Forum menu
I have just set up a hifi with £500:
Rega P1 turntable, Wharfedale 12.1 speakers, old Wharfedale s-991 amp. Sounds amazing.
Only the turntable was new
slowoldman
It’s true though. No-one listens to vinyl because it’s accurate, they listen to it because they like the sound.
This should be pinned to the start of every vinyl vs digital thread.
I like CD's. If I want to listen to a particular track or album, fine.
But if I'm settling in for the night and plan to listen for a good few hours, vinyl every time.
Same with FM vs DAB. If I have to listen to DAB, no problem.
But if there's a concert on Radio 3 I have a particular interest in, FM wins. 🙂
After a trip to Sevenoaks Sound and Vision, who told me my budget needed to be £1000 and specified me a system that in no way matched my request, I think I'll be going with the Sony LX310BT turntable with a pair of Ruark MR1 MK2. That will cover my needs I think and with the spare £500 I'll buy some vinyl and an arm chair to sit in.
I love vinyl and have spent far too much money over the years on records, turntables and other bits...I agree that the sound is technically better on a CD, but for my ears, the sound leaves me cold.
You're not planning to transmit the sound from the record to the speakers via bluetooth are you? That would be a mistake (apologies if I read that wrong, I just saw the mention of bluetooth!)
It’s true though. No-one listens to vinyl because it’s accurate, they listen to it because they like the sound.
You've answered the question of why people wish to listen to it.
You’ve answered the question of why people wish to listen to it.
I know. It's purely subjective.
For me it always has to be Technics 1210s for nostalgia reasons (I have 2x1210s with mixer setup - the mixer has phono inputs). 1210s are not the best for audiophiles but sometimes it is about more than that.
Eltax Monitor iii speakers can be picked up cheap second hand and are amazing for the size/quality/price.
^^bridges thanks for the advice, simple answer is because I want to.
That's fine. As long as you're informed as to the facts, and accept that yours is nothing more than subjective opinion.
If I want advice on what is best (for a given value of best) I would have asked for it. Typical STW, give the answer to a question that wasn’t asked
I felt it might be helpful to others, perhaps pondering similar. I think it's useful for people to be properly informed. The title of the thread mentions 'hi-fi experts', so, whilst being a very long way from being an 'expert', I do have some experience which could possibly be useful to others.
Stick with the vinyl… Digital is souless compared to vinyl.
This is meaningless. Saying one form of electronic sound reproduction has 'soul', when another does not, is getting towards...
More utter horsewhit has never been uttered on this forum in the name of good advice.
just sounds lovely, moves lots of air
It's actually speakers that move air. And they do so regardless of their source.
After a trip to Sevenoaks Sound and Vision, who told me my budget needed to be £1000 and specified me a system that in no way matched my request
I'd go further and double that (just for the turntable), if you want anything vaguely approaching 'high fidelity'. I've long wondered why some people are acolytes of vinyl, ever since the early 80s, when it was very quickly obvious that CDs offered superior sound reproduction. I have a theory that the more compressed, less dynamic sound produced by vinyl perhaps provides a less challenging listening experience, as you don't need such good hearing to be able to hear the sound. IE, it's 'squashed' into a more manageable range. And as people get older, their hearing range diminishes anyway, and many people have some form of hearing loss/damage which makes listening to high dynamic range sound, less comfortable. But I'd love to read the opinions of others on this.
Some interesting reading:
https://www.oregonlive.com/music/2014/11/does_vinyl_really_sound_better.html
https://www.soundguys.com/vinyl-better-than-streaming-20654/