Vinyl - One Word - WOW!!

As already mentioned by a colleague here, open RTR is so good that it is a new best analog experience for most of us — even gray beards like me. It is not inexpensive and as much of a pain as vinyl. But the reproduction quality explains why restored RTR players have tripled in price in the last few years and why new RTR companies are now being created in EU. Good listening.

" You can't match the best digital performance until "

define "best"

wait..... don't

"Old" vinyl, pressed before the digital era,  when that vinyl was made from the analog master tape sounded great. I have several friends with 1000s of records bought in the 60s, 70s, kept in pristine condition. Most sound wonderful.

Current vinyl is a horse of a different colour. Almost all current vinyl you can buy (except perhaps audiophile pressings) has been made either from original recorded to digital masters or from digital copies of the original analog masters. Once the music has gone through one or 2 format conversions before being vinyl, it will have lost some of that analog magic. 

So if a current purchase new LP sounds better on your turntable than your digital source, and they at some point were from the same digital master I can only come to one of 2 conclusions why:

#1 Your analog implementation (turntable, tonearm, cartridge, phono preamp) is  better than your digital.

#2 Your analog front end alters the sound in some way that makes it a more  pleasing for you. Nothing wrong with that. The purpose of this hobby is the pursuit of musical enjoyment.

I personally found very little difference on current pressings between my digital front end I described previously and my analog front end (VPI Prime, Benz Wood, Art Audio Phono preamp).

That's pretty much why I stopped buying vinyl.

So for those with huge old record collections, enjoy your treasures, but for those starting to build a record collection from scratch , well.... have fun I guess.

I no longer spend all that time physically going to stores to buy records although I do miss the thrill of finding a forgotten treasure in some dusty record bin in somewhere land.

@alvinnir2 

there are literally 100s of millions of old/original records all over the World in attics, basements and used record stores

I wish I’d saved the image used by the Revolver TT advertisements - shooting the cartridge off the arm like a bullet and smashing a CD - that they used in the 1980’s. It would be useful at times.

Vinyl playback doesn’t have to be dreadfully expensive (of course, it can be, and that depends on how much you sink into diminishing returns).

Step 1: You can get good sound with a relatively cheap table and MM pickup, as long as you clean your records.

Step 2: To equal CD sound, simply clean your records as best you can. A machine is needed, but need not be crazy expensive. You are considering an MC pickup and a new phono stage.

Step 3: To blow CD out of the water, you are spending big bucks on a good table and arm, and an expensive cartridge that will last, maybe, a thousand hours before rebuild. You are now using an ultrasonic cleaner after the vacuum RCM you have already purchased.

Step 4: Discogs is now the most frequent entry in your browser history. You know the different types of detergent and enzymatic cleaners available for your record cleaning machines and you have your own recipes and protocols for getting the best from them. You have multiple turntables sporting multiple tonearms. You have a choice of anti-static devices for your discs, and an ultrasonic stylus cleaner. Two USB microscopes for checking stylus status and rake angle. The price of your phono stage is a state secret. You sit slack-jawed and happy all day listening to music, looking like a wino who found a $50 note.

Step 5: I haven’t got there yet, and may lose the ability to type if I do......be warned.