What to be listening to on vinyl and why?

Generically speaking, I love guitar rock on vinyl. Anything with really crunchy guitars, like 80s metal, or Judas Priest or Black Sabbath. In particular, I would recommend Judas Priest's British Steel, Black Sabbath's Sabbath Bloody Sabbath, the first Van Halen album and AC/DC's Powerage and Highway to Hell.

Early punk rock is good, too. Clean original pressings of The Clash's albums are worth picking up if reasonably priced. If you're into grindcore and can find an original copy of Napalm Death's Utopia Banished, it has way more low-end than the CD.

Also, I think 80s pop tends to sound better on vinyl than CD up until the point where the albums started being longer than 45 minutes. CDs were new, and LPs had been around 30ish years. There are a lot of nice sounding pressings from that time. Of new releases anyway. My early 1980s pressing of Pet Sounds that was made from an obviously damaged tape, not so much. For specific titles, the early Joe Jackson stuff sounds really good, especially Night and Day, Body and Soul, and Big World. Also Squeeze records from the same period. Tears for Fears' Songs from the Big Chair is also really good. I've never heard that on CD, though, so I can't compare. INXS' Kick sounds far better on LP (and cassette, even) than on CD. The CD mastering is really tinny.

I generally prefer reggae on LP as well. In particular, a lot of the early 80s Greensleeves stuff (Scientist, Barrington Levy, Hugh Mundell, etc.) sounds fantastic on vinyl, even the recent pressings. The Jamaican pressings can be a bit rough, but UK and US pressings are usually good.

Pink Floyd on a good pressing sounds amazing on vinyl. The good pressing part is important. There are a lot of mediocre 70s (and probably 80s) pressings out there. I have mid-70s pressings of More and Obscured by Clouds that sound flat in comparison to the original 80s CD versions. The easiest way to get good pressings for a decent price is to buy the reissues from a few years ago. There's a very long thread here about them if you want more info.

Speaking of long-winded bands, the recent Phish vinyl repressings are all better than the CD versions. Especially Lawn Boy.

My wife adds that she thinks contemporary music in a retro style sounds really good on vinyl. Her examples are JD McPherson and Sharon Jones.
 
The quality of the pressing and of the vinyl is a factor, yes. But the biggest factor, is one that's present on all audio mediums (including CD) : the mastering..
 
I've already been warned away from the new pressings due to poor quality. I'm fine with originals. Was just curious as to what really popped on vinyl.

I have Dianna Krall on a live CD (I don't even like live recordings and I'm not a huge jazz fan either)- but on my system it is phenomenal. I can listen over and over.

Not sure if Hendrix is going to sound better on vinyl or if my CD's will do the trick...


That's just plain bullshit.

From my experience and in no particular order.

The good stuff:
Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab
ORG
ORG Music
Analogue Productions
Music Matters
IMPEX
Mosaic
Pure Pleasure
Speakers Corner
Reference Recordings
Quality Records
Japanese pressings (particularly for jazz) on King Records, Toshiba EMI

The bad stuff:
Doxy
ZYX (Germany)
Vinyl Lovers
Simply Vinyl
Abraxas
Scorpio
Four Men With Beards (this one is a crap shoot)


And yes, there are exceptions for both.

IMO, people who say new pressings are of poor quality haven't really done their homework.

Do some research before spending your money on vinyl. Ask in the music forums, there are many members who know their stuff and can guide you.

Enjoy your records.
 
I have a modest record collection right now, and plenty of Jazz remasters... I think my very best sounding record is the IMPEX remaster of Straight No Chaser... the sound is incredibly good, as is the music itself.

A close second might be the Music Matters release of Blue Hour (Stanley Turrentine), which I also have an original pressing as well (Well I think it is, it's old anyway). I have actually yet to compare it to the remaster. I should try that.

What I have done is compare some of the titles I have on both CD and vinyl, and for me I vastly prefer the vinyl, but I don't have a schmancy CD player, so maybe that's the issue.
 
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What you should be listening to? Anything mastered by Bernie Grundman and/or Chris Bellman (look for the initials in the deadwax).
Why? Will become apparent as soon as the music starts.

In all seriousness, listen to anything you want. Don't be afraid of reissues, don't be afraid of used LPs either.
I'm not a vinyl chauvinist; I have a good CD player and use an external DAC with it. It sounds pretty close to LP, but just doesn't quite have the same presence. I used it for stuff never released on LP (or ridiculously expensive on LP)

BTW, Legacy reissued Jimi Hendrix' The Cry of Love and Rainbow Bridge. They sound terrific. They were mastered by Bernie Grundman.
 
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2 years ago would I listen to jazz, NO. Once I introduced myself, man I can't get enough, music for relaxation while working or just casually listening.
I think a few hard core jazz nuts might take issue with that perception of jazz! :eek:
 
With me, it is very simple, yet complex. Anything and everything possible on vinyl which interests me, whether LP discs in mono, Stereo, or Quad, and 45 RPM discs mono and Stereo. Genre and era does not apply with me. If it interests me in one way or another, I try to give it a listen. So I am eclectic as all heck. I am willing to try new music and new sounds.
 
So, the question is then: With all of this fiddly work to calibrate these fancy turntables (and all the necessary ancillary equipment to run them),

Just curious to see what I'm missing. (maybe find some new favorites)

Not all of us uses fancy turn tables, may of us uses the reliable, work horse type, commercial consumer home entertainment type of turn tables as our daily drivers. :thumbsup:

It is not necessary to fiddle with and or calibrate the turn tab;es or cartridges.

Just need to read the owner's manual and follow the basic set up instruction correctly the first time and need to do it only once.

Most of use should be able to help with providing the condensed simple and basic instructions. :)
 
See...kinda like a can of worms...and I agree with all the posts here. Record collectors (like me) develop on their own what sounds good to them. But these posts do acknowledge a consensus among collectors as far as what most think sound good. I did compare an original pressing of Toys in the Attic with the Legacy re-issue. They sounded identical to me. I think the biggest difference between CD and vinyl is the ability of the record groove to reproduce each frequency of each component at the actual db levels. The digital format compresses some of these frequencies together at any point in time if they are the same. Vinyl doesn't do that. That's the reason I think people say CD's are a little flat compared to LP. I think there are some really great sounding CD's too. They are all different in their master quality and pressing, like vinyl. And a good CD player with a high quality DAC/transport helps. The owner of my local record store makes a good point too. Good sound reproduction from CD is easier and cheaper to get than from vinyl. For CD, a good player, a line level input on an amp...2 speakers that's all you need. For vinyl it's the stylus, cartridge, tonearm, player, pre-amp, amp, and speakers. If you want to you can hand pick each component or get a table with all these pre-set to work together. CD players not so much, it one unit and it either has the features you want or it doesn't. Do you have to fiddle with a turntables multiple parts ? No. Not if you don't want to. But you can if you do. The one you have is IMO a very good starting table and introduces you to some of the more complicated aspects of how turntables work. Counterweights, stylus pressure, wow/flutter, asmuth, overhang, MM or MC cartridge....etc. It gives you options to play with cartridges and styluses. You can always use a table that is a "set it and forget it", nothing wrong with that. But when you compare it to something like Technics 1600, you be the judge on how it sounds...and if it's truly different. It is a rabbit hole!
 
I can understand where many of the people here who post their comments are coming from and can relate to it. But I think most of the members here posting are likely members that grew up using turntables and are comfortable with what vinyl has to offer.

Someone who has never had a turntable and is looking for an improvement in quality of sound going to a turntable might be disappointed. Just saying getting apples for apples if you never had a table, and coming from a good digital system don't expect angels to come and sit next to you when you drop that first record on the platter. You might wonder what's the big fuss. Dynamic range might be a big shock, and cranking up the volume on recordings that have a lot of quite passages, you might jump at that loud unexpected pop that was not meant to be there. And white glove treatment is almost a necessity as the leading edge of a record is very susceptible to every kind of disorder of sound as foreign matter always is attracted to the oils or other crude that owners transfer to when when removing and handling a record.

Their is a lot of good music that was once exclusive to records if older music is on your list of favorites. It use to be records were cheap when no one wanted them but not always the case now. And if your looking for premium jazz, early recordings, on early pressings, say from Savoy, Blue Note, EmArcy, Prestige, Verve, Impluse, or even early Columbia or Atlantic, prices are really expensive. For a really minty copy lot of them go for well into the hundreds of dollars. You better just stick to the reissues. The tables have really flipped, now it is CD's that are the bargain as you can find them used very cheap, even the new ones that are left out their will go for less than a new vinyl record.

I guess for me, and that is all I can really be qualified to speak about because everyone has their own reason for choices in life, I grew up with vinyl, I like how the upper frequencies sound over a CD or digital, and I am willing to overlook what lacks on the bottom end frequencies that I don't seem to get on an equal level using my CD player. I do cringe a bit on some of my vinyl when those pops and ticks somewhat creep in on that really good passage, it does sometimes just break up that feeling. But I don't like my music real loud, so it doesn't become a game changer. And the fact that I have all the records I have ever purchased, which dates back to in high school. And thankfully I did take really good care of them, even being a teenager, I really treated them like a precious object, which for me music is. Its like good books, I was taught never to open a book until you wash and dry your hands, something about a book shelf full of good books, its very much the same as the records. You can have digital books, or you can have the real thing!

I have both, but really I do treasure my records more than my CD's, and I have thousands of both of them. I do think the CD's sound better, but I like my records better, that really is the only way I can explain it.
 
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The owner of my local record store makes a good point too. Good sound reproduction from CD is easier and cheaper to get than from vinyl. For CD, a good player, a line level input on an amp...2 speakers that's all you need. For vinyl it's the stylus, cartridge, tonearm, player, pre-amp, amp, and speakers.

Agree with this, CD players are plug and play.

Someone who has never had a turntable and is looking for an improvement in quality of sound going to a turntable might be disappointed. Just saying getting apples for apples if you never had a table, and coming from a good digital system don't expect angels to come and sit next to you when you drop that first record on the platter. You might wonder what's the big fuss. Dynamic range might be a big shock, and cranking up the volume on recordings that have a lot of quite passages, you might jump at that loud unexpected pop that was not meant to be there. And white glove treatment is almost a necessity as the leading edge of a record is very susceptible to every kind of disorder of sound as foreign matter always is attracted to the oils or other crude that owners transfer to when when removing and handling a record.

Agree with you again Ken, vinyl is a lot of work and to the uninitiated can be far too much, it can be both rewarding to get great sound out of such an old medium but at the same time can be infuriating like you say, most of us vinyl addicts grew up with it and like the idea of getting way better sound than we once had out of it.
 
Someone who has never had a turntable and is looking for an improvement in quality of sound going to a turntable might be disappointed. Just saying getting apples for apples if you never had a table, and coming from a good digital system don't expect angels to come and sit next to you when you drop that first record on the platter. You might wonder what's the big fuss.
I agree. You can get fantastic sound from a turntable but it isn't easy/cheap/trivial to do.

However, I'm rather bemused by the OP's question. Why should the medium be a factor in anyone's taste in music? If I like a particular band or artist or genre, I like them them regardless of the medium. If I don't like a particular band or artist or genre, I'm not going to like them any more just because they're on vinyl. :dunno:
 
This is one of the most thoughtful, insightful threads I've ever read on this forum. Thanks all! Very good points for the O.P. who seems to just looking for answers that apply to his needs.

To the O.P. I understood you to imply that you are a little overwhelmed by all of the finer adjustments and details of turntables and the noticeable effects these have on the sound. You are correct. Unless you want your hobby to include working on your turntable, I would suggest paying a tech to professionally set it up for you. Then leave it alone unless you want to change the cartridge. (comparable to someone who just wants to drive a restored classic car but has no interest in restoring a classic car.)

I mostly like Rock music of all kinds (Late 70s and 80s Rock is my sweet spot) and will suggest that the better your system, the more you'll notice that a lot of pressings of Rock music of all kinds just aren't that high-fidelity sounding. In fact, I'd prefer to listen to the digital version of many of my older LPs. A noticeable amount of LPs in this genre just aren't that detailed or enjoyable (see the Hendrix comments made earlier). Many are quite good though. Finding what is good and what you like is part of the hobby. As you implied, Jazz and Classical tend to sound better.

I have several new 180g pressings and wouldn't say they are bad. Better than the original pressings? I don't have the originals so I can't compare. I do enjoy my new pressings though. Your results may vary.

There was another great point made about LPs being nostalgic for many of us. This goes back 40+ years for me. If the nostalgia factor is not there for you, I'd start slowly and I support your approach of finding good pressings that are in and of themselves, enjoyable to listen to.

LPs are more work, the gear can be a lot more expensive, and LPs take up A LOT more space in your listening room. Whether it's the gear you buy or the LPs you lust after, make your hobby your own and you have a much better chance of enjoying anything you listen to.

I think you're on the right track.
 
I've already been warned away from the new pressings due to poor quality. I'm fine with originals. Was just curious as to what really popped on vinyl.

I have Dianna Krall on a live CD (I don't even like live recordings and I'm not a huge jazz fan either)- but on my system it is phenomenal. I can listen over and over.

Not sure if Hendrix is going to sound better on vinyl or if my CD's will do the trick...
Internet myth about new records, generally coming from people who buy the cheapest new records they can find due to budget. Plenty of crappy old records but many don't complain about these when they buy them so cheap.

That said all records are different and for a major artist there might be 200+ different pressings with 100 different masterings. If you want outstanding records you can find some of the best ones new on great reissue labels. As far as what kind of music you buy is up to you.
 
Wow! Lots of great responses. Thanks to all who have participated thus far...

I do have a few replies of my own in order to clarify some points:

1. Both of us are not audio/video novices. (dabbled home theater and in car audio as well) We actually worked in the industry for a while some years ago. One of the challenges was finding "new" or interesting music to demo in our sound-rooms. People would bring some crappy pop stuff and it would sound like crappy pop stuff. So, we really branched out looking for eclectic stuff-whether it was a different genre or maybe some world music. You know, stuff with texture. Something that would make the equipment work and shine.

2. We did have vinyl when we were young, but were Gen X so as we were getting into music, LPs, 45's and 8-tracks were giving way to CD's.

3. As to the question of the medium and the taste, well... My thinking is that some genre's of music may just sound better on certain mediums. For example, I'm not a fan of live recordings. My preference is a studio recording. One day I went over to the wife's fancy sound room, someone had a copy of the Eagles mixed in DTS (I know, I know...) Anyway, I sat down and had a listen. It was phenomenal. I could close my eyes and feel the band right there in the room... Would it be the same on vinyl? I doubt it, but I have an open mind and am willing to listen and learn. Kinda the same with SACD. We had the SCD-1 from Sony hooked up with some Krell amps, with B&W's 801's and Martin Logan towers (I think the ascent) with some Velodyne subs... Talk about spectacular!!! When the SACD was released, people were snapping up specific titles and genres so I was curious as to what true audiofiles prefer on what medium.

4. We're VERY eclectic in our music. Iron Maiden, Conway Twitty, Pink Floyd, Alison Kraus, Buena Vista Social Club, Bach, Bob Marley, Bill Haley and the Comets, the list goes on and on... If it's good we'll check it out. It used to be a thing we did for fun, but also for work. After we left the industry we've kinda gotten lazy and just play whatever off of the ipod or stream whatever on pandora... That being said, we're not looking to build a library (we have too much crap as it is and our recent move was proof that we need to lighten the load.) Nevertheless, we enjoy good quality stuff and would not be opposed to building a small library of GREAT vinyl pieces just because.

5. The fiddly part of this does not scare us away. We tinker on just about anything so it's what we do. I think it's making sure we have all of the facts (not opinions or anecdotes when it comes to mechanicals) so that we can make the best informed decisions possible. Do I prefer easy? Sure, who doesn't? But if I'm going to be able to realize a positive experience for a little extra input on our end then we're all in! We've been thinking about trying some vinyl for a while. At first she told me to just buy a cheapie turntable from Best Buy. I held out. We were leaning toward an entry level Audio Technica but I was still holding out as I hadn't found what I wanted just yet. Then she stumbled on this Technics... For the price, it was a no-brainer. I've gt to give it a try so I want to optimize our experience by trying to buy the best stuff we can for it to really make it pop.

Hope I wasn't too wordy. :)
 
Great history Pendiferous !!!!

I'll Suggest some of my favorite sounding records and which happen to be some of my favorite music.

David Bowie : Lets Dance , but the copy has to be mastered by Rob Ludwig , look for RL in the dead wax.

Son Volt: Trace, their debut album voted in 1996 by GQ best CD to have while on a long road trip , The Vinyl pressing is of great quality.

And a band mostly known up north , from Toronto Canada

Bare Naked Ladies : Gordon, great music, recording and pressing


Athanasios
 
LOL. Wife said it sounded like I was writing a book!- a history book.

Sorry of it was too ponderous. Sometimes it's just easier to give some background as it helps to fill in the blanks.
 
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