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

massage chair or massage therapist?

That's my analogy for digital vs analog. You all can have buttons and knobs, I prefer hands

Some of us actually enjoy the sometimes herculean effort to make playing LPs sound better. Not better than any other medium. Better than I have ever heard LPs sound on my system.

I'm a retired engineer who now gets his technical thrills from developing my audio system. I've got gobs of test equipment. I regularly use REW and sweat the small details. I've designed my own SUTs and a transformer based converter to change single ended signals to fully balanced. I repair my equipment.

Do LPs sound better than digital? For me, this statement is ridiculous. Who cares?

Digital is great, but I can't do much with discs or downloads except play them. There's no me in it. And no fun.

I get far better enjoyment from my LPs than I do digital. That's what really matters.

@kevemaher Well said, I feel the same way - except for the whole DIY electronics thing.  I don't have a clue about any of that wink

+1 @kevemaher thanks for your response and to sum it up with some Smokey Robinson lyrics to "I second that emotion", so if you feel like giving me a lifetime of devotion I second that emotion. Enjoy the music

I never got into vinyl seriously, thinking it was going to be an easy road. I invested in equipment for cleaning/flattening etc..

I think I was clear-eyed and forward thinking ....at the time. I think the investment has paid off.