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A needle in the groove beats a laser in the pits every time!
Downloads are taking off and it has been 25 years since CD was launched, yet audiophile demand for turntables and vinyl continues unabated. When did you last spin a record?
Vinyl remains my preferred medium, because when things are good (ie good pressing in good condition), it sounds better to me than CD (even though my Rega 3 is quite humble). I'm also a romantic, and love the size of the discs, the covers, the ritual of cleaning and cueing up - not to mention the odd bargain find in Goodwill!
The inconvienence of the rituals that precede playing a vinyl disc hold no particular charm for me. Getting the disc out of the protective sleeve, cleaning the stylus, cleaning the disc itself, and then finally lowering the stylus to vinyl may seem romantic to some but I can be three or four minutes into a CD instead if all I want to do is listen to some tunes. I still have a turntable and about 150 LPs, but they get little use unless there is something very unique that I just have to listen to or record. I want to listen to as much music as I can while I still have the hearing and opportunities to do so.
Just finished, as a matter of fact. By the way what kinda question is this anyways? What else is there in the high end to listen to? Surely you dont mean to imply people really listen to those obsolete silver discs that where suppossed to be perfect sound forever that ended up just as they were introduced to us during demonstrations -- FRISBEES -- do you? NAHHH, didn't think so!
After trading in my Linn LP12 (considered a great table) on a used VPI TNT III/JMW arm I questioned why I had even purchased the Sony SCD777ES (a darn good machine too)The TNT blew away everything I had heard in analog before. Many people (nonaudiophiles) that hear my system can't believe it is an LP and not a cd playing!
It's the only way to go for "serious" or music to get involved in. CD's are good only for convienant or wallpaper listening. It's the best!! (Haven't tried SACD, but I doubt I could build as extensive a library as I now enjoy with vinyl even if SACD is as good folks claim.)
We have a 22-year-old Sondek on its 3rd arm -- an Akito -- with an Ortofon Rohmann MC cartridge. It sounds great, but it's easy to leave a record turning and forget to press the stop button when you get used to the sheer convenience of CD! We will always play our remaining large vinyl collection, and will continue gradually upgrading the deck as it wears.