was at AXPONA this weekend and witnessed the same trend.
Unless you call 50plus crowds ‘kids’ then I concur with you wholeheartedly 😊
However, given the lack of willingness pursuit for quality products
exhibited by today's younger generation, I fear less and less recording
studio will be willing to spend time and effort to create a pure analog
master tape. If you tell my sister, who's 23, about Vinyl, she will give
you a quizzical look and just ignores you completely.
Actually its kids that are driving vinyl sales these days- not older audiophiles. And vinyl has been doing quite well in the last few years. The years of least production of vinyl was actually 1992-1993. Its been on the rise ever since!
Dear @millercarbon : Tales/histories as the one you posted are for thousands but are only tales with no single fact that can tell us the LP superioerity against the " thrash/noise developer " name it CD's.
To whom try you to deceive only because you can't understand facts?, you can follow spreading your tales but that is useless against facts and if you follow posting here and there those tales ( as other persons that do it too. ) that just does not change the reality, no matter what.
You can't tell/impede to a " baby " that stays slepping in the nigth only because for you the sun ( in the nigth. ) is already shinny and is a day and not nigth as your wife and baby think because are slepping both but you. You can't change facts/reality only repeating those tales: a tale/history does not change the facts, it's only a tale coming from some one that like you just can't understand and are sticky heavy sticky to the no-sense world, like a zombi. Are you an audio zombie? because at least it's the way you look on this specific regards.
The bottom line in Analog is; "You have to run with the big dogs or stay at home"!
A little story to illustrate just how far off the mark that is:
Back around 1995 I was done and very happy with my CD based system except for comments I kept coming across about records. It seemed unlikely. But my old Technics SL-1700 was just sitting in a box out in the garage, still had an old Kenwood integrated with its included phono stage, couldn't be that hard to dig it out, hook it up, prove the stories one way or the other.
Which I did. Which was quite the experience. Stupid little old (very old- 20 years old) turntable sounded more like music than my carefully selected brand new ten times as expensive CDP.
Maybe it was just me. But then my wife came home. Looking in the door, from where she could hear but not see, she asked what was I playing? Tom Petty. No, I mean what is it? Because it sounds really good.
So my wife with no clue whatsoever immediately preferred the sound of the vinyl. As did I. For one very simple reason: it just sounds a whole lot more like music.
Now again, this was back 20 years ago, back when nobody had a record, or record player, to buy or even see in any store anywhere, except maybe a few that specialize in used equipment. Today, last time I went looking, every room in every audio store had at least one turntable all set up and running.
That simply would not be the case if it were true that "You have to run with the big dogs or stay at home." But it could easily happen if it turns out records just plain sound better.
One flies in the face of reality. The other conforms beautifully.
Dear @angelgz2 : I like analog and I like digital but I try to not be " stupid " about the digital alternative or been sticky with analog to end of the times. And I'm not stupid because first than all I'm a music lover as you are.
The arguments that post and posted the " irreversible " analog persons are just opinions with no solid facts/foundation true facts..
Speak about aliasing in digital as if today been the 70's when we are living in 2019 and through very advanced aliasing filters that digital problem just disappeared years ago.
In other threads where some of the same persons that posted here posted " there " I posted ( several times with facts fron scientific source. ) that all human beens listen sound through our ears/brain at the inner ear where the SPL waves pass through an inner ear ADC, yes we listen in the digital domain not analog.
If we convert in bits the analog information in a LP it goes only to: 122-14 bits, never approaces 16bits as CD's.
A often " problem with digital information is exactly that:
The format is a two-channel 16-bit PCM encoding at a 44.1khz ( sampling rate: 22.05khz. ):
analog advocates say frequency response in CD is limited against LP that can goes say: 40khz or whatever. But that fact is useless for support LP superiority over digital alternative because over that high frequency range exist no single fundamental music NOTES but only harmonics that are a seria certain development that it's easy covered inside the oversampling proccess that can give the CD a more true extended high frequency range and that's at 16bits but today DAC's comes with 32/768 technology ! ! a native not 32 bits but 24/96 or 192 outperforms totally any analog alternative, no matters what.
But exist a major disadvantage with the analog LP recordings and is that even that the recording microphones pick up the signal in stereo way down to the lowest bass frequency range things are that for LP limitations and during the LP cutting proccess that bass range stereo signal is converted to mono fashion and obviously along its harmonics that are the ones that affects all the whole frequency range and the main harmonics for a pristine quality performance. In the digital domain that just does not happens because what we have in the CD's is what the recording microphones pick up: everything including harmonics in STEREO fashion as must be always.
There are a lot of facts against analog and in favor of digital but is useless to say about when people just don't understand the reality they and us are living with.
The main issue/subject is not whom has the reason or whom wins the subject is to understand all those facts true facts I posted here and if I'm wrong ( because I can be wrong. ) I invite any one to post why I'm wrong with facts to prove it.
Angel, I think Atmasphere has some substantial arguments in favor of vinyl. Breaking down into the simplest terms, older music that was recorded well and in analog is generally going to sound better than CD quality. There is plenty of fantastic old stuff. Newer music recorded in digital and mastered with High res in mind is hard to beat. If the CD master is used dynamic compression is forced to the max and everything has the same volume which is not real but it sounds great on a car radio. Most everything prior to 1980 is analog. In the end you are going to have to make up your mind by yourself. Get one of the less expensive Rega tables and an Ortofon Blue cartridge when you get the disease go for broke.
@angelz if you are looking for good Celtic music in LP you need to go back to the 60s, 70s and 80s. Labels like Tara, Fontana, Dara, would be good places to look.
Dear @millercarbon :: """
Vinyl is so much better than digital its silly to even talk about, as that can't be done without assuming they are comparable, when they aren't. One is music, the other noise. A whole lot of people miss this, because the noise of vinyl is so obvious. The noise with digital is woven right into the signal. With digital its silly even to talk about signal to noise ratio. With digital the signal IS the noise! """
what's silly is try to ridicule digital alternative with your riculous statements because things are that all can be or can be changed the other way around for any one but a silly person.
Where are your facts or the foundations for what you posted other that: "" that's what I like it ""
At least try to post something that can be " coherent ". MUSIC is some kind of " noise " too.
On a side note, anyone a Celtic music fan? I almost listen exclusively to Celtic music. Here are some artists I listen to:
Loreena McKennitt
Enaid --
Avalon - A Celtic Legend
Méav Ní Mhaolchatha
Enya
I also have some albums from Sara Brightman & The Carpenters. I know The Carpenters definitely have "real" LPs, but those Celtic artists may not have "true" LP releases. I am not expert enough to figure out whether those out there are just from digital conversion or real analog press. If I manage to pick up some true analog LPs for the above mentioned artists, I may invest in a system. Certainly, any recommendations to other good Celtic music is strongly appreciated.
@atmasphere Actually I understand your point. It's true that the original master digital file could be closer to the original. It's not completely lossless like Vinyl -- I'm no expert, but do they sample above 786khz / 32 bit depth? If not,
I may as well just invest in a Chord Hugo 2 which can play up to 32 bit / 786khz or DSD 128.
We have a local Vinyl shop in Austin and the owner acknowledged that some "Modern reproduction" of old vinyls are converted back from Digital, often at no greater than CD quality. The only way to experience true Vinyl, at least from what I read, is if the LP is pressed from a pure analog master recording which is rare nowadays let alone going to the future.
I have no doubts pure analog is better -- I've experienced it in various friend's homes or boutique shops, the "three dimensional-ness" that many refer to. However, given the lack of willingness pursuit for quality products exhibited by today's younger generation, I fear less and less recording studio will be willing to spend time and effort to create a pure analog master tape. If you tell my sister, who's 23, about Vinyl, she will give you a quizzical look and just ignores you completely. This is unfortunate, I know, but the industry is profit driven, and the few of us who's willing to pay for it won't be as profitable as the masses who just want something cheap and simple.
I have it all. Vinyl is euphoric like tubes, it is tradition, it is a collectors dream, and lastly it is tweaky. There is so much you can do with it. What are you going to do with zeros ones. Vinyl once set up is really just a little more work than CDs I have 192/24 HDtracks and Vinyl versions of both Dylan’s Desire and the first Santana album. Actually the Santana might 88/24. the Vinyl has a sense of space missing in the digital versions. This might be a euphemism but I like it. The vinyl obviously has more noise. Tell me of any venue that does not have extraneous noise. People cough and shuffle around, talk to each other etc. as long as it is not a big loud scratch the noise in the vinyl biases your brain. It actually is more like the real experience! Digital is silent, drier, more up front. The violin in Hurricane has a bit of a sting to it missing in the vinyl version. Dynamics are the same. Albums that have been remastered specifically for high resolution digital are however amazing. Just have your wife cough once in a while.
Vinyl is so much better than digital its silly to even talk about, as that can't be done without assuming they are comparable, when they aren't. One is music, the other noise. A whole lot of people miss this, because the noise of vinyl is so obvious. The noise with digital is woven right into the signal. With digital its silly even to talk about signal to noise ratio. With digital the signal IS the noise!
The situation is so bad people try and make their digital sound better by dubbing it to analog. Seriously! Famous Blue Raincoat, which shows on the jacket as DDD, the final mix-down was in fact done to analog. Several versions were compared, none of them preferred DDD, they all went with the analog.
The one thing that gives the numbers crunchers cover is the sad reality of vinyl being temperamental. Unlike digital, the plain fact is no two records sound exactly the same. Better Records has thrown a microscope on this, but anyone who cares can prove it easily enough simply by playing two copies of the same record back to back.
What this means is that digital vs analog is not like most people think a question of sound quality. Its a question of convenience.
Which is why I said in the beginning, "
Since you are mainly interested in convenience then you should just stick with what you know. Vinyl is more for people who love music." And that's no joke.
I've been reading a lot of chats between modern-day vinyl users. The
final "nail to the coffin" that made me decide to continue my digital
path is exactly what @atmasphere mentioned:
the master file isn't even being used. I read that in many modern-day
LP production, the source is actually already digital, often time
already "lossy". The inability, or at least limited ability for me to
get authentic vinyls in the future is definitely a "no deal" for now.
I
guess for those of you who have enjoyed vinyl for a long time, it makes
sense to continue this path, but for me who never ever owned a single
LP, I wouldn't know what I've missed.
@angelgz2 , You might have missed my point- which is the often the LP uses a digital file that is closer to the original than the file used to make a digital release. IOW if you want to get closer to the original, the LP might be the ticket.
I've been reading a lot of chats between modern-day vinyl users. The final "nail to the coffin" that made me decide to continue my digital path is exactly what @atmasphere mentioned: the master file isn't even being used. I read that in many modern-day LP production, the source is actually already digital, often time already "lossy". The inability, or at least limited ability for me to get authentic vinyls in the future is definitely a "no deal" for now.
I guess for those of you who have enjoyed vinyl for a long time, it makes sense to continue this path, but for me who never ever owned a single LP, I wouldn't know what I've missed.
I’m wondering how that conductor was able to correct a musician on a note at 12,000 cps, when there is no musical instrument that produces primary tones at that high a frequency. the very top key on a piano is only eight or 9000 cps. So although I agree that the brain can overcome hearing deficiencies, enabling one to sense frequencies above the range of one’s hearing, I doubt the veracity of this particular story.
I have also softened on my opinion about digital. But you have to incorporate Ralph’s point, that much of the digital source material has been created according to Redbook standards, so no matter how Hi-Rez the digital output may be, the benefit is severely limited by the way in which the original digital recording was made. Given that qualification I do think that the very best digital is on the same plane with vinyl with digital being subjectively quieter and vinyl having superior downward dynamic range. Like in the old westerns, the farmer and the cow man can be friends.
Just recently I got a brand new considerably warped record; What do I do? send it back.
I've been through that before, and they sent me another warped record. I don't feel like going through the hassle.
Fortunately, I didn't hear the warp on playback. Since it was a collectors item LP, I recorded it on new expensive R2R tape so that I could hear it without handling the record.
So far, I haven't heard the warp, not even on playback with the reel.
I watched the cartridge ride up and down those warps like a car going up and down hills without flexing the stylus, my tone arm is so well balanced, and the cartridge compliance is such that it's not affected by warped records, and this one is more than mildly warped; another reason to stay out of vinyl if you're not already in.
I have over 100K digital files and it is great to be able to peruse the library and pick from the litter, or to even pick from many 100's of thousands via Qobuz or Tidal but.........having very recently gotten into Vinyl I am absolutely loving it. True Story, I wear an Apple Watch everyday but my F.P. Journe Chronometre Bleu is so much better to look at.....SO MUCH BETTER. Price comparison is equal here.
Thanks @atmasphere for pointing out that (some) vinyl may actually be a superior format after all. Despite the dissenters who've never heard higher-end vinyl reproduction, it's an affirmation that there is something tangibly and qualitatively better with vinyl.
From all the response so far, it seems like turntables are really for
people who have a predisposition to love records, either because you
guys already have a large collection, or because you could relate to it.
While there might be some level of sonic differences, a larger part
appears to be personal preference and the emotional aspect of it.
In most cases a turntable will sound better than anything streamed. This is because streamed files, even though 192KHz, may not have any more information than the 16 bit CDs because the master file was not used.
LPs are far more likely to have used a file closer to the original than even a commercially released CD! This is because CDs and other digital formats have the expectation of being played in a car and so are compressed as a result.
LPs don't have that expectation. I run an LP mastering operation, and when working with a digital master, we always make sure its not the file mastered for digital release. We get the one that is unprocessed- it sounds better.
LPs have a number of advantages over digital formats even to this day. Since the late 1950s, the record side has always had bandwidth out to well past 40KHz. That helps improve the perception of the soundstage due to reduced phase shift.
LPs have less or no aliasing at all. This is important- aliasing is a form of distortion which the ear/brain system perceives as a brightness - 'crisp' is of then term when its really bad. This is a major reason why LPs are so much more relaxed.
So these things are not taste issues. Digital just isn't there - yet.
BTW- one of the better deals in turntables these days is the new Technics SL-1200G, which looks like the SL1200s on Craigslist but is actually a whole new design from the ground up and is one of the most speed stable turntables made anywhere.
@lewm Thanks for weighing in. I very well may tackle an upgraded TT system in the next couple of years since I'm hearing feedback like yours and @noromance indicating a $5K -$7K setup could yield analog results on par with digital in the same price range.
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