Rediscovering records

I do digital, too. In fact, my system is digital most of the way through. But vinyl is still special, especially for the genres I like.

On a half decent turntable it is a delight. On a really good one, it is even better. They’ve come on in leaps and bounds over recent years.

Upgrading did wonders for mine - miles better than where it was five years ago. The only downside is that I can’t afford the latest upgrades. Not that it bothers me as I’m happy with what I’ve got. The availability of new upgrades doesn’t make it sound any worse. As a friend said, upgrading is like a bus - you can get off when you’ve gone as far as you need to go. Plus, there’ll be another one along soon.

It’s mind blowing how good a fifty or more year old record can sound. Much better than it ever could have done when it was new. New ones can sound great too - mastering is key.

@newton_john 

50 and 60 year old records can still sound wonderful, even with orchestra.  Depending on the mastering.

@mahler123 “l don’t see why people are so bothered about comparing….”

It appears we both have more in common than l first thought. 
My collection is 40/60 vinyl/CD. The CD side took off when shops started dropping LP racks from their shelves, so limited choice other than cassettes. CDs by default became the prominent media for the next 30 years if l wanted new. That tipped the balance. Now LPs are beginning to catch up again as l subliminally choose between CD or LP for each new item.

The most recent example is the first release in this country on the LP “1492 Conquest of Paradise” by Vangelis. There has always been the CD which l have had for 30 years, but this year a new double LP is available. I jumped at the chance to compare the new album. The recording has lost none of its brilliance and time will tell which gets more playtime in the future. At the moment the LP just edges it for enjoyment. Will have to see if the novelty wears off.

Obviously by what l have written, l am not into streaming. Net radio is about it, but as it never holds my attention for very long, I’m in the physical media camp. It is not really a concern which format l buy. Often it is just a choice of availability and price.

@mylogic 

It’s shame about those barren years for LP buying. I ended up with thousands of CDs that I would have much rather have on vinyl. It’s ironic that we’ve ended up back with vinyl decades after being forced to give it up.

@newton_john “…those barren years…”

l took advantage of those barren years.

l specialise in original film soundtracks and CDs of classic film scores don’t cut it. There were opportunities that presented themselves. I managed to cherry pick from guys caving in, ditching their collections, who were sold by the appeal of the space age technology of the silver disc.

Part of my existing collection is made up of LPs from an author who was an authority on film score writing. Looking at their true value now, he must be wondering what a big mistake he made. He had taped some of them, to get his money back. 

The book was about Italian film composers and the first of its type. The soundtracks are now rare Italian 1960s and 1970s Cinevox, Cam, General Music, RCA and Japanese equivalents not available elsewhere. I couldn’t believe my luck. It was quite a short sighted mistake to just sell everything off. Quite a few on Audiogon have admitted doing the same.