Sound quality of new vinyl recordings.

I can't see any justification in starting with vinyl nowadays. First there is the investment in the software, second there is the investment in the hardware. There is an opportunity cost in both and even just looking at the hardware alone, money spent on vinyl could be spent on improving one's digital playback. In terms of resource allocation, it is more effective to spend on one optimised system than two compromised systems.

OP,

Surprisingly, almost all of the comments in response to your post are true...the  positive, negative and in between.

Proceed on your Vinyl project with your eyes,ears and wallet open. It's a Jungle out there...

A good digital recording these days can easily reproduce what’s in most older analog recordings. I never dumped my older vinyl and still pick older vinyl up whenever I can if the price is right. Especially obscure older albums from the golden age 60-70 years old. If one is new to the hobby and wants to own versus stream, I can see the appeal of new vinyl at $30+ a pop for 20 minutes of music per side. But the reality is the advantage records have always had over CD is the overall packaging.

@mapman

Thank you for sharing your system components. Knowing your system and venue is really helpful. Although at 70, I’ll likely be asking you again because… well my memory was never good and it’s not getting better. Hence I frequently refer to folk’s virtual system.

@ghdprentice I hear you. I’m only a few years behind you. I used to post my system but always decide to take it down after awhile due to privacy concerns. I do have lots of pictures though and am not against sharing those case by case as needed.

If ever in central Maryland/DC area I love having guests with common interests come visit.