I do not want to hear about politics, religion, or sex on this forum - it is about being an audiophile, and frankly, this forum is contentious enough without injecting that junk into the conversation.
From my point of view, although the demographic of this forum may be mostly older individuals, the members have a quality that younger people do not - they have decades of accumulated knowledge. There is no single correct way to reproduce music - 78, 45, and 33 rpm records can be great, CDs (SACD, UHQR, HDCD, XRCD, UHR-MQA, Redbook PCM, etc) can be great, DSD, ALAC, AAC, FLAC, AIFF, WAV can be great. Enough already!
How many of you are trained musicians? As in actually attending a music conservatory as a student, playing an instrument as a performer (including your larynx), or taught music to others (e.g., music theory or musical performance). Listening is a skill that combines innate genetic qualities combined with years of focused experience, just like the best musicians combine prodigy with practice. It trumps training as an electrical engineer in the context of evaluating audio reproduction - when I see the so-called "objectivists" who only look at measures produced by devices I know they are wrong. My advice is that everyone go back to listening and fight with each other on Facebook or somewhere else. |
At 68 I'm flipping vinyl and cleaning every record 98 % of my listening time , the only reason that I have a CD player is because the music
was not released on vinyl ( like Poet a tribute to Townes Van Zandt )
or because the very limited release created a very high price
( like $300 for the Eagles Hell Freezes Over ) .
I have up to 6 copies of some albums , different pressing from different countries because there are some sonic differences making listening
even more fun .
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Though I've taken great care with my albums over 50 years and still treasure them, nowadays I find myself listening to music via Qobuz at least 90% of the time. With a great DAC and hi res streaming, the sound quality along with an exponentially larger selection and convenience of swapping between artists instantaneously has won me over. |
@xs1137
well said, i am same... well, maybe 35-40 years :) |
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You misread my post, "if I won't POTENTIALLY listen to three times annually, out it goes". for the purpose of determining to keep or discard the record. I just got 3,500 LPs in the last two years and moved to a new home. I intend to cull the extra opera and vocal LPs and redistribute them. I always have new records to hear. I've heard about 80% of my CDs (virtually all the single CDs, working my way through the big box classical music sets).
I listen to about 12 to 15 LPs weekly, possibly more and 12 to 15 CDs, in part or entirety. That's 1,248 to 1,560 CDs and LPs per year. Your math is off by millions of minutes. I do listen for at least 20 hours weekly. My work permits me to listen late at night and get up at 9am.
I also, pre-pandemic, was a local recording (engineer) for a chamber group (Viklarbo), several choirs (that I sing in) and occasionally for a professional orchestra. I've recorded concerts at Disney Hall, Ford Theater, Royce Hall, etc. irregularly over 30 years. It's not my job but for the love of music.
My prior home had me mix wall storage in a listening room 25' X 20' X 11'6 + equipment area, custom built but not to as high a standard. It wasn't a small home (3,700') but overstuffed. |
@fleschler those people will never understand what is record collecting and real passion for records.
I wish I could buy as much as you, it's fun to have records and there are always hidden gems (not even available in digital or even in the database). I'm buying records every month. |
@fleschler
Sorry for the mistake - I multiplied by seconds instead of minutes and didn't see the word POTENTIALLY, but you are making my point even more clearly. If you listen to 15 LPs a week, that's 780 per year or about 5% of your inventory, even less if you hit your goal of 3 listens per year. At that rate, you would listen to your accessible ones that you intend to play once every 20 YEARS! (I don't look at anything other than LPs since they take up way more space).
@chakster - I have a real passion for listening to music that I am passionate about, live or on records, not collecting records. In fact, I really don't see the point of collecting anything you don't use/enjoy unless it is gives you pleasure to look at it, like art or maybe baseball cards, stamps, coins, etc.unless you are using it as an investment vehicle. I doubt fleschler gets pleasure out of looking at 28,000 album covers, but maybe I'm wrong. It annoys me that I may never listen to maybe 20-25 of my 300 records. No sure what I was thinking when I bought them a long time ago. Maybe they were part of the Columbia Record Club I was a member of for their initial shipment. I don' think I've bought a record in that group in 40 years. When I was a kid, I collected baseball cards because I was and am a big sports fan, and was always told they'd be worth something some day. That is only true if they are in mint, almost untouched condition. That's tough for a kid who traded and flipped them. I have a few years of the entire series' in the early 70s and in total they're worth about $15!
I've heard of Maria Condo, never read or saw her, but she is into simplicity and organization and I agree with what I hear she preaches: if something doesn't give you joy or you don't wear it or use it, etc, get RID OF IT! I get anxious anytime I look in a "junk" drawer or closet and feel the need to throw out 90% of it. My wife doesn't want me to ever look in one. She won't throw out an empty pill bottle. Opposites attract I guess.
I hate wasting anything - time, space, money, etc., and I think of collecting anything never touched as organized hoarding. Worse is if it is not organized - it's just hoarding. Anything not fit for the house or "overstuffed", put in the garage if you have room. If you haven't touched it in a year or two, throw it out or sell it or give it away, or put it in the shed or crawlspace or attic and start the clock over. |
I listen in a period of few years thousand of times the same cd with variation for sure with other cd...
Am I nut?
Some music like the art of the fugue or orchestral suites of Bach cannot be listen a few times...
Some other music ressemble any other and i dont want to listen to it more than few minutes....
There is always the deep moving music, few hundred of which we return each day, week, months, or year....
The other are only a temporary curiosity without great thrill save the change...
I listened for example Heinrich Schutz "Geistliche Chormusic by Mauersberger each day for few years one hour.....I dont fathom till this day this absolute choral masterpiece like very few at the same level even Bach work hard to create....A pure synthesis of German heavy grammar with baroque italian harmony fusionned perfectly.... It is so great works that even Schutz never repeat this.... Like, nevermind his marvellous 500 other concertos, there is only one "four seasons" in all Vivaldi... |
@sokogear What's wrong with listening to an entire collection once through every 20 years? I don't of course as only 18,000 LPs are in my adjacent room for current listening and I intend to dispose of many 1,000s over time. My 3,500 ethnic records (LPs and 78s) are not just for listening pleasure but I serve as the recordings librarian for a conductor of a symphony and choirs. I make CDs/digital transfers of audios and videos in my collection. I don't view having an extensive collection as a liability. Just as I don't view having 3,500 books as a liability although I rarely read more than a book a month (I peruse books for items that interest me-my late wife's 500+ fiction books are unread by me). Lastly, I've had 60 years worth of listening pleasure which would mean at your calculation, at least 3 plays per LP per my life. I hope to have another 40 years worth of plays. |
What’s wrong with listening to an entire collection once through every 20 years? Nothing is wrong on the contrary you are lucky... Myself i own near 10,000 diverse formats of music.... I am ashamed to own less than you...... 😁😊😊😊😊😊😊😊 |
@fleschler
No time to get to know any album. I am more like @mahgister than you, but not to that extent. I don’t know how many hundreds of times I’ve listened to “Kind of Blue” or”Aja” or dozens of others and noticed new things sometimes, especially if I’ve changed a component or better yet, put in a tweak.
to each his own...whatever makes you happy and enjoy the hobby. Like I said, I am 100% vinyl, but I can see the attraction of SACDs for a younger audiophile than me by 10-20 years who grew up with no vinyl coming out and their new music only available on CD.
I can even understand those who listen to compressed streams in order to explore lots of new music. I’m very picky and very biased towards albums that came out when I was in college and high school and classic (mostly) jazz I discovered 20 years ago.
I will say that in listening to Sirius in my wife’s car, I rediscovered a few people/groups that I knew about but never got into and bought some albums that I like. I play CDs in mine because I hate switching stations. Therefore, I guess nobody can be 100% vinyl since you can’t play a turntable in a car. |
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I believe its all about the source and how much money was spent in recording the album. YMMV |
Garbage in Garbage out I hope someone said this early |
I used to listen to digital exclusively for many a decade; had records, but they just didn't thrill me on the system I had. I recently upgraded my analog system, and it's like listening to those records again for the first time, they sound so different and so much better. So now I listen to digital on my headphones for iTunes on my computer or streaming, and listen to analog on my speakers.... |
@ larsman I've had the same experience. Having recently upgraded my analog end, I find vinyl to be my preferred source for listening. |
