All day I have WXRT Blues&Soul, best station in Chicago streaming in my office. would hardly call it listening though.
In the evening I spin vinyl 95% of the time, other 5% is spent listening to CD's I have a wonderful Bel Canto DAC and CD Transport so it makes it enjoyable.
Also CD's are so freaking cheap these days.
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One caveat.
After an analog binge (even though the SQ is close) it takes me a little time to accommodate myself to digital. |
i think to really understand how listening time goes, you first have to know how much average total listening time a person does in a week.
for myself, i average at least 30 hours of listening a week in my dedicated room sitting in the sweet spot. i’m not walking around my house or away from my chair.
for that 30 hours i’m 70-75% digital. so that’s 25-30% analog---which is 7-9 hours a week. maybe average 30 minutes of tape a week. might only listen to tape once a month, but then do 3 hours.
so even though i’m mostly digital, it’s lots of listening so the analog is still likely an hour or two a day. which might be 75-80% for some people.
for access to new music, you have to spend time with digital.......it's so easy with streaming. and as i get older, my late night listening is more and more digital in case i fall asleep. |
“mostly CD with LP binges.”
Yep! (Plus streaming) |
RV, For the reasons you mention re classical music I found I was rarely listening to my LP collection. My CD based system (and CDs) had become quite adequate and I gave my vinyl system and LP's to my grandson in law who just loves them. They now get all the use I wasn't giving them and best of all his interest in classical music has grown immensely. Win - win. |
Probably 60/40 CD vs vinyl due to the convenience. I tend to prefer vinyl, but it forces me to give up the remote, clean the records, turn them every 15-20 minutes, etc...sort of depends on whether the audio dude is listening, or just me. ;-) |
mostly CD with LP binges... |
around 40% LP's / 40% CD's, 20% 4 track pre-recorded Reel to Reel Tapes. No Streaming except Pandora in the Office, primarily to discover new to me artists.
Still buying LP's and CD's, new to me or replacing worn out favorites. Selling LP's and Tapes occasionally, but that's a lot of work for little gain.
The tape content is limited by the end of pre-recorded tape production. |
Well, in classical, there are those lps that have been released by Simon Rattle and the BPO in limited edition.
I am 100% digital since I sold off my analog gear and lps about 6 years ago |
ghdprentice and larryi,
My experience has been very similar to yours.
Digital has gotten much friendlier, and the quality is now outstanding. Analog may still be a shade better, but the gap has narrowed considerably. |
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At least 90% of my listening is from digital sources—primarily 5,000 CD’s ripped to WAV files. Almost all of my listening to classical is digital—most releases in the past 25 years are available only from digital sources, modern classical recordings are very well done, short playing time interrupting a movement is not a problem, and quiet passages are not plagued by ticks and pops.
Older popular music and jazz is a different matter—a lot of digital reissues are pretty crappy—thin, brittle sounding and compressed. I am quite lazy so I do put up with some sonic compromises, but, I do pull out favorite vinyl albums when I am in the mood. |
I'm playing digital right now. The XLO demagnetizing tracks are on CD. That's about 15 min of digital almost every day. Oh. Wait. Listen to? Listen to? 🤣🤣🤣 I hear it. Wouldn't call it listening. 🤣🤣 |
The ratio has been changing over the last couple decades from 90% vinyl to now 98% digital. The last couple years I upgraded to a top level streamer as well as up graded the rest of my components to tube equipment. Now digital is just as satisfying as analog, with only a tiny… tiny bit of more detail from my analog end. In the past, the digital side just didn’t have the musicality… I would “channel surf” to find something that would sound good. Now almost everything sounds good. My 2,000 albums are increasingly collecting dust.
I have a Silent Running isolation platform arriving on Friday for my contemporary Linn LP12. I think it will kick up the performance of my analog end. But the digital side is so musical, with such great imaging, soundstage and balance, I don’t think it will shift my listening… but you never know. |
