Should I continue to buy CDs or begin to buy Vinyls?

[chazro]

It's all about the music! At 1st, one of the arguments against CD's was that since there was so much music released on vinyl that would never be re-released in CD, why switch formats? This has been shown to be true, there's ton's of music on vinyl that's never been released on CD. As time went on and CD became the dominant format the reverse became true, there's currently ton's of music on CD that will never be released on vinyl! And NOW....there's music being released on MP3 that won't ever be released in LP OR CD so.....

Being an old-timer, I've got 1000's of records AND CD's. I connect my Ipod to my rig (I fancy myself as being somewhat of an audiophile!) thru a DAC and thru this method, am able to listen to MP3's thru my system. I'll admit to being a bit of a rookie re: MP3's, I've only bought a few dozen tunes (I've got 1000's of tunes in my Ipod, all taken from my collection). So for me, the music is the message, the format is the messenger!

Re: the original posters question about getting into vinyl, I say if you've got the $ (records and the equipment needed to play them can be costly!), and the willingness to commit (if you're not going to pay attention to the basics of superior vinyl playback, why bother?), than go for it!

[Doghouse Riley]

Vinyl is very much of a "different age." When we had time to take care of our records. Cleaning any dust off the surface of a record before playing.
Putting cleaning fluid on the little brush that went ahead of the tone arm.
Willing to be precise when lowering the pick up to the space between the tracks when we wanted an individual tune. Making sure we didn't crease the inner sleeve when replacing a record back in its cover.

The "youth of today" wouldn't want that. I have been asked why I mess around with vinyl jukeboxes which will only play a maximum of 100 "A sides" when I could have an i-pod with a few thousand recordings on it.

[1/2 Baked, Not Fried]

I would more or less echo Chazro’s thoughts. There’s tons of stuff on vinyl that’s never been released on cd; tons of stuff on cd (over the past 20+ years) that’s never been released on vinyl; and a good bit of stuff, now, that you can’t find on either, but can find digitally. Depending on what you’re into and what you’re looking for, a pretty fair argument can be made for all three, bearing in mind they all have their benefits and limitations.

Vinyl certainly has its drawbacks, and unless you’re prepared to invest in some fairly decent playback equipment, the acoustic benefits may be negligible, particularly in comparison to modern cd releases, which tend to be pretty good, at least to my ears. At the same time, spinning vinyl can be a lot of fun if you don’t mind the extra effort, and it can give you access to vast chunks of recorded history (often at a discount) that have never been (and may never be) made available on cd.

Personally, I get a lot of enjoyment out of vinyl, albeit more as a supplement to my cd collection than anything. Whether or not it’s worth it to you is a purely personal and subjective matter, depending on your tastes, ears, disposition, listening preferences, budget, space, lifestyle, etc. There’s no right or wrong answer to this type of question, regardless of how strongly people feel about their particular preferences. Do what’s right for you. If you think you’d dig vinyl, you probably would. If it doesn’t make sense, don’t. You could easily spend the rest of your life chasing nothing but cd’s and never run out of good stuff to listen to. It's all good, really.

[Radar]

For years I've been buying CDs to replace some of my worn and underplayed 33 and 1/3 record albums. The convenience of CDs allows me to listen to them in the car, and they easily can be put on my Ipod for walks, etc. Maybe I just don't have the right equipment but although there is something nostogic about putting on an LP, I can't tell where they sound any better than a well mastered CD. With the limited amount of time I have to listen to music the convenience of CD and digital formats allows me to listen to more music with the time I do have available.

[Jeffrey Wozniak]

If you're looking for better sound quality with all the benefits of the CD (portability, ease of storage, ease of conversion to MP3) I would look for a decent hybrid player that handles SACD and DVD-Audio.

Most SACDs are hybird discs (they have an SACD layer and a CD layer) so they can be played on regular CD players as well. The CD layer on a good SACD usually sounds better than the stand-alone CD version.

You can get a DVD player that also plays CDs (upsampling the sound of the CD), SACDs and DVD-Audio discs for less than $200 and be able to appreciate the better sound quality of SACD and DVD-Audio (not sure if they are still releasing DVD-Audio discs anymore).

I have several hybrid SACDs put out by a company called Analogue Productions that sound wonderful. Much better than the CD version. They have 50 classic Blue Note titles available. Also maybe 25 classic Verve discs. Others as well. They are now going to begin doing some classic Prestige titles and do them in mono. If you haven't heard some of these classic 50s jazz titles in mono you are missing out. Also titles by Nat King Cole that sound amazing.

Acoustic Sounds sells all their SACDs. They're $25 each. Amazon.com sells some of them for about $20.

That's just one company. There are others putting out excellent sounding SACDs.

Anyway, a hybrid player is worth your consideration if you want better sound for not alot of money, and it handles all your discs regardless of the format.

[Philou]

Thank you very much to all of you !

I think i will look for hybrid CD/SACD...for the albums I like the most

And for the other ones, keep the CD and downloading support.

[Tenorman]

You may have problems with SACD in France if it is anything like UK -- Hardware and software is almost non-existant in the UK because they over-priced the hardware and no-one bought it

[Vaughan]

I was thinking of the same thing. To be honest I thought SACD had been a huge failure, with very few titles. Am I wrong? Within the year I'm going to be making a large investment in a new hi-fi, and I hadn't even considered SACD as being useful........

[Jeffrey Wozniak]

Here is a true universal player that handles it all, including being a region-free DVD player (it will play any DVD from any country).

Only about $100 USD. If it works with your power supplies in Europe (I don't know about these things and if it will work) this may be the way to go. I've been eyeing this player for myself.

Universal Region Free DVD Player with HDMI Output (Silver) A high-performance DVD Audio/Video & SACD player featuring HDMI 1080p upscaling, USB, WMV playback, and DivX® Ultra This ultra-slim, universal DVD player is multi-format and will play your entire DVD and CD collection, including DVD Audio and SACD. You can play content from your USB memory stick or audio player (the player has a front-in USB), or enjoy other compressed movies and music formats that you have downloaded from the web and then burnt onto CD-R/RW (MPEG, MP3, WMA or JPEG files for example). This player is DivX Ultra certified, which means that you can enjoy the highest quality possible from compressed files. The 600AV has an HDMI output with 1080p upscaling, ensuring that what you see is of the highest possible quality, regardless of the source. In addition, the 600AV has Virtual Surround Sound, which enables surround sound effects from just two speakers. When you're watching a DVD, you hear a deep, realistic 3D soundspace from a pair of stereo speakers.

http://www.amazon.com/Pioneer-DV-610...6483278&sr=8-1

[Jeffrey Wozniak]

Originally Posted by Vaughan

I was thinking of the same thing. To be honest I thought SACD had been a huge failure, with very few titles. Am I wrong? Within the year I'm going to be making a large investment in a new hi-fi, and I hadn't even considered SACD as being useful........

SACD was/is a huge failure compared to the regular CD. Most people don't care about hi fidelity sound. If they did they wouldn't be listening to MP3s all day long.

However, the sound quality is often a vast improvement over the same music on a standard CD. I have maybe 200 SACDs, many titles that I also own or have owned on CD and base my opinion on that.

Since this is a jazz site I can honestly tell you that there are at least a few hundred titles put out by Analogue Productions, classic Blue Note, Verve, etc. that have been re-done by these guys and the sound is stunning. And if you like Nat King Cole or Pink Floyd what Analogue Productions has done with their music via SACD is truly remarkable.

Links below:

http://store.acousticsounds.com/s/26...es_-_First_Set

http://store.acousticsounds.com/s/26...s_-_Second_Set

http://store.acousticsounds.com/s/26..._SACD_Reissues

http://store.acousticsounds.com/inde...x=0&search.y=0

http://store.acousticsounds.com/s/33..._SACD_Reissues

http://store.acousticsounds.com/s/31..._SACD_Reissues

http://store.acousticsounds.com/inde...=4&LabelID=507




Acoustic Sounds has about 2,700 SACD titles available. Keying in "SACD" in the search at Amazon.com brings back even more results, and the prices at Amazon are often lower.

Given the option of a quality universal player like the one I've listed above avoiding SACD playback ability in your new large investment hi-fi you plan on getting soon would be a mistake IMO.

Links to SACDs below

http://store.acousticsounds.com/c/4/SACD

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_no...-keywords=SACD

[Philou]

Thank you, Tenorman and Vaughan !

Thank you for all the links, Jeffrey !
I am so surprised that so many sacd are available at amazon !
This is great for us music and sound lovers !

[Vaughan]

Cheers, Jeffrey Wozniak. Given how long SACD has been out there, the numbers don't seem compelling. But of course, if the music you want is on SACD, it works for you.

Frankly I'll never know why they bothered with SACD. DTS would have been a far better option, with market penetration for players already taken care of for DVD.

I have some choices to make prior to my purchase of a new system, so there's time for me to think it through.

[Jeffrey Wozniak]

Well, again, the numbers aren't compelling because most people don't care about sound quality. They spend most of their time listening to compressed sound via MP3. These days it seems portability and quantity are more important than quality.

This is the world we live in here in the 21st Century: More of everything. Less appreciation for anything. Never stopping to smell the roses. This is part of the reason the LP died out: You have to actually be by your turntable. You have to stop and listen to the music. Imagine that!!!

This is why real jazz isn't that popular: You have to stop and listen to it. You need to really listen or you don't get it. Most people prefer background music that they don't have to concentrate on.

While I'm not trying to suggest this is you I do believe this is how most of us live our lives these days.

In regards to sound quality Dolby Digital or DTS DVDs typically has a sampling rate of 20-/24-bit (depending on the source) at 48kHz.

SACD has a sampling rate of 1-bit at 2.8224Mhz (native).

If you want to compare sound quality for yourself between CD, SACD and the DVD, just use one track that you're most familiar with then start with the CD audio first, then the DVD then SACD. While not all SACDs sounds great (some of the first releases actually sounded worse than the CD) most of the ones I've heard do sound better. In many cases alot better.

Odds are you'll find the SACD version illuminating.

To be honest, I think high-quality vinyl is the ultimate in sound quality. I just don't have the money to pay for it as well as the expensive quality turntable and accessories.

[Vaughan]

Actually I'm with you for the most part, though it doesn't apply to me. I had an SACD player near the beginning of its tenure, but was unable to find any worthy discs. Over time I just gave up on it. Hybrid discs seem to be the best idea.

I've been biding my time before talking on here about my future plans. Suffice it to say that I'm going to be buying a new hi-fi toward the end of the year. I've a budget of $10k, and I'm aiming for CD playback predominantly. I may add SACD into the equation, and vinyl. But I think I want to sort out my CD setup first and foremost.

Still, that is some way off, first I need to decide exactly where I'll be living before I hook up with a local hi-fi dealer.....

[Jeffrey Wozniak]

If I may be so bold as to make a suggestion why not try a title or two from the SACDs Analogue Productions has put out in the last few years? The CD layer alone should show you an improvement in sound over a CD you may have (they are all hybrid discs).

The worst that can happen is there won't be much of an improvement to your ears. If that's the case you can ditch the SACD idea altogether.

Titles I personally own, and therefore know they sound incredible, are:

Nat King Cole: Love Is The Thing

Not sure if you're into Cole, but this disc sounds drop-dead amazing. Ballads mostly, but you'd swear Cole was in your living room singing to you.

Cannonball Adderley: Somethin' Else
John Coltrane: A Love Supreme
Herbie Hancock: Maiden Voyage
Charles Mingus: Mingus Mingus Mingus
Junior Wells: Hoodoo Man Blues
Bill Evans: Sunday at the Village Vanguard
Bill Evans: Waltz for Debby