i have recently got all my vinyl down after at least 15 years in the loft. Enjoyed listening to it so much that I’ve even bought a new amplifier and speakers specifically for vinyl set up……

Its been an absolute pleasure to sit down with a cappucino and a good album…… holding and reading the sleeve notes and lyrics….. somehow there a much closer ‘connection’ to the music and it just ‘feels ‘ different.

I’ve bought two current albums on vinyl and started looking through the boxes of the vinyl man on the local market ( mainly £4 an album with guarantee)

its been a pleasure……

Digital music is certainly convenient but vinyl has ‘the feel and sound’……

Anyone else rediscovering vinyl pleasures?

Yep. I think that vinyl makes the music come alive.

Only if it’s 12″. That 7″ stuff is just too small.

Love listening to whats left of my vinyl collection, a lot warmer and more natural than CD. Gutted I ditched most of my collection when I married Mrs Tuffty

Never lost it 😉

It is good to rediscover old music. Vinyl may be more appealing compared to its digital equivalent, however the digital age and sites like bandcamp have allowed lots of great music to be made available cheaply to the public by artists largely making music in their bedroom. I came a bit late to the digital music revolution, but think it is great.

tuffty – Member

a lot warmer and more natural than CD

There must be plugins or players available that’ll distort your CDs in the same way surely? I know it exists for studio software.

I had a load sat in the loft doing nowt, took it down to sound it out records in Stockton, he gave me 40 quid for the lot. A couple of weeks later Ray Davies of the kinks was on bbc 4, talking about vinyl and how looking through someone’s vinyl collection was like looking into their soul, I could have cried, I’d sold my soul, on the plus side, I got 40 quid for it!! Apparently it’s not unknown for people to go back in and buy the whole lot back for ten times the price, I can well believe it!
Check out the film ‘sound it out’ about the little record shop tucked away in a stockton back street. the film has won numerous international film festival awards, it’s beautiful.

Vinyl has never disappeared, you just have to hunt the jems down in charity shops 😉

Two Rolling Stones albums for £4 this weekend, just don’t tell everyone 😉

Never stopped + 1

a lot warmer and more natural than CD

That’s because it’s EQ’d, or compressed, to avoid problems like the stylus jumping across grooves, like my copy of Rumours did during Go Your Own Way. I still can’t listen to that track, thirty years on, without expecting it to jump.
Peter Gabriel had to re-arrange the tracks on So, because the proper last track had too much bass for the vinyl version to cope with.
I’m perfectly happy being able to sprawl on the couch, selecting from my pad, any of the 15-16,000 tracks I have in iTunes, without the hassle of getting up to turn the album over, carefully wipe the surface with a carbon-fibre brush to remove dust, before carefully dropping the stylus onto the record. And repeat. And have to take multiple copies of albums back because of the shitty pressing, and crap re-cycled vinyl.
And that was using approximately £2000 worth of turntable, arm and moving-coil cartridge.

I like the ritual of vinyl but I also like the convenience of digitally stored music. I tend to rely on the latter when I have company but like to session the former when I have a spare evening to myself.

Peter Gabriel had to re-arrange the tracks on So, because the proper last track had too much bass for the vinyl version to cope with.

This is interesting, seeing as my very much died-in-the-wool anti-vinyl friend had to concede the most obvious difference between the LP, and the 320 kbps download that came with the LP of Daft Punk’s new album was that the bass was noticeably tighter and punchier on the LP. This is through my Naim Uniti2 streamer, so it’s not like I’m pitting an iPod against a $1k+ turntable.

The sound of that Daft Punk is a thing of beauty

Recent vinyl convert here – I actually never had much vinyl of my own first time round – I was part of the cassette generation (Walkmen and ghetto blasters), then CDs in the 90s. But I loved playing my parents vinyl downstairs on the “good” hi fi as a kid.

I now own what remains of that vinyl (they got rid of some unfortunately), and have taken to collecting old stuff and new as well. It’s just more satisfying somehow. I understand the people who prefer digital, I don’t think buying vinyl is a particularly rational choice. But how many of the things we decide to buy are truly rational choices anyway

This is interesting, seeing as my very much died-in-the-wool anti-vinyl friend had to concede the most obvious difference between the LP, and the 320 kbps download that came with the LP of Daft Punk’s new album was that the bass was noticeably tighter and punchier on the LP. This is through my Naim Uniti2 streamer, so it’s not like I’m pitting an iPod against a $1k+ turntable.

The reduced low frequency extension / quantity on an LP would indeed have this effect, especially in conjunction with their effect on the distortion and transient response of hi-fi woofers and typical room response in a house.

Unless you’re using the very best digital gear (as in costing more than a nice house) vinyl will have certain advantages vs digital, particularly with respect to midrange resolution and dynamics, despite its more obvious disadvantages.

I don’t know about all the tech details but I have an OK stereo and vinyl is just as enjoyable as digital. Of course when I’m busy doing other stuff the convenience of spotify etc is unquestionable but late at night over a class of something warming I still prefer listening to records, pop, clicks and all. It’s funny that lots of “professional Hifi bods” still really rate vinyl. Seems that in your typical UK home with normal sized speakers the RIAA curve vinyl uses has it’s advantages.

Only if it’s 12″. That 7″ stuff is just too small.

10″ is where it’s at. 12ers are too long and 7s too short.

What I really like is not being able to just skip a track if you get a bit bored with it. Vinyl helps you slow down a bit

10″ is where it’s at. 12ers are too long and 7s too short.

And you forgot that it has to be single speed. None of that 33/45/78 nonsense

I think sometimes the whole vinyl is better arguement is just because its a bit “niche” these days.
I dont dispute that it “may” sound better on good kit, but I cant be arsed with the associated faff and “ritual” that comes with it. I cant say I miss the scratching and crackling you can get either.
Whilst I miss out a bit on quality of sound by listening to CDs or MP3s etc, its SO much easier to get on an listen to. And I dont have to get up up 20 minutes to change sides.
Yes I have a small vinyl collection, but its unlikely to leave the box in the loft anytime soon.

I think sometimes the whole vinyl is better arguement is just because its a bit “niche” these days.

What?? NICHE!!?? On STW?? You’re joking!! 😆

Not everyone wants to consume music by the Gb and I think it’s the “associated faff and ritual” that contributes to makeing listening to music on vinyl so enjoyable.
😀

I play my vinyl on one of these, it helps 8)

It’s also nice to look at even when it’s doing nowt.

It’s also nice to look at even when it’s doing nowt.

You need a telly 🙂

And so the thread descends into the expected willy waving…… 🙄

That is a very pretty and expensive looking belt drive record player. Does it keep any sort of time? It’s looks like it’s more a string drive than belt drive.

Sounds rubbish – obviously

I loved listening to vinyl when I had the time and space (and understanding neighbours) to allow me to do so. Now music is often little more than background noise, for which digital is undoubtedly more convenient. I get a bit sad thinking about this, but know that one day I will have my little enclave for listening – properly listening – to music. At that point I’ll see if I still have my rose-tinted spectacles for vinyl. If I do, I expect I’ll treat myself to that Michel Gyrodec I’ve always wanted.

I get a bit sad thinking about this, but know that one day I will have my little enclave for listening – properly listening – to music

This.

One day, probably just have some proper headphones and a comfy chair. I can’t remember the last time I just listened to music. I always seem to be doing something else at the same time.

Vinyl isn’t better, and never was. That is all.

Trying to argue that it somehow “sounds better” is akin to trying to argue that steam trains are the finest mode of transport and coal is the best thing to heat your lounge with.

In dance music, vinyl is still the lead platform for quality. If a track is out on vinyl, it’s going to be of a certain standard.

Bought two L.I.E.S records on preorder other day, can’t wait for those to show up.

Vinyl isn’t better, and never was. That is all.

Well, you’re wrong. But then you knew that anyway.

Depends what you mean by better. Crackly and pop is non-existent on CD and audio file of course, but I have pressings that audibly re-produce far greater dynamics, frequency range, and stereo depth and width from the record than the CD (most notably: Billy Joel – An Innocent Man).

Record pressings do apparently get worse later into the production run so maybe I just got a good one. And CD’s of older albums are often re-mastered, EQd and compressed for more basic reproduction system. These two points may account for the superiority of my record over my CD.

buzz-lightyear » Yep. I think that vinyl makes the music come alive.

Only if it’s 12″. That 7″ stuff is just too small.

pffft, uber niche 10″ singles are where it’s at, but if they become popular I’ll stop liking them and start preaching about 78rpm instead

Back to the OP- good that your feeling it again. Vinyl is great. Enjoyment of music is great. Thats the main thing.

Debates about which is better will continue (like wheelsize in mtb!) and are fairly immaterial. Its’s all about the fun factor.

I need another new stylus after my youngest daughter put a record on cos she likes how it goes round and round and some days later I noticed the needle on the spinning centre of the record 😥

My record player now sounds awful and I need to shell out £20+ again…

That’s nothing. Apparently I ate my dad’s stylus when I was two. My parents have always joked that this is why I never shut up and go on and on about things….

I was in the Oxfam bookshop in town last week and somebody put ELO’s Discovery album onto the turntable. I grew up listening to my parent’s copy so stood there listening to it for ages. Took me straight back to being 8.

So I went and bought the CD a few days later.

It’s just not the same. It is the same music, and yes it’s a great album, but it didn’t take me back to being 8 again. I’m not going to pretend to know what I’m talking about but certainly, for me, that album needs to be vinyl.

Timely thread this. Despite stating that I would never part with my vinyl due to memories of happy times, I never listen to it! The turntable doesn’t work either.

The bottom line is that it’s become clutter, some albums are damaged and, to be honest, CDs are more convenient although they’re becoming clutter too!

So, it’s off to the tip.

Charity shop! Let someone else have the clutter.

As well as trawling record stalls for classics I buy new stuff on vinyl. I like big artwork, and most new albums either come with autorip type deals, or download codes so you get lovely vinyl loveliness and MP3 easiness.