Hi, all,
So... (insert pregnant pause here)
I have hearing problems. Because of this, a recent playback on vinyl from a friend set me off onto pursuing vinyl again after stopping all vinyl purchases in 1988. CD's and MP3's, but especially MP3's, sound atrociously flat and shallow to my hearing.
I was playing music until recently through a Klipsch 5.1 system meant for AV, and using headphones. Power and processing was through a Pioneer Elite VSX-82TSX receiver, sourced from PC in either WMA lossless or MP3.
Now, I have a vinyl rig comprised of a Technics SL-D3 turntable using an Audio Technica stylus. It's the purple one - sorry, don't have the model number at present. This runs through a Sansui 9090DB receiver to a pair of Bowers and Wilkins DM330 speakers via Monster speaker cable. I set up my new (to me) vinyl rig, and pulled out some of my own old vinyl and bought some others. Oh, yeah, sounds great. REALLY great, to me.
Vinyl sounds really good, but as others warned me, it has the hiss and pop of, well, analog dirt. However, even then the music sounds really good.
Trying to isolate the source of the crappy CD/file music, I connected my Pioneer Elite SACD player to the Sansui via the AUX inputs. Burned some 24/96 FLAC files to disc and played that through the Sansui. This was Wayman Tisdale's "Hang Time".
The FLAC sounded "ok", better than MP3 but not vinyl. I realize that MP3's sound horrible because of compression artifacts, so didn't bother testing MP3's.
Next, I pulled out a CD from a packed box (moving soon)and put it on the SACD player. This was a known analog remastered to digital recording of Boston's self titled first album. Again, played through the Sansui.
It was better. Not vinyl, because I have the same album in vinyl and the two are markedly different in sound. For a real test, I had my eight-year-old daughter listen with me - all kids hearing is super unreal. She thought the vinyl sounded better.
Before the fur starts flying and a mod has to step in, let me state precisely what this post is about. It is not "is vinyl better than CD (or digital)?" We'll be here all frickin' year eating popcorn and watching the fireworks were this the case.
I admit that vinyl has it's strengths and weaknesses, as does all media. However, vinyl really has a "shelf life", and I need my music to last me another 30 years and then I'm taking a dirt nap more than likely.
I plan on keeping some vinyl around that was originally mastered on vinyl for vinyl, and using my turntable as necessary.
I also plan on keeping my Marantz and Sansui receivers and some good analog-purposed speakers like the DM330's. Home theatre is home theatre and not for music in my opinion. Others will argue this point. Please don't do so here. In the context of the post, this argument is not relevant.
So, here are the two questions at the root of this post:
1. Do I maintain my growing collection of CD's (1467 at present) or move to downloading HD audio? ($$$)
2. Regardless of the choice above, would the purchase and use of a really good DAC (not a headphone unit, but a Marantz NA8005 or other that is purposed for audiophile use) be preferable, or do I spend the kids' college money and get something like an Oppo BDP-105D that has a whole lot going on in it? Remember that the purpose of the hardware is to get the shift to the lower threshold of analog vinyl and eliminate the tininess of CD's as it relates to my hearing loss.
Thanks,
Kevin
So... (insert pregnant pause here)
I have hearing problems. Because of this, a recent playback on vinyl from a friend set me off onto pursuing vinyl again after stopping all vinyl purchases in 1988. CD's and MP3's, but especially MP3's, sound atrociously flat and shallow to my hearing.
I was playing music until recently through a Klipsch 5.1 system meant for AV, and using headphones. Power and processing was through a Pioneer Elite VSX-82TSX receiver, sourced from PC in either WMA lossless or MP3.
Now, I have a vinyl rig comprised of a Technics SL-D3 turntable using an Audio Technica stylus. It's the purple one - sorry, don't have the model number at present. This runs through a Sansui 9090DB receiver to a pair of Bowers and Wilkins DM330 speakers via Monster speaker cable. I set up my new (to me) vinyl rig, and pulled out some of my own old vinyl and bought some others. Oh, yeah, sounds great. REALLY great, to me.
Vinyl sounds really good, but as others warned me, it has the hiss and pop of, well, analog dirt. However, even then the music sounds really good.
Trying to isolate the source of the crappy CD/file music, I connected my Pioneer Elite SACD player to the Sansui via the AUX inputs. Burned some 24/96 FLAC files to disc and played that through the Sansui. This was Wayman Tisdale's "Hang Time".
The FLAC sounded "ok", better than MP3 but not vinyl. I realize that MP3's sound horrible because of compression artifacts, so didn't bother testing MP3's.
Next, I pulled out a CD from a packed box (moving soon)and put it on the SACD player. This was a known analog remastered to digital recording of Boston's self titled first album. Again, played through the Sansui.
It was better. Not vinyl, because I have the same album in vinyl and the two are markedly different in sound. For a real test, I had my eight-year-old daughter listen with me - all kids hearing is super unreal. She thought the vinyl sounded better.
Before the fur starts flying and a mod has to step in, let me state precisely what this post is about. It is not "is vinyl better than CD (or digital)?" We'll be here all frickin' year eating popcorn and watching the fireworks were this the case.
I admit that vinyl has it's strengths and weaknesses, as does all media. However, vinyl really has a "shelf life", and I need my music to last me another 30 years and then I'm taking a dirt nap more than likely.
I plan on keeping some vinyl around that was originally mastered on vinyl for vinyl, and using my turntable as necessary.
I also plan on keeping my Marantz and Sansui receivers and some good analog-purposed speakers like the DM330's. Home theatre is home theatre and not for music in my opinion. Others will argue this point. Please don't do so here. In the context of the post, this argument is not relevant.
So, here are the two questions at the root of this post:
1. Do I maintain my growing collection of CD's (1467 at present) or move to downloading HD audio? ($$$)
2. Regardless of the choice above, would the purchase and use of a really good DAC (not a headphone unit, but a Marantz NA8005 or other that is purposed for audiophile use) be preferable, or do I spend the kids' college money and get something like an Oppo BDP-105D that has a whole lot going on in it? Remember that the purpose of the hardware is to get the shift to the lower threshold of analog vinyl and eliminate the tininess of CD's as it relates to my hearing loss.
Thanks,
Kevin
Last edited:
:thmbsp:
