I recently listened to a very expensive (all Linn) hi-fi with both CD and Vinyl sources at a high-end audio store. In both cases the music was jaw-droppingly good and to be honest, in the short time I had there I couldn’t say one was better than the other. What was different was how easy it is to acheive those results. With the CD, given a decent table to put it on, you just had to plug it all in. With the turntable there was much more tweaking to get it to sound right and it was much fussier about where you positioned it.
FYI the setup was:
CD: Linn Sondek CD 12 ~ $20,000 !!!
Turntable: Linn Sondek LP 12 with all bells and whistles (don’t know details) several $thousand but less than 20
Pre amp: Linn Kairn ~ $3000
Power amp: 3x Linn Klout at ~ $3800 each
Speakers: Linn Keltic ~ $9600
Forgive my zeal. I admit I’m a devoted audiophile. I just don’t see what vinyl adds to the experience of music other than very audible distractions like pops, crackle and skips.
If someone wants to say they just have a personal preference to the ‘sound’ of vinyl that’s fine. But I take great issue with someone who says they do this, not because of a personal preference, but because vinyl is audibly superior. That’s when I look at them and ask if Elvis told them this…
I don’t know if it’s just my memory playing tricks on me, but I seem to remember hearing that when they first experimented with the CD, they found it sounded too clean and hence ‘unnatural’ (whatever that means). So they put on a small amount of background noise - a subtle hiss or something of a similar ilk. Does anyone know if I’ve finally lost it, or is my memory serving me faithfully? Did this happen? If so, does it still occur?
That question could make a good GQ.
On the CD vs vinyl debate, I should also throw my hat in. Almost everything I own is on CD. But somewhere within me, there’s this nagging desire to buy more vinyl. Dunno why, 'cos I’ve got loads of CD playing-type equipment but only one rubbishy turntable. I think it’s an involvement thing. Perhaps the CD is just too detached from the listener. Younger music fans might not notice this, because they are used to this style of listening to music - the ‘put it on and forget about it’ method of record collecting…
The other thing about CD’s is that it’s more difficult to get into an album. Hear a track you don’t much like: just skip past the bugger. Problem is, some of my favourite songs started out like this, but then I learned to love them. Bit like a fine red wine.
CD’s encourage us to pick and choose. You can do it with vinyl, but I find that people generally play the whole caboodle rather than just pick and choose. With this in mind, could the CD be partly reponsible for some of the superficial pop pap that has been steadily invading the charts over the past few years? Hmmm…
I think the jump from record to tape was a step away from pick-and-choose music listening, I know it effected me. I had no problem getting up and skipping certain tracks on a record, while fast-forwarding a tape was a painful process until they developed decks that would stop at the quiet points between songs (and that doesn’t work on some albums, i.e. Slayer’s ‘Seasons in the Abyss’ where there is no space between songs).
Why would anyone not choose a medium where extraneous noise is not added during the engineering process? Why would anyone choose a medium which degrades itself every single time you use it? That being said, a CD must be engineered correctly for the above to be true. I recently read (and I can’t find the damn cite) where many popular recordings are created with radio play in mind. What I mean by this is that recordings are EQ’d in a way that compensate for the limited fidelity of FM broadcasts. Quiet passages are made louder. A dance track may have the bass line goosed up a bit. All told, you might find less variation in frequency response than the original performance provided.
I sold off my vinyl collection in 1987 and I don’t regret it one bit. With all the remastering going on now, it’s pretty easy to find old favorites sounding as close to original intent as technology allows.
Depends on what type of music you listen to. Granted, jazz and big band are/have been more popular recently, but some things just aren’t available anymore. But, if I could buy a CD rather than vinyl, I probably would. Ease of use, quality of sound, and sustainability are better.
Sometimes, though, it’s just so…cool to slip on an old vinyl LP and just groove!
