Can anyone explain the vinyl renaissance?

[Robin L]

Only five? Those are just the ones on my desk right now - Levitt, Buchbinder (recent DG), Pollini, Baremboim III ( is it the third? I mean the recent one on DG), Kovacevich... rest of the usual suspects on the shelves - been meaning to grab the Schnabel...

Nice detour. I've got Brendel's first set in the big Brilliant Classics box of everything Beethoven, the previously mentioned Annie Fischer, Arrau's analog set on Decca, Gulda's Amadeo set and Schnabel on both Naxos and Warner Brothers. Prefer the Warner Brothers set, the de-noising is very successful - I don't hear any loss of treble but there's significantly less surface noise than the Naxos edition. Note that the Naxos discs have grown progressively more expensive while you can still find the Warner Brothers box for less than $30. The unfiltered Pearl transfers seem to all but disappeared. Have owned those, don't recommend those at all. Have owned both Kempff sets in the past, checking Ebay to get one of them again. Kovacevich is attractive on account of the pricing, but don't like the engineering on the single disc I have now. Used to have Barenboim's Angel set on LP, didn't like it. I used to have Polliini's late sonata set from the analog era, wasn't crazy about that one. Have heard the Levitt recordings of the late sonatas, like those. Have yet to hear anything from Buchbinder, read good things about his multiple sets.

 

[Victor Martell]

Nice detour. I've got Brendel's first set in the big Brilliant Classics box of everything Beethoven, the previously mentioned Annie Fischer, Arrau's analog set on Decca, Gulda's Amadeo set and Schnabel on both Naxos and Warner Brothers. Prefer the Warner Brothers set, the de-noising is very successful - I don't hear any loss of treble but there's significantly less surface noise than the Naxos edition. Note that the Naxos discs have grown progressively more expensive while you can still find the Warner Brothers box for less than $30. The unfiltered Pearl transfers seem to all but disappeared. Have owned those, don't recommend those at all. Have owned both Kempff sets in the past, checking Ebay to get one of them again. Kovacevich is attractive on account of the pricing, but don't like the engineering on the single disc I have now. Used to have Barenboim's Angel set on LP, didn't like it. I used to have Polliini's late sonata set from the analog era, wasn't crazy about that one. Have heard the Levitt recordings of the late sonatas, like those. Have yet to hear anything from Buchbinder, read good things about his multiple sets.

I assume the what you call the Barenboim on Angel and what I know as the Barenboim on EMI are the same - that would be my preferred Barenboim. Enjoyed the recent release of the DG Kempff on BD Audio https://www.discogs.com/release/20192701-Beethoven-Wilhelm-Kempff-Complete-Piano-Sonatas - haven't had the need to pull any other version of them. Only have the Warner Schnabel on hand again, good enough as to just pull that one.

It is a nice rabbit hole - have a few of those, my personal rabbit hole list (in addition to the Beethoven Sonatas) with numbers out and in rotation would be: Beethoven Quartets, 4 cycles , Shostakovich Quartets, 3 cycles, Shostakovich Symphonies, 3 cycles, Mahler Symphonies, 5 cycles, Beethoven Symphonies, 4 cycles, Bruckner Symphonies, 4 cycles, including the very recent Nelsons' and Thielemann's.

Plus other stuff and a lot more in the shelves and also in deep storage. And almost no Classical vinyl! (just to bring it back on topic) - as much as I like vinyl, my go-to for Classical has always been CD.

 

[MattHooper]

Hey folks, a little digital vs vinyl comparison here....just for kicks.

Here's a comparison of some SADE tracks - streaming vs vinyl (from Jay's Audio Lab). Supposedly the tracks were level matched or normalized.

But I found it interesting. Of course we can't know through a youtube recording what it actually sounded like in the room. But there is a clear difference between the sound of one vs the other on the youtube recording. I immediately guessed the vinyl (and then later confirmed it was vinyl), because I was hearing some of the differences I hear between vinyl and digital on my system and some other folks systems. Not very hard in this comparison to tell which is which.

Whenever I compare vinyl tracks to their digital counterparts, I can always understand why someone would prefer the digital, even if I happen to prefer the vinyl. I find the same here in this recording.

Particularly on the 2nd SADE track, I find the sonic differences like one being smoother and more refined, the other "popping" more, especially the way the vocals and drum snares pop from the mix more (which I like). But I can understand someone preferring the smoother presentation as well.

What do you think? Preference for either?

 

[Count Arthur]

My thoughts.

I'm going to guess that #2 was vinyl for both, but I am really bad at these comparisons, maybe it's my ears, maybe it's my lack of patience.

I thought both sounded pretty bad, kind of "cuppy" in the vocals, a bit thin and lightweight, sterile - using Sennheiser HD 560 headphones. Assuming it was the giant amp and huge speakers that were actually being played, it sounded small, more like a ghetto blaster - possibly Limitations of the microphones or YouTube, but I've heard other comparisons that don't seem to suffer as much:

I still don't like SADE.

 

[Axo1989]

I still don't like SADE.

Haha yes, can't listen to that long enough to do a functional comparo, sorry. But the first song was worse, appreciate you sparing us to that extent.

 

[Count Arthur]

With regard to the disappointing sound, I think I can see the problem.

That cable is clearly touching the floor.

 

[Leporello]

With regard to the disappointing sound, I think I can see the problem.

View attachment 342092

That cable is clearly touching the floor.

Ime, not a problem. But those round grey thingies the cables go through: they probably were not properly burnt in.

 

[mhardy6647]

That cable is clearly touching the floor.

 

[Jflijohn]

So, here’s an interesting perspective that I hadn’t heard from the digital crew yet… we vinyl junkies are unleashing death (and destruction)

 

[mhardy6647]

So, here’s an interesting perspective that I hadn’t heard from the digital crew yet… we vinyl junkies are unleashing death (and destruction)View attachment 342136

Interesting spin (no pun intended) on the fossil fuels debate, eh?

 

[Newman]

Deluded mythmaking...yep, goes right to the core of vinyl.

PS the planet did NOT produce the substance petroleum.

 

[dlaloum]

PS the planet did NOT produce the substance petroleum.

What are you talking about - we all know that Gaia sat there personally squeezing the dino bodies to make dino juice....

(if only I was a cartoonist... I can just picture this one!)

 

[Anton D]

PS the planet did NOT produce the substance petroleum.

It’s extraterrestrial?

 

[Newman]

er, man-made

 

[JP]

On ASR, every day is National Pedantry Day.

 

[Newman]

EVERY day?

 

[Galliardist]

On ASR, every day is National Pedantry Day.

International Pedantry Day, surely.

Additionally, the crude oil is refined to get the petroleum, the petroleum isn't "made" by humans as such.

 

[Newman]

Try "making" it without human intervention.

 

[pkane]

Try "making" it without human intervention.

er, man-made

C’mon now, everyone knows all the basic elements were made by stars. Try to make it without their intervention. Humans think too highly of themselves…

 

[mhardy6647]

We are star dust, we are golden...

CNO cycle | COSMOS

astronomy.swin.edu.au