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There is more to life than spending money. Which is good, because, um, er, there ain't always lots to spend.
CD sales are clearly in a slump, SACD and DVD-A are down for the count, a few downloads are just starting to sound decent (Linn for example), and the LP keeps chugging along. What audio format did you spend the most money on in the last few months? Why?
With all there is to be concerned about right now, from the current administation in Washington to the environment, the precipitous drop in CD sales might seem insignificant, but as far as I'm concerned it's a huge deal. Music, much of it new, is my ray of light and downloads suggest a return to the shallow days when singles dominated the market. I think the album concept, album art, and album sound quality is a great way to go. The independence of owning a hard copy, the tangible product, the process and act of housing and choosing albums, be they vinyl or polycarbonate, is a part of the trip I truly enjoy. Dialing through miniscule menus and icons, dependence on a hard drive and another freakin' keyboard just doesn't cut it for me, yet anyway. I buy CDs in part to support the business, downloads aren't nearly romantic enough for me.
Purchased a new Esoteric X-03. It was either going to be that, or a comparably priced turntable. My choice was driven as much by market forces as it was by personal taste. A quick search revealed that I would not readily be able to replace my CD collection (a relatively modest 500 discs; mostly mainstream jazz and '80's pop) with vinyl, and I do not have the time or patience to hunt down music that I could otherwise order over the Internet with a few mouse clicks. With respect to the X-03, I would have also gladly auditioned the Wadia 581, but Wadia's thin dealer network and poor track record as a going concern raised serious questions about the player (e.g. "What if it breaks?"). So Esoteric it was to be, if partly by default. And a lesson learned about the final arbiter of technology and art.
I love CDs. I have never downloaded a song in my life although I might someday if I just want one song. But if I hear one song by an artist I am interested enough to want to hear more. Everytime I buy a used LP that looks okay I am disappointed...pops, clicks, surface noise.
I vote for "Vinyl." However, it was all bought used, er, "preowned." I'm cheap, and I find the price of a used record preferable to a new anything else. If nothing else, my record buying dollar goes further, and encourages me to try new music and new intrepretations of favorite works.
LPs are often very cheap second hand ( Instance the complete Beethoven Piano sonatas in mint condition for $2 Aus)it helps I have a decent turntable, vacuum LP cleaning machine & great phono preamp plus I'm addicted to the liner notes & graphics. I do buy CDs but think the price, when you take into account cost of manufacture etc, is an utter rip-off.
I spent a couple grand on an SACD player a few years back and have yet to really build on that collection because it still doesnt reach vinyls quality but before we cant even buy SACDs anymore Ive focused in on them a bit...problem is I only want true DSD or extremely well done analog to DSD and with the currect selection available there just isnt enough good titles to spend money on...probably will go back to finding new good vinyl instead!
CD by far. Even bought a new CD only player that will obsolete my SACD player as CD can sound better than SACD (of course, a new SACD player would probably sound better still). I agree, SACD is down for the count and most of my collection is CD so who cares. I will buy a new Turntable too at some point. The heck with downloads....hopefully I'll never have to download anything.
The question was "spend the most money," not how many recordings. With $30 for single LPs, $40 for two disc sets, and $50 for 45rpm reissues, small wonder that I can get a stack odd CDs from Amazon.com for what a couple of LPs cost. But that's a statement of fact, not a criticism, as I only buy CDs to fill out the gaps in my collection.
While I continue to enjoy my 1400 CD/SACD collection, my sons do all of their music shopping on iTunes. They can't even imagine another way to get their music. Hopefully, all high end companies will begin developing products like the iPod docks offered by Krell and Margules Audio.
I listened for many years to two-channel stereo and was happy until about two months agao when I finally got my home theater set up well and was able to listen to multichannel SACD and DVD-A...and I had an epiphany as to the truly amazing capabilities of multichannel audio. Hence, I have converetd the main two-channel rig into a multichannel...with another universal player (so, really, it is both SACD and DVD-A and not just DVD-A).
CDs are where most of my music is. I wish all of these discs were DVD-Audio for the improved sound quality. I use an inexpensive DVD player (currently a Pioneer DV-653A) with the MSB Network card installed, and connect it via a CAT-5 cable to an MSB Platinum Plus ladder-DAC. This process both eliminates jitter and has far greater and more accurate resolution than any chip based DAC, no matter how many tubes are added.