Why do you listen to records?


Do you listen to records for the SQ, or do you just prefer to listen to music through this medium?  
I find myself putting records on occasionally, ( I have a large  collection) but I’m not sure if it’s because of their sound.  I certainly have the availability of millions of songs or compositions to listen to by streaming, and the sound quality is just abut the same, and, of course, the variety is endless.

So why listen to records?

rvpiano

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! 

I like variety, so I have both analog and digital.

For analog, I have various cartridges on various tonearms: detailed (VDH,Lyra..), musical Koetsu, SPUs….  Deciding if will try DAVA field coil and/or DS Audio carts for different sonic presentations due to unique cartridge technology.

Because when put on a record I get to surrender to 20 minutes of mystery.  Sometimes it beats picking/curating each and every note.