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Can anyone explain the vinyl renaissance?

Check out this thread:

The Quality Of Tape: The new transfers of Decca’s Ring recordings,

Starting at Post #35.

Also this article:


From the Tracking Angle publication. You may not trust this article considering its provenance, but there are a ton of comparisons between Vinyl, CD, and SACD and mastering methods. All sourced from the same original performances. Fascinating story.
I don't trust the article because the writer has the idea vinyl can be a reference.

He mentions:
On digital media the closest you are going to get to the sonic experience of the top-flight vinyl is the new SACD version (and I assume Hi-Res digital downloads of same), and in some ways it will get you further. You do hear every detail, though I suspect some listener fatigue might set in after a while. But let me be clear: it’s very, very good indeed - as it should be at the price - and I may well pick it up one day if the price is right.

I'm sorry, but the premise is broken. The whole vinyl path is a colored medium. No doubt there are a host of issues with something that long ago in so many iterations, but the idea of praising SACD because it gets closest to top-flight vinyl is simply not viable. SACD and digital handled right can give a near perfect copy of the master tape. Vinyl in no iteration has that within its capabilities. Vinyl is well loved and capable of providing enjoyment. It is however a coloration put onto whatever passes thru the medium. The historical info about the different versions available in this article is very valuable.
 
Check out this thread:

The Quality Of Tape: The new transfers of Decca’s Ring recordings,

Starting at Post #35.

Also this article:


From the Tracking Angle publication. You may not trust this article considering its provenance, but there are a ton of comparisons between Vinyl, CD, and SACD and mastering methods. All sourced from the same original performances. Fascinating story.
You didn't respond to my query. So, I will ask it again:

Please can you use DeltaWave by @pkane to compare your needledrop file with the CD and/or digital file and share the results here?
 
Check out this thread:The Quality Of Tape: The new transfers of Decca’s Ring recordings, Starting at Post #35.
I have added a link, but I am not sure what you see there that you want to bring to our attention.

Also this article: https://trackingangle.com/features/...-revisited-part-3-listening-to-the-decca-ring
From the Tracking Angle publication. You may not trust this article considering its provenance, but there are a ton of comparisons between Vinyl, CD, and SACD and mastering methods. All sourced from the same original performances. Fascinating story.
Tracking Angle is Michael Fremer's mouthpiece, so it is a haven for strong anti-digital-audio bias and pro-vinyl propaganda to the point of nonsense.

I wish I was exaggerating, but I am not.

I don't trust the article because the writer has the idea vinyl can be a reference. He mentions:
On digital media the closest you are going to get to the sonic experience of the top-flight vinyl is the new SACD version (and I assume Hi-Res digital downloads of same), and in some ways it will get you further. You do hear every detail, though I suspect some listener fatigue might set in after a while. But let me be clear: it’s very, very good indeed - as it should be at the price - and I may well pick it up one day if the price is right.
I'm sorry, but the premise is broken. The whole vinyl path is a colored medium. No doubt there are a host of issues with something that long ago in so many iterations, but the idea of praising SACD because it gets closest to top-flight vinyl is simply not viable. SACD and digital handled right can give a near perfect copy of the master tape. Vinyl in no iteration has that within its capabilities. Vinyl is well loved and capable of providing enjoyment. It is however a coloration put onto whatever passes thru the medium. The historical info about the different versions available in this article is very valuable.
I agree, the factual historical information is valuable, but almost every opinion about sonic attributes throughout that site is going to be, putting it mildly, extremely dubious.
 
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You didn't respond to my query. So, I will ask it again:

Please can you use DeltaWave by @pkane to compare your needledrop file with the CD and/or digital file and share the results here?
Why do you want that? Wasn't what I provided food enough? Why not?
 
Those of you who follow Musk's favourite mainstream news outlet will have spotted this already, but in case you missed it here's what a sensible 24-year-old does after inheriting 10,000 records.

No mention of superior sonics, warmth, etc. My only quibble is gratuitous use of 'alphabetize' instead of sort (North Americans haven't met a straightforward term they can't somehow inject flatulence into). Physicality and listening to the whole album are positive traits noted, consistent with discussion here.

Side note, she produces experimental electronic music, so obviously has superior taste.
 
Those of you who follow Musk's favourite mainstream news outlet will have spotted this already, but in case you missed it here's what a sensible 24-year-old does after inheriting 10,000 records.

No mention of superior sonics, warmth, etc. My only quibble is gratuitous use of 'alphabetize' instead of sort (North Americans haven't met a straightforward term they can't somehow inject flatulence into). Physicality and listening to the whole album are positive traits noted, consistent with discussion here.

Side note, she produces experimental electronic music, so obviously has superior taste.
Cannot think of anything negative to say about someone who includes the Bonzo Dog Band on her list of favorite albums:

 
Those of you who follow Musk's favourite mainstream news outlet will have spotted this already, but in case you missed it here's what a sensible 24-year-old does after inheriting 10,000 records.

No mention of superior sonics, warmth, etc. My only quibble is gratuitous use of 'alphabetize' instead of sort (North Americans haven't met a straightforward term they can't somehow inject flatulence into). Physicality and listening to the whole album are positive traits noted, consistent with discussion here.

Side note, she produces experimental electronic music, so obviously has superior taste.
“We can laugh, but when I die, if I have kids, what are they going to be left with – a streaming library?”

Remined me of something else I read somewhere this week. “Nostalgia is a form of grief.”
 
“We can laugh, but when I die, if I have kids, what are they going to be left with – a streaming library?”

Remined me of something else I read somewhere this week. “Nostalgia is a form of grief.”

Off-topic for sure but Tarkovsky's film Nostalgia naturally explores that theme (magnificently).
 
I'm back.


and I stand by the observation that playing an instrument gets you closer to the listening experience.
 
When I set up my cartridge, it’s clear that settings like impedance on the phono stage and tracking weight affect the sound.
With tracking weight: to light, and the sound gets too thin and bright. Too heavy and it goes the opposite direction, too rich, sluggish and more dull.

So when it comes to the last bit of dialling in my cartridge set up, I tend to compare the sound of my vinyl playback to my digital source, using both media media that came from the same original masters. Of course there’s also the issue that even taken from the same original master tapes, the mastering for the vinyl may be slightly different. But ultimately I can get them really close, so the vinyl playback sounds pretty neutral. And then I tend to tick the cartridge weight just a little bit heavier, erring on the side of a slightly richer sound.

As I’ve mentioned before, In comparison with digital counterparts, I can sometimes perceive the vinyl playback as conveying a bit more of a warm, organic, human quality, especially to voices.

One striking example, I remember was comparing my ripped CD playback of an Air album with the vinyl version, set them up, matched levels (not with a voltmeter, but best I could) played them at the same time and with a remote button I could switch between the vinyl playback and the CD version, and when the female voices came on the CD version Had the voices sounding more like recordings, crispy edged and artificial. On the vinyl version it sounded like they suddenly became human beings singing between the speakers. (or more in that direction.). In that particular case
warmer” certainly seemed a reasonable way to describe the sound of the vinyl over the digital. (before this term goes on someone’s naughty list, I have said before that, I don’t think we can say that vinyl is my default “ warm sounding.”)
AM radio sounds "warm" too.
 
I'm back.


and I stand by the observation that playing an instrument gets you closer to the listening experience.
Does it? It didn't last time you were around and I admitted to playing one.

I'll add that playing/performing is a different role to listening.
 
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"warm"

carveVnord.png
 
Does it? It didn't last time you were around and I admitted to playing one.

I'll add that playing/performing is a different role to listening.

Which is why you don't "get it".

Could you play in a totally isolated chamber, without hearing the instrument whatsoever? :facepalm: Maybe sing a little accompaniment too? :eek: That would be delightful, especially if you recorded it on a wax cylinder for the added warmth.

I'm thinking something like this:
 
I'm back.


and I stand by the observation that playing an instrument gets you closer to the listening experience.

Not sure what you mean by “ the listening experience” but I’ve known music lovers who don’t play an instrument but who are as enthralled by listening to music as anybody else I’ve seen.

I haven’t played in a band for 25 years, and I am no less enthralled by listening to music than I was back then.
 
Which is why you don't "get it".

Could you play in a totally isolated chamber, without hearing the instrument whatsoever? :facepalm: Maybe sing a little accompaniment too? :eek: That would be delightful, especially if you recorded it on a wax cylinder for the added warmth.

I'm thinking something like this:
OK I don't get it, and you win again, and I am indeed stupid for even thinking that performing a piece of music and being in the audience are not EXACTLY THE SAME.

Obviously I'm beyond hope. I'll shut up and leave you to your extreme intelligence.
 
Well, I thought the act we did here was listening. It may surprise you, but listening comes after you drop the needle on the record, insert the CD in the tray or the cassette in the slot or whatever and press play, click the picture of the album or the name of the track, ask Alexa for your preferred choice of song or tune. The two things - preparing to listen, and listening, are only related to the extent we allow them to be. Some people here are reporting that the act of choosing and playing an LP puts them in a better place to listen more intently. But that's still a process that is over before the listening to music starts.

We bring to the act of listening what we have - our knowledge of music, the emotion or memories we associate with what we are listening to, perhaps a sense of curiosity with something new? We give some of our time and attention to the art of the composer, conductor and orchestra, band, singer, rapper, bagpipers, xylophonists, whatever. Ultimately, when we listen, we may become open and receptive to that art and what the musicians are doing.

All audiophilia/high fidelity is, really, whatever approach you bring, is another form of preparation for the act of listening, and in the context of the current discussion, listening to recorded music. All of the emotional content is in the recording, provided by the musicians. It does not matter how it arrives: to use your word, there is no inherent soulfulness in any recording medium and our reproduction equipment is not there to provide art or soulfulness either

As for "trying to understand that mechanism" - well maybe you should ask those who have that thought, instead of agreeing with it and then expanding to say that those of us who stream instead are "lost" or "out of touch".

And disagreeing with your statements, which obviously referred to me as one of the billions of people who use streaming, does not mean that I am seeking to attach any emotional value to the streaming mechanism.

If what you are really doing is what you say at the end, just gainsaying everybody else's comments, that's just trolling. Being asked to explain yourself becomes rather appropriate at that point.
On my way out, this, as a reminder of where we left off. You never did explain yourself, your gainsaying or your claims about streaming music. Maybe it's time you should stop the gainsaying and the contradictory positions, and explain yourself properly, just once.
 
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