Can anyone explain the vinyl renaissance?

[kchap]

When CDs came out we ran to it just to get away from the pops and clicks of vinyl. Everyone I grew up with couldn't wait to sell off their records and get CDs as soon as they could afford a player. I mostly had cassettes to sell off since I couldn't afford a decent turntable. 30+ years of digital enjoyment later and most of them have gaslighted themselves into believing they never liked CDs and missed the warm wonderful sound of vinyl. I know it isn't true. I remember them all praising CD, but nope that never happened. They have missed their records for three decades even though records were still being sold in the 90s and they could have been buying them the whole time.

Nicely summed up.

 

[J.M. Noble]

When CDs came out we ran to it just to get away from the pops and clicks of vinyl. Everyone I grew up with couldn't wait to sell off their records and get CDs as soon as they could afford a player. I mostly had cassettes to sell off since I couldn't afford a decent turntable. 30+ years of digital enjoyment later and most of them have gaslighted themselves into believing they never liked CDs and missed the warm wonderful sound of vinyl. I know it isn't true. I remember them all praising CD, but nope that never happened. They have missed their records for three decades even though records were still being sold in the 90s and they could have been buying them the whole time.

I guess I'm the exception. I bought a CD player in 1984 and liked what it did, but I still liked vinyl; cassette (which I also enjoyed) was the go-to for mobile listening for the rest of the decade and beyond.

If my turntable and records had not all been stolen in 1988, I would never have left the format. The 90s were little weird, life-wise, and my professional work in audio was centered on CDs and, later, computer-based files--lossy and otherwise--so analog formats weren't a priority for a pretty long time. I finally dove back in right at the bottom of the vinyl market in 2003 or so.

 

[MatrixS2000]

But so much for the audio myth of "pure analog", eh?

?

Not sure if you have me confused with someone else? I never said pure analog was better or ever believed that myth. The fact that I digitize all my vinyl proves that out.

 

[MatrixS2000]

How?, please. If it's a simple, and free, process then I'm up for that.

My current ripping set up is:

Record onto a CDRW disc in my CD Recorder.

Rip as Flac using Asunder on my Linux laptop.

At this step you need to drop the file into a digital audio workstation. I use Izotope RX but it is not free. Audacity is free but when I used it years ago, I was not happy with the results. Not sure if Audacity has improved or not.

To remove clicks:
Select the De-click module, set the sensitivity and run the module across the file. Your other option is to use a phono preamp that has de-clicking built in like a Waxwing. With that, when you record onto CDRW, the clicks are already (mostly) gone. With the DAW option, you can get them all - and do a lot more such as removing surface noise.

To remove surface noise:
Select a portion of the lead in.
Select the Spectral De-noise module.
Train the module to the noise that was in the lead in.
Subtract that from the file.

While you are at it, you can also EQ the file.

 

[Snarfie]

I own thousands of records but, truth be told, I rarely play an LP because it's more effort than I usually feel like investing at any given moment.
Yes, I am preternaturally lazy (is that in the standard manual of diagnoses?).
I still feel that the return on my own investment of energy to be maximal when I grab a cd, put it in the player, and use the arrow buttons on the remote to select the track I want to listen to (when applicable).

EDIT: In full disclosure, I did hook up an old Technics DD tt yesterday (fitted with cannon fodder ADC cartridge & stylus) and play the Golden Records' Flinstones LP that I presume has been in my possession (so to speak) since it was released in 1961. I had an urge to hear Bowling Alley Blues, you see... and that seemed like the easiest pathway to assuage that urge.

Sounded surprisingly good, actually.

Seriously i'm out of TT touch thought ADC means Analog Digital Cardrige.

 

[MatrixS2000]

I guess I'm the exception. I bought a CD player in 1984 and liked what it did, but I still liked vinyl; cassette (which I also enjoyed) was the go-to for mobile listening for the rest of the decade and beyond.

Nope you are not alone, I am in the same boat. I liked what I heard back then and still like what the digital format is capable of - that is why I digitize my vinyl. It’s just the heavy handed use of loudness maximization that is impacting so many digital recordings that drove me back to vinyl.

 

[mhardy6647]

Seriously i'm out of TT touch thought ADC means Analog Digital Cardrige.

Oops, didn't think of that! Audio Dynamics Corp., Peter Pritchard's company. Later he would start Sonus (not Sonus Faber), too.

 

[MattHooper]

When CDs came out we ran to it just to get away from the pops and clicks of vinyl. Everyone I grew up with couldn't wait to sell off their records and get CDs as soon as they could afford a player. I mostly had cassettes to sell off since I couldn't afford a decent turntable. 30+ years of digital enjoyment later and most of them have gaslighted themselves into believing they never liked CDs and missed the warm wonderful sound of vinyl. I know it isn't true. I remember them all praising CD, but nope that never happened. They have missed their records for three decades even though records were still being sold in the 90s and they could have been buying them the whole time.

When CD’s first came out I remember very distinctly how odd they sounded to my ears.

I was blown away by the clarity and lack of noise, but I also remember, at least with the first album I heard, a strangely icy, clinically clean and sometimes sort of thin quality to the sound. This could’ve been simply trying to adapt to the new level of low noise and clarity, but I do remember perceiving some slightly offputting qualities.

However, I was quickly went over by CDs, stopped buying records and never looked back for decades, and had no problem whatsoever fully enjoying the sound quality of CDs.

Still, occasionally listened to some records at some audiophile friends who maintained turntables and their vinyl collection, and I would always think “hmm…. That actually does sound really nice.” I could see things that I liked about both formats.

I later got a hold of my dad’s old techniques turntable, and would just occasionally plug it into my system to play some of the few dusty old records I owned. Just a trip down memory lane.

At some point I was gifted my father in law’s higher quality micro seiki turntable, and cartridge, and as I remember this somewhat coincided with vinyls rising profile. I noticed that with that better turntable the occasional record in my collection that was not in poor condition could sound really wonderful.

Once the vinyl revival kicked it really wasn’t anything like the 90s. Through that actual record releases were incredibly thin. They could never have satisfied me so I would never have bothered.

But once final started being produced again in large quantities with many diverse titles, it caught my attention.

And since I was a huge fan of soundtracks, and I noticed a whole bunch of soundtracks were being released on vinyl, which had never been released before, I started to buy a few of those.

It was when I was holding those new LP’s in my hand, just really beautifully done covers, and even the covers felt really nice in the hand, and these weren’t like my old moth eaten record covers, these were shiny and brand new. Likewise, shiny brand new vinyl slipped out into my hand, and played essentially noiselessly. And the sound quality was terrific. That was really the clicking point to me. Vinyl to me had always been associated with the past, with old creased and moth eaten records in my collection, scratchy sounding records, or the type of stuff found in the few Dusty old existing record stores through the 90s.

But the newly produced vinyl in my hands made vinyl feel fresh and new again.

And it made the whole experience, feel fresh and new again. And as I bought more and more records and played more records I upgraded my turntable so that they sounded fantastic. And then I started buying used vinyl as well, Always in near mint condition, and also a record cleaner. In which case I could enjoy mostly very clean and fantastic sounding records from the past as well. Because up till then I had only really had a few of my old mishandled records from when I was young, and I had never bought records since. And now I realized I could buy records that sounded essentially brand new and would sound great.

And ever since I’ve loved playing records and adding more to my collection.

So this is a case of somebody who did indeed dump records for CDs, and mostly listened to CDs through the 90s and 2000s, but when the vinyl revival happened, it made sense for me to get back into records.

 

[Holmz]

When CDs came out we ran to it just to get away from the pops and clicks of vinyl. Everyone I grew up with couldn't wait to sell off their records and get CDs as soon as they could afford a player. I mostly had cassettes to sell off since I couldn't afford a decent turntable. 30+ years of digital enjoyment later and most of them have gaslighted themselves into believing they never liked CDs and missed the warm wonderful sound of vinyl. I know it isn't true. I remember them all praising CD, but nope that never happened. They have missed their records for three decades even though records were still being sold in the 90s and they could have been buying them the whole time.

Who is “we”?

I may be sort of on the fringe, but I got a TT as the people advising me said that CDs were in their infancy.
It seems like that statement 40 years is largely true as every year a new CD player, trabsort, or DAC is touted to be bringing new levels of “betterness.”

TBH - the pops-n-clicks are pretty minimal.

 

[kchap]

When CD’s first came out I remember very distinctly how odd they sounded to my ears.

Completely opposite for me. CDs could not come soon enough. During my meal break I went down to a Hi-Fi shop and picked up a new Sony CDP-101 (I've said CDP-102 else where, but it was definitely the CDP-101) and 2 or 3 CDs. With some help from work colleagues we hooked it up to some old tube studio monitors - not the greatest quality.

We then sat and listened in amazement. I could never go back to LPs.

 

[MattHooper]

Completely opposite for me. CDs could not come soon enough. During my meal break I went down to a Hi-Fi shop and picked up a new Sony CDP-101 (I've said CDP-102 else where, but it was definitely the CDP-101) and 2 or 3 CDs. With some help from work colleagues we hooked it up to some old tube studio monitors - not the greatest quality.

We then sat and listened in amazement. I could never go back to LPs.

The beauty of individual preferences and goals!

I remember for quite a while during the CD revolution how I anticipated not only new albums, but releases on CD of albums I grew up with of bands I loved. I couldn’t wait to hear them on the new higher fidelity super clean format. I never fell for some of the analogue Luddite ideas that digital wasn’t musical.

But digital sound for consumers essentially had reached audible transparency early on and after… what?… maybe 30 years, I have found it fun to shake things up and play with a different format, that also sounds different.

Similar to how solid state amplifiers had achieved audible transparency and neutrality a long time ago. If you’ve heard one you’ve sort of heard them all. Which is one reason I moved on to playing with (to me) interesting alternatives.

 

[aagstn]

Who is “we”?

I may be sort of on the fringe, but I got a TT as the people advising me said that CDs were in their infancy.
It seems like that statement 40 years is largely true as every year a new CD player, trabsort, or DAC is touted to be bringing new levels of “betterness.”

TBH - the pops-n-clicks are pretty minimal.

I was speaking about my friends that were into music and still are. The big credit I will give vinyl is it got many of them back into buying music when they had stopped for years and it increased my CD collection by hundreds since I took all those "poor sounding" CDs off their hands.

Pops, clicks and heavy surface noise of any kind takes me right out of the music. I will agree though that most records don't have this issue, but prices have gotten so high that it just isn't worth it to gamble on pressing quality for me.

 

[aagstn]

But digital sound for consumers essentially had reached audible transparency early on and after… what?… maybe 30 years, I have found it fun to shake things up and play with a different format, that also sounds different.

I think this is a great reason to have records. There are still quite a few albums I only own on vinyl or cassette and don't mind having a listen to them on those formats. Some I have on all three and depending on my mood I might go with records for the day. As long as people are enjoying their music, I think the mission is accomplished.

Getting to hear something different is one reason I have bought all the releases on Rhino's Quadio line. There are albums like World is a Ghetto and Paranoid I have heard a hundred times, but getting to hear them in quadraphonic was an awesome experience. I've started picking up other classic albums in blu-ray audio just to have the surround option for an occasional change of pace.

 

[Galliardist]

Who is “we”?

I may be sort of on the fringe, but I got a TT as the people advising me said that CDs were in their infancy.
It seems like that statement 40 years is largely true as every year a new CD player, trabsort, or DAC is touted to be bringing new levels of “betterness.”

TBH - the pops-n-clicks are pretty minimal.

I kept LP for years simply because I had lots of LPs, access to more LPs through a record library for many years, and not much money to switch, even though I knew CD sounded a bit better. I eventually added a CD player, some CDs, and moved over - actually because I had no room for the LPs and my turntable was eating motors, even though I still knew CDs sounded a bit better.

I'm now someone who won't go back, and enough of a zealot to recommend that newcomers shouldn't investigate vinyl until they own a good streaming digital system and have listened with it for a while. That's as much about cost as anything else - put your money into speakers to start with and everything including LP will sound better if/when you do go there.

 

[MatrixS2000]

recommend that newcomers shouldn't investigate vinyl until they own a good streaming digital system and have listened with it for a while. That's as much about cost as anything else - put your money into speakers to start with and everything including LP will sound better if/when you do go there.

This is very good advice for someone just starting into this hobby.

 

[Holmz]

I kept LP for years simply because I had lots of LPs, access to more LPs through a record library for many years, and not much money to switch, even though I knew CD sounded a bit better. I eventually added a CD player, some CDs, and moved over - actually because I had no room for the LPs and my turntable was eating motors, even though I still knew CDs sounded a bit better.

OK - but in reality they are sometimes on par with each other.

I'm now someone who won't go back, and enough of a zealot to recommend that newcomers shouldn't investigate vinyl until they own a good streaming digital system and have listened with it for a while. That's as much about cost as anything else - put your money into speakers to start with and everything including LP will sound better if/when you do go there.

^This^ is 110% a position I agree with.

 

[Down South]

I kept LP for years simply because I had lots of LPs, access to more LPs through a record library for many years, and not much money to switch, even though I knew CD sounded a bit better. I eventually added a CD player, some CDs, and moved over - actually because I had no room for the LPs and my turntable was eating motors, even though I still knew CDs sounded a bit better.

I'm now someone who won't go back, and enough of a zealot to recommend that newcomers shouldn't investigate vinyl until they own a good streaming digital system and have listened with it for a while. That's as much about cost as anything else - put your money into speakers to start with and everything including LP will sound better if/when you do go there.

You had a crap t/t apart from anything else.

 

[Galliardist]

You had a crap t/t apart from anything else.

Most of the time, and without the "oh no, not again" reappearance of the motor noise it sounded fine, and rather close to the NAD CD player I also had. I moved on from vinyl due to practical considerations at the time. I can still appreciate vinyl sound.

 

[Down South]

You had a crap t/t apart from anything else.

Again not an argument over vinyl v CD/streaming BUT to get the best from a vinyl system you must have as near to silence from a t/t. The Japanese d/d t/ts did just this The Kenwood KD/KP series (among others) did just this - wow/flutter 0.02% WRMS - rumble -80dB weighted. These decks came with an excellent gimbal arm that was a doddle to set up. My first experience of d/d t/ts came when I bought a s/hand Technics SL120 that came with a 3009 d/headshell set up at the SME factory in Steyning. This was a shock after using an AR and then Rega 3 t/ts - the silence was literally shocking so much detail had been lost with the belt drive decks.

So many comment about the 'pops and clicks' from vinyl - really! they should have looked after the vinyl better. I'm going to buy a Lapwing to make digital copies of my vinyl and I know it comes with good software to eliminate the problem, it's just that most of my vinyl simply doesn't have this problem.

My reason to digitise, simple, easier to maintain and operate a digital system.

 

[Subob]

Again not an argument over vinyl v CD/streaming BUT to get the best from a vinyl system you must have as near to silence from a t/t. The Japanese d/d t/ts did just this The Kenwood KD/KP series (among others) did just this - wow/flutter 0.02% WRMS - rumble -80dB weighted. These decks came with an excellent gimbal arm that was a doddle to set up. My first experience of d/d t/ts came when I bought a s/hand Technics SL120 that came with a 3009 d/headshell set up at the SME factory in Steyning. This was a shock after using an AR and then Rega 3 t/ts - the silence was literally shocking so much detail had been lost with the belt drive decks.

So many comment about the 'pops and clicks' from vinyl - really! they should have looked after the vinyl better. I'm going to buy a Lapwing to make digital copies of my vinyl and I know it comes with good software to eliminate the problem, it's just that most of my vinyl simply doesn't have this problem.

My reason to digitise, simple, easier to maintain and operate a digital system.

It's not just a question of looking after your vinyl though, is it.

The vast bulk of my record collection is pre CD era Reggae. If anyone knows anything about that, they know that quite a bit of that wasn't very well recorded. Especially stuff out of Studio One and Treasure Isle!