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Vinyl, CD or MP3?

Manuheleku

Manuheleku

Well-Known Member
V.I.P Member
I enjoy listening to music irregardless of the format, however, I love listening to my old LPs! I think it's an analog thing, my ears are analog, music should be too. Live music is analog, vinyl gives a truer representation of the original. I recently listened to a Jack Johnson LP which was cut live, direct to acetate and released only on the LP format. It definitely had a crisper sound than what an MP3 would give. I've listened to music that I've "upgraded" from LP to CD in the past, Dark Side of the Moon comes to mind, and the difference is definitely noticeable. Possibly due to other issues, but what have others experienced in this regard? I know that vinyl is making a comeback and fellow music geeks may have some input. Thanks!
 
Technically I think most people are likely to agree that pure analog is nicer- mellower sounding than digital recordings.

However with non-virgin vinyl records you have to deal more practically with ticks, pops, hiss....turntable rumble, wow and flutter...and all that preening involved in keeping the record clean. I even had a "gun" to de-staticize records. With CDs and MP3s none of those issues are issues.

Frankly I'll take a harsh digital version of just about anything to avoid all those issues.

But I must admit, I do miss having a tape deck with DBX noise reduction.
 
Clicks and pops used to annoy me, but then I became interested in reggae and started collecting Jamaican imports. They are so extremely poppy, even brand new, that I quickly got used to it. It was either that or simply not have the music available to me. That being said I understand how a fellow Aspie might have issues with this. Right now I'm listening to a French Samia Farah LP that is somewhat poppy, however, overlooking that, her sweet and sultry voice comes over remarkably via analog.
 
I remember 8-track, had one in my 66 Mustang! Back then it was great, sure beat AM Radio with the single speaker in the dash! Even with the "ka-chunk" in the middle of a track as it changes tracks! Loved it!
 
I had a Craig that my dad bought in Vietnam, it was all metal and was chrome plated, not just the front but every surface of it! I could have used it for signaling if I ever got stuck in the desert! I still have it in the garage. Still have the car for that matter, doesn't run but may be my retirement project someday. :-)
 
GT, nice. Mine is a 2+2 but not a GT. Now I drive a PT Cruiser, I like that vintage look I guess!
 
Vinyl is always my first choice, as I tend to listen to music mostly on my home setup. I don't mind the clicks and pops, just as I don't mind the buzzing of a high-end tube amplifier. It sounds better, and it forces me to listen to an album all the way through. When I'm playing music on iTunes—I use ALAC format that's either downloaded from HD Tracks or ripped with a secure ripper (XLD et al)—my ADD tendencies tend to kick in, and it's hard to resist the temptation to skip around a whole bunch. I use a compressed format for listening on my iPhone, but there's not much on it, as I prefer podcasts when I'm on the go, or Internet radio.

The only problem I have with vinyl is that it tends to be much more expensive. I walked into a record store the other day and spent US$62 on just a new release and a re-issue of a Zappa double-LP.

I heard, though I can't confirm it, that vinyl sales have recently surpassed those of CDs.
 
I feel bummed. Reading such posts leaves me with concluding that my audio sensory issues are every bit as acute as my sense of smell and visual attention to detail. It's so easy to be distracted...on so many levels. It just makes it more difficult to enjoy things.

I must say though although I always had high end tape decks, transferring all my cassettes to MP3 seems to have actually improved them a bit.
 
I love that, Penguin in Bondage, Pygmy Twilight, Be Bop Tango! I've had that LP forever, you probably like the Best Band You Never Heard series?
 
Arrogant Penguin said:
I love that, Penguin in Bondage, Pygmy Twilight, Be Bop Tango! I've had that LP forever, you probably like the Best Band You Never Heard series?
Click to expand...
Unfortunately, no...I have LITERALLY four days' worth of his music on my computer, and still haven't gotten around to everything. I shall take this suggestion to heart, for sure. :)
 
I like my old cassettes for the same reason. The tape hiss seems to capture the era. I have far more cassettes than anything else, like probably 400. Cassettes are also easiest to practice to. I don't have a digital music collection, but an MP3 player would avoid the horrible problem of CD skip or illegibility.

8 tracks were cool but that was just one generation before me. I do have about 20 of them in a box but no player anymore.
 
Vinyl as it is the highest audio format. I don't think MP3 should be in the list as it is the lowest quality format.
 
I'm not sure if CD and Vinyl are actually comparable. Apples and Oranges IMO. One is a analog format, the other one is digital. As for MP3... that might be relevant in the mix along with CD and a few other formats.

Vinyl however tends to be one of those things, that because of the analog nature it probably depends a lot more on the equipment you have to have good playback. I'm not much into vinyl (although I have a few records; and no player. Ha!) but I would assume that besides the amp the entire needle and whatever you have to have a record player be functional do depend a lot as well.
 
King_Oni said:
I'm not sure if CD and Vinyl are actually comparable. Apples and Oranges IMO. One is a analog format, the other one is digital. As for MP3... that might be relevant in the mix along with CD and a few other formats.

Vinyl however tends to be one of those things, that because of the analog nature it probably depends a lot more on the equipment you have to have good playback. I'm not much into vinyl (although I have a few records; and no player. Ha!) but I would assume that besides the amp the entire needle and whatever you have to have a record player be functional do depend a lot as well.
Click to expand...

The only thing is fair to compare CD with is a lossless format like FLAC. I don't count MP3's and other formats that are lossy as I don't like audio loss as I am a audiophile. But there many people don't got good audio equipment so it may not matter for those folks.
 
The Penguin said:
The only thing is fair to compare CD with is a lossless format like FLAC. I don't count MP3's and other formats that are lossy as I don't like audio loss as I am a audiophile.
Click to expand...

Fair enough, but I suppose that's the sacrifice you need to make if you want to keep music portable. I'm kinda done with hauling around piles of cd's because I like to have my collection with me, lol. And FLAC isn't the smallest format either.

And while I agree that FLAC is lossless I think that 320bitrate mp3's do pretty fine, especially considering what it's meant to do; be a compression format so music doesn't take up a lot of space.

Anyway; So fine, CD can be compared to FLAC, but vinyl is nowhere close tbh for the reason I pointed out before.
 
It takes top-of-the-line equipment, an excellent ear, and a lot of time and energy to distinguish between 320kbps mp3 and a lossless format like FLAC or ALAC.

I agree with King, analog vs digital is apples and oranges.

I can tell the difference between some mp3's (using, say, LAME VBR0) vs lossless, but...a lot depends on the equipment. One of those mp3's could sound better coming out of a high-quality DAC than a lossless file coming from, say, the onboard sound card of a cheap laptop.

I use lossless not just for sound quality, but for practical purposes, as they can be converted to any format I like. I don't listen to much music besides at home, but what little I have on my phone is mostly lossless stuff that I've converted to a lossy AAC.
 
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