arguments against starting a vinyl collection?


Hi,

I have a pretty elaborate setup for cd playback. I use the emmlabs cdsd transport and emmlabs dcc2se dac with the dartzeel amplifier and the wonderful evolution acoustic mm2 speakers with powered woofers.

I own roughly 2600 cds and about 175 sacds.

The vinyl crowd still swears of course that great digital playback cannot equal vinyl so have been somewhat tempted to dip my toes into analog and get a turntable and phono preamp. Here is what is holding me back!

Please note that I would not get vinyl to find obscure vinyl only vintage or otherwise recordings.

It would be mostly targeted at recordings that sound better on vinyl than cd.

Here is the arguments against:

1. hard to find a turntable and phono preamp that is class A and thus as good as my emmlabs cd equipment without spending serious bucks?

2. Even if I could find a reasonably priced class A turntable, the best sound requires more skill than a newbie like I would have? In other words, the better turntables are harder to setup and use?

3. A lot of heavy weight albums are double albums so you need to switch sides three times?

4. You need to clean the vinyl before every listen?

5. If you listen 15 times to a particular vinyl album you will likely begin to hear some deteoriation?

6. Even with a good setup, you will probably still hear pops and hiss on many vinyl albums even some well mastered ones?

7. I will not hear for modern recordings a big difference between vinyl and cds given that my emmlabs equipment is so good and I cannot afford a $10,000 phono preamp and a $25,000 turntable/cartridge....

thanks

Michael
128x128karmapolice

Showing 10 responses by karmapolice

I agree that i have to try vinyl at home to really give it a chance so now will wait till right oppty arises where quality used table is available locally that seller might assist setting up for a deal sweetener!
I guess I should have added what turntable/preamp phone combo rivals the emmlabs digital source class A?

thanks

Michael
One other hesitation to report is that i have heard a heavyweigth vinyl mastered version of my favorite album ok computer converted lossless to cd and did not hear any appreciable difference....

This could be related to this album or something gets loss of vinyl yumminess when not played on a turntable or difference is only subtle when have a great cd player unless mastering on cd is especially bad and mastering is really good on vinyl!
I did not mean to sound like I am trying to stack the deck against LP just to throw out the things that are potentially holding me back (largely the initial upfront investment for a high quality setup). I don't think there is much point to getting a basic vinyl setup version my elaborate cd one. It would have to be a great vinyl setup. How much would it that cost where the turntable that sounds great, on the easier side of turntables to use for a newbie, would compete qualitatively with the emmlabs, and that goes for the phono preamp too!
tvad,

funny comment there although my wife prefers pinks....

michael

p.s. I once traded a pair of tickets to see roger waters box seats for a dinner at melisse and some cash. The dinner was real nice!
I reiterate that I put question marks at the end of the things that were holding me back because of their possibility not as exclamations that this is what I believe to be true!

Michael
tvad,

I saw that you like porcupine tree lighthouse sun.....I just listened to it tonite and oh my god it was so yummy......great mastering to in my humble opinion....

by the way for other out there, I personally don't believe that any one medium is intrinsically better than another. If I was starting from scratch now, I would probably go with vinyl even. At some point, I will probably add vinyl but my speaker has one more upgrade that may make it even better and been itching to try the audio research ref 3 preamp so it just might be awhile till I get to the phono/turntable addition....I do think $7-8K is probably necessary to get comparable vinyl nirvana (table and preamp) to fairly compare with my digital bliss.

Michael
Tvad,

Someone else had suggested $8,000 in the thread and i was tentatively agreeing with him.

I think emmlabs is great but maybe now there is something equally good or almost as good for less but that won't help me know.

Sure i could buy a real basic unit but it might be stacking the deck against vinyl......if i would try, i would probably get a well regarded unit like vpi scoutmaster with sds....4k and then good phono preamp and then interconnect cable cartridge and so probably close to 7k.
Tvad,

One other thing about emmlabs and that while expensive the dac unit has a good preamp that has served me well saving me cost of buying a preamp and extra interconnect cable

I know i could always upgrade to a better turntable later but i believe in buying equipment you might keep longterm than upgrading every few years.....

Seems like a lot of people get a basic turntable and then upgrade within a year

leaning towards getting the final upgrade for my speaker unless vpi shows up used here in LA