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Post by Pinch on Jul 29, 2019 18:22:56 GMT
A number of notable members - Jerry, Jules, Martin - have more or less recently switched to the exclusive use of a digital source. More generally (and perhaps relatedly), subjects relating to digital playback often come up for discussion here. I myself have invested a fair amount of time and thought (not to mention cash) in my file-based digital playback chain, and use my digital source pretty much daily. But I wouldn't be without my turntable, and use this pretty much daily also. I find that each source does something which the other doesn't, and my attempts at upgrading have tended to focus on improving in the areas where each falls short in comparison to the other - certainly, having a half-decent analogue source to compare against has really helped me to pinpoint various digital gremlins over the years. It also goes without saying that I'm an unabashed vinyl fetishist, and so there's a lot that I enjoy about using the turntable which has very little to do with how it sounds. But it does sound great!
If, like me, you use a turntable alongside a digital source, what's kept you from jettisoning all of the faff associated with vinyl (of which there's a lot) and using the digital source exclusively? If you've recently given it up, what persuaded you to do so? Is there anything about it which you miss? Can you envision circumstances in which you might be tempted back? If you've never really done the whole vinyl thing, or if a turntable plays only an ornamental role in your system, does the thought ever occur that you might be missing out?
What are members present positions on vinyl replay?
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Post by speedysteve on Jul 29, 2019 18:43:10 GMT
I have around 150 LPs only.. So it was never my main source in ages. Use them rarely these days but one turntable Technics SP-10 is pledged to one daughter and the other a Pioneer PL-71 to the other daughter so I'm keeping them. Vinyl still sounds VERY good on some stuff and it's nice to have..
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Post by MartinT on Jul 29, 2019 18:56:16 GMT
I have about 1500 LPs. I simply made a performance judgement: what could I get sound quality wise if I sold my SACD player and turntable? I decided to sell and reinvest. What I have now greatly exceeds what I had before, with better sound quality, wider catalogue and reduced ongoing costs.
I'm very happy with it but I don't advocate my solution as it's a very personal decision that you would have to weigh up for yourselves.
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Post by Stratmangler on Jul 29, 2019 18:56:47 GMT
I'm not planning on jettisoning the vinyl. The mastering cannot be abused to the same degree as CD mastering, and it's for that reason alone. Some of my recordings really come to life on vinyl, and although the CD of the same material hasn't been mangled in the mastering process it lacks the immediacy of the vinyl process.
Most of the time I too play music off my server, although I have also been using Tidal a fair bit of late.
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Post by Clive on Jul 29, 2019 19:40:32 GMT
I have around 800 LPs and 2 decks, 1,000 albums on my file server. Sound quality is equivalent though by this I don't mean the same. I find playing one source off against another allows me to drive the best out of each.
I have fun "playing" with vinyl. It has soul in that the process connects me to the music. I enjoy files playback too but feel less connected. I believe this is because I grew up with records so it's personal.
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Post by The Brookmeister on Jul 29, 2019 20:55:07 GMT
If I had to spend all that time and effort fannying about with my digital source to get the sound quality, well, least said the better. LOL
Stick a record on any day.
R2R is numero uno though.
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Post by MartinT on Jul 29, 2019 20:56:19 GMT
You have to fanny about even more to get great performance from vinyl, in my opinion.
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Post by Clive on Jul 29, 2019 21:48:28 GMT
The skill sets for tweaking record decks and digital differ. Not everyone is comfortable working with both, hence some differences of opinion.
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Post by Slinger on Jul 29, 2019 21:57:27 GMT
I've probably got the best part of a couple of thousand albums, and the same amount of singles. My Pro-Ject Debut Carbon Esprit SB isn't plumbed in at the moment, mostly because I'm a lazy sod.
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Post by ChrisB on Jul 29, 2019 22:32:16 GMT
The vinyl pulse beats on over here. I came late to CD but never abandoned records for it. A good sized stack of records and 2 turntables in situ and I don't see that changing. I very rarely buy new albums, but put me in a well stocked 2nd hand record shop and, I am at home!
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Post by John on Jul 30, 2019 5:26:09 GMT
I am on life support I still have quite a few records and my TT, but it has been a while since I listened to vinyl on my system. I have nothing against vinyl-based music and understand why people still enjoy it. But these days I am discovering so much new music and I am very happy with the quality of sound I get.
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Post by MikeMusic on Jul 30, 2019 13:30:47 GMT
Still have my vinyl playing set up and up to 2000 LPs. Haven't played an LP in a long time, apart from checking out playback via AD converter and Toslink into the TAD. It worked and will be good and used for an album I can only hear on LP
Assume I will keep all my vinyl and current playback set up
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Post by petea on Jul 30, 2019 13:56:20 GMT
I'm very similar to Chris, although I do still buy new albums as well as secondhand. I can't imagine giving it up either as I enjoy both the sound from my vinyl source and the ritual of the whole process.
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Post by julesd68 on Jul 30, 2019 15:55:50 GMT
I was a hard-core vinyl evangelist for 35 years. Never took to cd but since getting my Digione my deck has not been touched. Still got all the analogue gear and LP's, not decided on their future; only the Tannoys are being sold for sure.
I'm massively enjoying the freedom of discovering new music and not having to return that expensive LP that was advertised as mint, but really wasn't. I just had enough of all of that side of things including long back-strain inducing sessions on the RCM. Till now I've not missed anything about my vinyl. And the sound quality of my streaming is only going to get better with careful upgrades!
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Post by MartinT on Jul 30, 2019 17:09:02 GMT
I miss the idea of the ritual of playing records.
I don't miss the reality. At all.
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Post by John on Jul 30, 2019 17:34:54 GMT
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Post by ChrisB on Jul 30, 2019 18:36:37 GMT
No-one ever mentioned the ritual until they rediscovered records after a spell with cd. I never saw it myself!
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Post by jandl100 on Jul 30, 2019 19:54:18 GMT
The only aspect of vinyl that I miss is the trawling through charity shop record bins for treasure. I thoroughly enjoyed coming across an occasional unexpected trove of unusual classical LPs. .... of course, once you get the bloody "treasure" home .... most of the time it's hiss, crackle, skip, tick, thump. Really, really frustrating. Gosh, I'm pleased that digital came along. No, I can't envisage a circumstance under which I would wish to return to vinyl. My blood pressure simply wouldn't stand it. ____________ I think if I'd been seriously into any other genre than classical then the story may well have been very different. But digital and classical go together perfectly - no noise in the delicate quiet sections, no getting up to turn the bloody thing over half way through a musical work, and a virtual LP shelf that stretches off to the horizon with all the music available with a few clicks on the keyboard. For me, vinyl very definitely got in the way of the music.
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Post by The Brookmeister on Jul 30, 2019 21:17:00 GMT
You have to fanny about even more to get great performance from vinyl, in my opinion. Not really fella, spend a few hours setting up your TT then done, in your case spend a LOT of time fannying about with your pi and allo whatever and tinkering inside your DAC, CBA with all that. I applaud your enthusiasm and constant search for audio nirvana. Everyone is different and each to their own. I just got a Sony TTS8000 the other week, splendid deck with a Graham tonearm on which is a pain to get right, once its done I don't expect to have to tinker with it much. Never was into DIY.
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Post by Clive on Jul 31, 2019 8:32:08 GMT
I mentioned earlier in the thread that in my view different skills need to be applied to vinyl vs digital. Naturally if you have a CDP there need be no tweaking at all and life will be simple.
A record deck requires some mechanical sympathy and light touch when setting it up and occasionally maintaining it, for some it's a pleasant past-time.
Files and streaming becomes an IT project along with electronics experience being useful if you feel the need to go that extra mile - whether it be power supplies or messing with DAC inputs & clocks etc, then there's plugins too. I've been in the IT world for over 40 years so most of it is easy enough; there are times that I find something isn't working as expected, NAS/file server, phone app to play music etc. Always easy to fix but some IT-type "sympathy" is needed vs mechanical sympathy for a record deck. So...different skills and aptitude for vinyl vs digital.
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