Why do you listen to records?

Interesting discussion to PhD [University Emeritus Pofessor] with expertise in physics, acoustics, and biological science. I am victim of over 50 years of audiophlia. We have state of art home theater system built on that obsession, and we LOVE Vinyl as well as SACD music. We find most non-SACD discs harsh in comparison to the vinyl. Yes... also love watching the vinyl playing.  

From that perspective: I think yogiboy answers best. 

 

I have about 900 LP's from my college days, and I had a decent TT back then.  I love to handle my LP's, and I flirted with re-exploring the vinyl when I briefly cycled in a tube pre with a phone stage. I found that after streaming and playing digitized music from my server, the nostalgic value of listening to vinyl just didn't come close to my digital rig (although finding some weed in the fold was always nostalgic, LOL!

I have many of my albums digitized on my server, so theoretically that is a bit perfect capture of the "vinyl" sound, although I can't say one way or the other.  One thing that many people don't mention, but I found with my LPs, is the noise from these recordings from the '60's and '70s. Groove noise, snap, crackle and pop, are often present an never on digital.  Plus it's easier to listen to an entire album on digital instead of having to get up every 20 minutes and figure out what to put on next.  And as some have said, letting Roon curate music after the album is over is a big plus for me too.  So while a very expensive vinyl rig might bring out the best in a vinyl recording, I have not found it to be the equal of digital.  Of course, there are crappy vinyl recordings that will not sound good no matter what, and there are crappy digital records that will not sound good, no matter what.  So like everything else in this "hobby," there are always tradeoffs.

FWIW, despite deep333’s (because of?) bashing of vinyl, I submit that I am usually quite pleased with the sound of my CDs. I recently upgraded my digital chain to the point where I am actually listening to more of my collection and even buying a few new CDs. Good stuff: fun, engaging, and the investment provides a definite improvement in SQ. That said, playing clean, well recorded records at times can actually shock me. They sound so real and so good I find it hard to believe. I’ve never been stunned by the sound of digital like I have been by vinyl.  I tried streaming for a while, in my experience it didn’t compare with either physical format.  That said, I did have to go through the usual cost, frustration, gear-swappping, and experimentation associated with assembling what, to me, is a better than average system.  Only took 54 years to get there, but I got ‘er dun! 

When that's where the  music  is,  that's what I listen to,