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Why I don't think I'll ever return to vinyl - brief rant

I am not a vinyl guy. I have a half decent turntable and a half decent cartridge and a mid-fi at best phono preamp.

But I do get the bug every now and again and will buy a vinyl album. These are mostly from new-ish artists. I buy them from their websites hoping to support them. Sometimes I am rewarded. Mac Saturn’s only album sounds really good. The Tesky Brother’s album Run Home Slow sounds amazing and is better than the CD and streaming options. I suspect it is less compressed.

Well, the bug bit again recently and I bought the Red Clay Stray’s double live album recorded at Ryman Auditorium in Nashville. It was $45 on their website. There is no CD for this album. The vinyl is thin. The edges are rough. They had some type of dusty residue on them. At then end of one of the album sides there was a spot that looked like some sort of stain or smudge. I cleaned the records and got all the residue off of them. But the one side with the stain on it, that produces an audible pop, would not come clean. The pop persists. It is at the very end of a song, mostly in the crowd noise but it still sucks.

I contacted ’support’ on their website but never got a reply. No big deal. Its $45 and it supports a band that I like.

But that sure puts me off from buying more vinyl.

n80
cleeds
6,623 posts
 
n80 

... are you suggesting that you have to make a deep commitment before you can tell? You know, buy all the expensive gear, then do a lot a research into each vinyl purchase making sure you buy from someone with a liberal return policy and only then can you determine if you might be a vinyl guy?  

No. What you describe is actually just a caricature of a "vinyl guy."

parkergetdean
1,139 posts
 

I think @cleeds says (whom I never agree with cheeky )

your post is confusing. Or maybe I am just projecting. 

audphile1's avatar
audphile1
8,205 posts
 

 

And for context, back in the 70s and early 80s I was a vinyl guy. I had a pretty heft library. That's why I said "return" to vinyl.

 


@n80 providing the context in the beginning as opposed to adding it a few dozen responses and a day later would most likely steer the conversation in a different direction. 

mikempls's avatar
mikempls
45 posts
 

YIKES! Thanks for your perspective @ipluvr. Sounds like I’ve been very lucky in the past. I’ll need to watch carefully what I buy from them in the future.  

curtdr
349 posts
 

Yep... I concur.  

The only things LPs offer are these: #1. NOSTALGIA, plain and simple. No, vinyl does not sound "better" ... it only sounds retro. Maybe you like retro vibe. OK, cool. I thought I liked the old Marantz receiver, too, recapped even... until I A/B it against even the modest little Marantz nr1200 which was so obviously superior on every single measure that I sold off the vintage Marantz for a good price to someone who was on the nostalgia trip... vinyl vs cd is like that.  

2. "the ritual" ... ok, but how about have a little ritual with putting on a CD? 

3. larger cover art ... ok, so I framed a few and put them on the wall.

 

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