Digital vs Vinyl

[AudioStudies]

Those are some pretty nice pieces of gear. I serviced cassette decks for some years and found the upper end models to be very cool to work on. R2Rs I never got into just mainly cassette decks. In 15 years of component level mechatronics service I was only stumped by one Nakamichi. It was stacked full of tightly spaced vertical daughter boards and would have been a nightmare to service without service literature. So I returned it and advised to send it to Nakamichi. I think going off memory that it was this one or a very similar model in this rather nice blingy gold colored finish. Some days I miss the repair and calibration success of high end cassette decks even still.

That Nak deck may very well be the most physically attractive tape deck of all time. The only exception to me owning the "best of the best" with respect to cassette decks was the Nak 1000 ZXL and its gold big brother. I stayed away from those because it was hard to find qualified Techs to work on them, and they were a bit overpriced. I sold my Tandberg 3014a when it went dead (long before my big sale), but heck got $1000 for the non-working Tandberg.

 

[Doodski]

That Nak deck may very well be the most physically attractive tape deck of all time. The only exception to me owning the "best of the best" with respect to cassette decks was the Nak 1000 ZXL and its gold big brother. I stayed away from those because it was hard to find qualified Techs to work on them, and they were a bit overpriced. I sold my Tandberg 3014a when it went dead (long before my big sale), but heck got $1000 for the non-working Tandberg.

If any of your tape gear has belts how are they holding up? Any issues yet?

 

[AudioStudies]

If any of your tape gear has belts how are they holding up? Any issues yet?

Well, I sold most of my collection off, and as far as I know - all decks were working at the time of sale, although a few had been sitting for a while. I still have several decks. A Sony KA7ES that had the ANT mods of Alex Nitkin. That one did need a belt replacement a while back. I still have a Sony 555ESJ that so far hasn't needed a belt. In my opinion, this is the best Sony deck ever in stock form, even better than the KA7ES. I also still have a Studer A710 that has no belts, and a Revox B215S, also no belts. I also kept an Aiwa EXCELIA that I had re-capped a while back, so far no belt replacement needed.

 

[Doodski]

A Sony KA7ES that had the ANT mods of Alex Nitkin.

It has a very nice write up on TheVintageKnob.

That one did need a belt replacement a while back. I still have a Sony 555ESJ that so far hasn't needed a belt. In my opinion, this is the best Sony deck ever in stock form, even better than the KA7ES. I also still have a Studer A710 that has no belts, and a Revox B215S, also no belts. I also kept an Aiwa EXCELIA that I had re-capped a while back, so far no belt replacement needed.

Nice collection of nice pieces.

A Sony KA7ES that had the ANT mods of Alex Nitkin.

What kind of MODs?

 

[AudioStudies]

What kind of MODs?

It may be difficult for a layman like me to describe them. But Alex is highly respected over at tapeheads.net and may very well be the most knowledgeable person regarding cassette decks ever. He is "across the pond", I think in the UK. I was lucky enough to find a guy in Canada selling a deck that Alex had modified, the KA7ES at a very reasonable price. Some minor cosmetic issues though. Belt went bad after I had owned it for about 6 months, but a Local Tech (Denver area) did the total repair for $180.00. Runs like a gem now.

 

[Doodski]

It may be difficult for a layman like me to describe them. But Alex is highly respected over at tapeheads.net and may very well be the most knowledgeable person regarding cassette decks ever. He is "across the pond", I think in the UK. I was lucky enough to find a guy in Canada selling a deck that Alex had modified, the KA7ES at a very reasonable price. Some minor cosmetic issues though. Belt went bad after I had owned it for about 6 months, but a Local Tech (Denver area) did the total repair for $180.00. Runs like a gem now.

Yes, I read up on Alex a bit and checked out his website. He services that Nakamichi with all the daughter boards that I advised the owner to send to Nakamichi. That makes him a cassette deck guru for sure.

 

[Alisterkoran]

Ya think?

Yes. The modern Vinyl revival is a lot of the time a complete con.

Take the Album "Real to Reel - Sound City" (David Grohl and company). I've got both the CD and the LP. The CD is compressed to hell and sounds terrible as a result, the LP sounds far superior in every way, and is less compressed. So what we're got here is an arguably superior format (arguably audibly transparent) being purposefully hobbled in sound quality whilst the arguably inferior format is purposefully made to sound better. They then charge a premium for the LP. If that's not a con then what is it?

That's just one example, they do this regularly these days. Then you have CD's (sometimes compressed to hell reissues) being transferred to Vinyl and sold at premium prices whilst promoting that LP's 'sound better'. You don't think that's a con?

Then a lot of the time they offer a 'hi-res' download which is basically the same as the CD but in (IMO pointless) 24/96 without the compression. And charge a premium for it. In other words, exactly how the CD should have sounded in the first place when first released. That's definitely a con IMO!

Ali.

 

[MakeMineVinyl]

Take the Album "Real to Reel - Sound City" (David Grohl and company). I've got both the CD and the LP. The CD is compressed to hell and sounds terrible as a result, the LP sounds far superior in every way, and is less compressed. So what we're got here is an arguably superior format (arguably audibly transparent) being purposefully hobbled in sound quality whilst the arguably inferior format is purposefully made to sound better. They then charge a premium for the LP. If that's not a con then what is it?

That's just one example, they do this regularly these days. Then you have CD's (sometimes compressed to hell reissues) being transferred to Vinyl and sold at premium prices whilst promoting that LP's 'sound better'. You don't think that's a con?

Ali.

The vinyl is likely not compressed as much because it would be more difficult for the stylus to track. Sure, there might be some other motivations, but the onus is really on the crappy mastering on the CD. The vinyl is just being more truthful to the original source.

By the way, I was a recording engineer at Sound City in their heyday. I just thought it was a funky little studio in a Van Nuys industrial park back then. Never in my wildest dreams would I believe that it would go on to holy status.

 

[Alisterkoran]

but the onus is really on the crappy mastering on the CD

Yes, purposefully crappy. I'm fed up with it.

 

[levimax]

Yes, purposefully crappy. I'm fed up with it.

It even gets worse with streaming as the services usually only offer the latest and greatest compressed remasters of older music along with compressed new music. The thing is this "compressed sound mastering style", because it is now so prevalent, is becoming preferred by most people so there really isn't any meaningful demand for anything different. Fortunately older LP's and CD's last a very long time so there are options for older music at least.

 

[MattHooper]

Yes. The modern Vinyl revival is a lot of the time a complete con.

Take the Album "Real to Reel - Sound City" (David Grohl and company). I've got both the CD and the LP. The CD is compressed to hell and sounds terrible as a result, the LP sounds far superior in every way, and is less compressed. So what we're got here is an arguably superior format (arguably audibly transparent) being purposefully hobbled in sound quality whilst the arguably inferior format is purposefully made to sound better. They then charge a premium for the LP. If that's not a con then what is it?

That's just one example, they do this regularly these days. Then you have CD's (sometimes compressed to hell reissues) being transferred to Vinyl and sold at premium prices whilst promoting that LP's 'sound better'. You don't think that's a con?

Then a lot of the time they offer a 'hi-res' download which is basically the same as the CD but in (IMO pointless) 24/96 without the compression. And charge a premium for it. In other words, exactly how the CD should have sounded in the first place when first released. That's definitely a con IMO!

Ali.

Not doubting you've found an LP that sounds less compressed than a CD.

But your theory sounds a tad to far in to the conspiracy theory territory. (As in, literally makes no sense if you actually thought it through in practice).