Why, oh why, does vinyl continue to blow away digital?

[Carlos269]

Impressive résumé. Do you listen to any albums that were recorded with an iPhone? Perhaps you should launch a new label and offer to record artists in your living room with your iPhone?

It’s too raw of a recording method for commercial recordings, but there are some audiophile labels that strive to reduce the recording process to a minimum, none of them are as simplistic as the use of an iPhone for the recordings. With an external microphone you are pretty close to as basic as you are going to get. Several people, Vincent from TotalDac, Joseph from Believe In Fidelity and others used studio quality recording set-ups to document this past Munich show.

 

[Carlos269]

Yes; very low quality digital recordings of audio.

Actually, no they are not. iPhone or camera recordings, specially with external professional microphones, do a pretty good job of capturing sound accurately. Only here is this debated.

 

[Al M.]

Ok, another thread that goes to waste through system video discussion. Great.

 

[hopkins]

It’s too raw of a recording method for commercial recordings, but there are some audiophile labels that strive to reduce the recording process to a minimum, none of them are as simplistic as the use of an iPhone for the recordings. With an external microphone you are pretty close to as basic as you are going to get. Several people, Vincent from TotalDac, Joseph from Believe In Fidelity and others used studio quality recording set-ups to document this past Munich show.

OK, we can set aside the iPhone, and consequently your comments on PeterA's videos.

In addition to resolution/detail that you referred to, and added distortion, I find that with phone videos you cannot reproduce the imaging and soundstage of a system, and you experience the room differently. So that's a lot of caveats.

But even with better equipment, you never have the same "experience" between hearing music live and on a recording (regardless of the system you play it on). That holds true whether you record a musician or a speaker.

EDIT: will stop discussing videos on this thread...

 

[tima]

Naaaa. Not so true. Even pristine brand new records seem to.get something into them over time.

And I have never bought a used classical album that is clean of background noise. My
cleaning is pretty good.

If your records are dirty to the point you are complaining about them maybe vinyl is not suited to you. If they are damaged, cleaning will not fix that.

 

[Audiohertz2]

Tracking issues, stylus design etc , can make many a records sound noisy in the groove ...


Just saying ...!

 

[tima]

Obviously, you are ignoring my arguments. Fine, I am done anyway saying what I wanted to say. People who are open to the arguments will understand them.

Let's not turn this into another system video thread.

You already did.

 

[wil]

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about the Oxford comma. Should there be one before “and” or no?

 

[Ron Resnick]

Actually, no they are not. iPhone or camera recordings, specially with external professional microphones, do a pretty good job of capturing sound accurately. Only here is this debated.

Excellent! That's great to know! Now we all can sell our DACs that cost over $100!

 

[Kingrex]

If your records are dirty to the point you are complaining about them maybe vinyl is not suited to you. If they are damaged, cleaning will not fix that.

I didn't say anything remotely to that affect as pertains to myself. But your comment is very to the point for many people. Especially the ones that enjoy digital. I have heard records at Mikes that have a lot of surface noise. They still have a wonderful sound and play at a high level. I'm ok with it. Mike seems to be. But many would call the album a waste. I find it true that most records have some surface noise and it gets worse over time unless your fanatical like my RIP friend Joe Pitman who washed every record after every play before putting it back in the sleeve.

I do have some records that are damaged by ground in dirt and most likely oils from hands that has reacted with the viny and deatroyed the outside songs. One being a 1967 Charlie Brown Christmas that cost me $600. Its my worst version of the formats I have. The digital on hard drive from a CD are just fine. My 15ips tape is the best.

 

[Ron Resnick]

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about the Oxford comma. Should there be one before “and” or no?

Great topic for a comma thread!

Would you start a new thread, please?

 

[thedudeabides]

To date, no one has been able to “measure” “realness” of a presentation.

That's because it is a subjective process, unique to each individual and impossible to quantify or determine with measurements. With all due respect, why is this basic fact so difficult for you to apparently understand and accept?

 

[Mike Lavigne]

Absolutely.

to be fair with you, i was wrong to characterize your digital gear as pedestrian, on a few levels.

i should not use that word in any case; and also i admit to not investigating exactly what you were using and have respect for T & A products. they are high performance. i owed you that.

 

[thedudeabides]

Sure! I can easily go for Eso's latest & greatest as well some very fancy TT rig at a very lofty price... that vicious cycle never ends! So why bother?

Bingo. I don't anymore. With Adagio, I have created this ever growing list of my favorite types of low key, calming classical music including solo piano, string quartets, violin / piano, cello / piano, piano trios, female opera soloists and other vocal works. And I unequivocally enjoy it on my simplified system. But I must admit I did pursue better gear, within my budgetary contraints, and enjoyed the process.

To attempt a response to your question. Some reasons. Part and parcel of being a serious hobbyist. The audio equivalent of attempting to climb Mount Everest. A never ending quest in search of an unattainable goal. Many other possibilities. In the end, one hopes that the goal is to enhance and further the emotional connection to the music.

 

[MarkusBarkus]

...OG pedestrian audio.

 

[PeterA]

All I’m saying is that you don’t have a basis to speak of digital playback with such conviction without experience with the latest cutting edge implementations.

No, you are saying more and making it personal.

If listening to SOTA analog and digital is the standard and required to participate in this discussion, where does that leave us? Have you heard the cutting edge vinyl implementations?

The OP is describing his own experience and I think the general tenor of the thread is discussions based on people’s own experience with a few people knowing a lot about the technologies involved.

 

[PeterA]

What do you make of the fact that I feel that my system videos are representative of the gist of the sound of my systems?

I would take you at your word because I understand that system videos are capable of representing the gist of the sound of a system. It is also the basis on which we rely to have a discussion. If the videos did not represent the sound of the system, why would we post them?

 

[Carlos269]

No, you are saying more and making it personal.

If listening to SOTA analog and digital is the standard and required to participate in this discussion, where does that leave us? Have you heard the cutting edge vinyl implementations?

The OP is describing his own experience and I think the general tenor of the thread is discussions based on people’s own experience with a few people knowing a lot about the technologies involved.

Sure Peter you are right and I’m wrong……keep thinking what you want to believe. I like to learn and as you can tell love knowledge as knowledge is power. I like to keep an open mind and actually welcome others to prove me wrong.

By the way, I thought that you made it personal first but I chose to disengage. I rather do less talking or in this case writing textI. I rather let the sound recordings of our systems speak for themselves.

 

[Carlos269]

I would take you at your word because I understand that system videos are capable of representing the gist of the sound of a system. It is also the basis on which we rely to have a discussion. If the videos did not represent the sound of the system, why would we post them?

Agree.

 

[Lagonda]

Costs does not correlate with performance and that is pretty apparent on the comparisons of the different system audio recordings that are shared and compared.

What is apparent is that these videos are useless and not even worth considering. He forgot the price of Fremers amps in his list, total is probably closer to a million.