Does Age Matter?

Sorry about that Chakster. I just lost mine. 

The age grouping here shouldn't be a surprise. Very young people can't afford it and middle aged people are trying to raise children. During those decades I only spent a drop on audio when something broke or my house got hit by lightening. Now with the kids on their own I finally have some money to burn. Thankfully I'm not completely deaf yet. 
I realized last night, when talking to the fellow who is buying my old Sota that it is the ritual of playing a record that is special. Loading a file is not.
Coming home with three or four new records and playing them hoping to hear something special. It is tradition, nostalgia, special. Younger people playing vinyl is wonderful. Some think they are joining a special club. In our day everyone played vinyl. Only R2R offered competitive sound quality and the selection of software was limited. I recorded my records thinking I could limit their wear and I thought I was going to leave the records and turntable home instead of schlepping them to collage. Did not turn out that way. 8 track was a bad joke and cassettes did not get reasonable until the late 70's. The only reason I had one was to record cassettes for the car (and other people.) Personally, I think this argument over sound quality is silly as it is frightfully subjective. Do we argue about food preferences? I play records because I like to play records. My new table will not be built until April as Sota is overloaded with orders. I'm going through withdrawal just thinking about it. I take the Schroder out of it's box once in a while to just stare at it. My right arm is in a frigging cast and I'm getting fat because I can't exercise. This is going to be a very depressing Winter.
 

Anyway, can you imagine that at the age of 70 you are not able to chat with 95 y.o. person here (to feel what I’m feeling). At this age it’s too late to arguing about something, people will never change their opinion.

Not at all.... I am ready to change anything in my beliefs.... Not so much in my experience.... For sure the frontiers between these 2 is not clear but i was always open mind to any sound clear and good arguments, indices, new elements....

More than that if your beliefs are not permeated by your own doubting machine you are insecure in your vulnerable fortress, the ennemy can cut your water and you are waiting in a siege without end...Or you are proud, strong, and blind to all the world...

The city of my beliefs is open to all exhange with the world, and no doubts or no others faith has crossed the city of my soul without making me think...

I reign without fear over my realm with no blinding proudness....

Am I old? I prefer to speak to young people under 40 and i am 70 in few months....Then something in what you say must be true...

Old people who stick to their belief or ideas, do that by habits most of the times not because they look fresh for some truth....I stick also to my idea but i keep an open mind reading, conversing like at 20 but with more ressources indeed...

Personally, I think this argument over sound quality is silly as it is frightfully subjective. Do we argue about food preferences?

You are right the audiophile experience is not so much about REPRODUCING some original live event lost in the many choices of the recording engineer anyway, it is to RECREATE the natural TIMBRE musical experience in the best acoustical room possible, and with the best embedded system possible with analog or /and digital....Evaluation of acoustical and musical TIMBRE is subjective experience....

By the way TIMBRE is not only a pure musical phenomena it is also an acoustical phenomena, which is to say thet the perception of timbre by the recording engineer will determine his mutiple microphones choices and locations, same thing for the mixing process; and at the end it is your choices about the rightful embeddings of your audio system, and not only the choice of the format and system, that will make you able to evaluate and experience the perception of timbre....

You are right but it is not only subjective, the objective part is the way and methods to implement or install the right solutions that will be asked by the system, the room and the house, mechanically, electrically, and acoustically....

I realized last night, when talking to the fellow who is buying my old Sota that it is the ritual of playing a record that is special. Loading a file is not.

I can sit down with my tablet and my Roon and Qobuz subscriptions, start with something I know or just start listening to new-to-me albums.  I can browse or search and get  recommendations from there.  When I hear something I like, I set the tablet down and listen.  I then get more recommendations based on the fact that I liked that album.  I can switch choices in seconds, till I have the perfect album for that moment. 

I can listen to albums I might want to hear once or twice but don't want to own.  I have access to millions of albums.  No more bringing home 3 or 4 records and finding out I don't like any of them.

I will say, I don't get the ritual thing.  Sliding a piece of plastic out of a cardboard sleeve and brushing the dust off of it isn't much of a ritual to me.  I can think of many better rituals to use to prepare for a listening session if someone needs that.  I'm able to enjoy music without a little bit of fussing before hand, but if others enjoy that, more power to you. 

I don't expect anyone else to share my preferences, and I don't think mine are better than anyone else's.  Enjoy the music in whatever way works for you!

How about the ritual of being able to listen 2 hours of music, contemplating infinity in the dark , without having the trouble to dust the vinyl, and turn it like a slave at all 25 minutes...Anticipating to do so after 20 minutes and calling that pure joy is out of my world...

How about the ritual of listening all quartets of Haydn for 5 hours in the background traveling in your mind and dreams? Am i the only one who listen music attentively, but very often as background for my soul also? Ok i am old and i have plenty of time to listen to 12 continuous hours of organ music without bother myself to think about changing face of vinyl like under the spell of a robotical habit...Not a problem tough when someone listen 2 or 3 tunes and decided to go with another vinyl at each 15 minutes exploring short pieces...I dont do that...

I will understand if someone say to me that analog sound better no problem , i accept that completely and trust him completely because the recreation of TIMBRE is a pure human ears phenomenon....Then i will understand someone who will say to me that this 25 minutes of work for changing the vinyl’s face is only a small price to pay for a better sound....But dont say that you miss that if you think about going digital....😁

But the non sense habits has no meaning except for the conditioned decades old mania in a compulsive mind...Sorry....

I apologize if i offend someone, i speak my mind without back thinking....😌

63 and digital, whereas my answer would have been vinyl 5 years ago. Since then the advent of audiophile streamers and better clocks on the DAC have meant big leaps in SQ for digital. In particular streaming is big progress over mechanical disc drives of yore.