Hi T. Cobe,

If you have no previous vinyl experience, I recommend the following approach to evaluate vinyl.

Go to your local GE dealer and find out what vinyl capability he has. Find out if he has a vinyl recording of something you have on CD - or something similar enough for you to be able to "test-listen" to both media. Then, you can judge for yourself.

Best,

Art

Regarding Tapes versus LPs

Tapes were quieter than LPs, but still had some noise ("tape hiss") and possibly some rumble. Also, pre-recorded tapes were not nearly as plentiful as LPs and were somewhat more expensive. And, tapes could break, especially if the player malfunctioned. The break could be spliced, but a chunk of music would be lost.

Art,

Great idea. I think I'll head to my local GET dealer tomorrow. I'll be in the area and have the day off. I'm not sure what records they may have but I know they have an extremely expensive VPI turntable setup in their 2-channel listening room with their T1s. I suspect I should know rather quickly if vinyl is something I will want to pursue.

You and Wayne have brought up some great points against the investment that I will certainly factor into my decision. I have read in multiple places that recordings originally on vinyl tend to sound better that way. When I was young, my parents had a turntable and I remember Glenn Miller, Benny Goodman, and others sounding pretty amazing. I've had a difficult time finding that same wow factor on digital sources. I think I remember you stating previously that you have transferred records to CD from a turntable with great success. I think you may have stated that the CD recordings of the records sounded better than the original CDs. Am I remembering this correctly?

GDHAL,

I was an early adopter of CDs and was glad to be rid of cassette tapes. The issues that Art points out plagued me. I lost a lot of tapes to crappy players and the sound quality of the first CDs I owned had me hooked. That's impressive that you still have that many cassettes! You must have a much better player than I ever had. Oddly, my 2007 auto still has a cassette player in it. I found it odd when I bought the car that there was a cassette player as part of the standard equipment. I haven't even been able to test it out since I don't own any tapes.

Happy listening, folks!

Cheers,

T Cobe

With my software, I am able to record music from an LP to my computer. Then, using the same software, I can clean up the recording by removing pops and other unwanted sounds. I cannot eliminate continuous surface noise. The process involves removing very small amounts of sound to eliminate each individual pop. This process is meticulous and takes time and patience, but the result is a clean recording. When this process is completed, I then record the cleaned-up file to a CD. It has been my experience that the resultant CD sounds much better than the original LP - not just because the unwanted pops are gone. The overall sound seems to be better and other people who have listened to my transfers have confirmed that they sound better than the original LP. In some cases, my transfers approach the sound-quality level of a professionally-recorded CD.

But, my transfers are not equal to professionally-recorded CDs. Generally, CD reissues of original analog recordings are digital transfers from the original analog master tapes. These master tapes are usually in good shape and offer a wider dynamic range than the LPs which were produced from them. I have a number of CD reissues of recordings for which I also have LPs. In every instance, the CD reissue sounds better than my LP, when played in my system.

I think that we must be careful when discussing the merits of LP sound versus CD sound. If it requires very expensive LP equipment to achieve the same sound offered by much-less-expensive CD gear, then the comparison should make that distinction clear. In my case, I have a good-quality Technics Linear Turntable, but this turntable is over 25 years old, so it certainly does not represent today's turntable technology. And, I do not have separate phono preamps or an expensive cartridge. So, in my system, CDs sound better than LPs.

I was delighted with LPs when they arrived in the early 1950s. I have one or two LPs which actually pre-date High Fidelity. I was even more delighted when High Fidelity arrived, followed by Stereo in the mid-1950s. Then, along came CDs in the early 1980s and I quit buying LPs. To each his own.

Happy listening to all,

Art

Something else of curiosity with regards to this topic. As grate as CDs are, why then hasn't super audio CDs made them obsolete? Certainly all of you on this forum know about the advent of the digital stream which purportedly far surpasses PCM 16 and/or 24 bit technology. I understand the sample rate approaches 3 million samples per second, the dynamic range is greater, the frequency response is greater, etc. etc. etc. I did listen to one (only) sample DSD in my life-time, and honestly could not discern a difference between it and a PCM CD. However, in fairness the listening experience was far less than critical. Meaning the equipment was audiophile grade, but at the extreme low end. Also, I did not use any kind of electronic measuring equipment, only my ears. Anyone else have experience with DSDs and care to offer an opinion as to their superiority (or lack thereof) to PCM CDs?

GDHAL,

In my experience, it truly does come down to the quality of the recording/mastering of the material. We discussed this a bit in a previous thread. I think Imahawki brought this up and I completely agree. A great recording is going to sound great, regardless of the playback method. Conversely, if the music quality is poor, no method of playback can fix that. Garbage in = Garbage out. After that, there are a lot of variables and rabbit holes to go down! Just my two cents.

Cheers,

T Cobe