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http://www.oregonlive.com/music/index.ss...better.htm
"Vinyl is the only consumer playback format we have that's fully analog and fully lossless," Gonsalves said. "You just need a decent turntable with a decent needle on it and you're going to enjoy a full-fidelity listening experience. It's a little bit more idiot-proof and a little bit less technical."
The analog format allows for artists to transport their music from magnetic tape to LP to your speakers or headphones without the complications of digital conversion. This, ideally, is the closest one can get to what the artist intended — if the artist recorded on tape and sent the reels over to an engineer like Gonsalves to cut a lacquer master from. But whether its origins are digital or analog (more on this later), a vinyl disc should have more musical information than an MP3 file — so it should be an improvement on streaming sites such as YouTube or SoundCloud, especially on a good system.
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What people like about vinyl is that it isn't true to the original. The EQ curve used for vinyl playback imparts a distinct warmth that isn't automatically present in any other form. The fact that the EQ has to be applied at all is pretty much proof that vinly is hardly the benchmark for lossless listening to a master.
I'm not saying that as a good or bad thing, but lossless it certainly isn't, and it is quite possibly an analog reproduction of a digital master.
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Oct 14, 2016, 18:12 pm
(This post was last modified: Oct 14, 2016, 18:14 pm by politux. Edited 1 time in total.)
"quite possibly an analog reproduction of a digital master."
That statement alone infers that analog is superior. I can tell you for certain that CD's, youtube, spotify are not analog in any way.
But I'm not here to argue. I have a turntable and vinyl collection and I have ears. That's what matters.
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No one said they were. But you'd be quite mistaken to think that the signal path from microphone to vinyl was entirely analog unless you acquired that piece of vinyl 20 or more years ago.
You can't not listen to something that is analog. Before it reaches your ear there is an analog stage. But to say a digital source is inferior simply because it is digital is not true at all.
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I listen to 24bit FLAC from vinyl and HDtracks. I also own vinyl records. There is a huge difference in quality. Even if the signal path isn't 100% analog, the record sounds better on vinyl.
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I think we are arguing two different things. You say it sounds better. I won't argue that, because it is a subjective argument. It can even be objectively demonstrated that a crap DAC will sound terrible next to a quality turntable setup.
As I previously stated, vinyl by its very nature is a colored sound, and that color will remain present when converted to FLAC. So it isn't even analog or digital that you like or dislike, but the EQ curve that is applied to vinyl during playback. A curve that exists because vinyl can't accurately store an unmodified waveform.
The thing is, a lot of modern music is mastered in a less than optimal way given the target audience these days. Those same recordings will sound like crap on vinyl too. Not because of digital or anlog or vinyl or MP3 but because the source sucks.
On the other hand, a well mastered recording will sound great whether it was mastered analog or digital and released on vinyl or CD. Quality digital equipment is completely transparent. It is the ADC and DAC pieces at the beginning and end of the digital signal path that anyone hears. Good converters won't alter the signal in any way. Bad converters will color the signal, and almost always in a bad way.
So, yea, you've got ears, and you like the way vinyl sounds. But it has nothing to do with it being analog or digital and everything to do with the way vinyl is produced and played back. Liking it is quite OK. But records in and of themselves aren't superior or inferior. They are just different.
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Unless you are a super human-dog hybrid no one can tell the difference between a high quality digital and a high quality analog recording. Anyone talking about 'warmth' or 'colored sound' or other similar stuff is imagining things.
I'm surprised that you, politux are even asking this question since I thought you were a major vinyl/analog champion.
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(Oct 15, 2016, 07:24 am)joew771 Wrote: I'm surprised that you, politux are even asking this question since I thought you were a major vinyl/analog champion.
Just starting a conversation, and I already got some useful input from Moe.
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My noob response:
Vinyl sounds great! As far as better, I can't see the difference between Vinyl and the new stuff, and my equipment is not that good where I can tell the difference. Records are a form of FLAC, right?
This topic really interests me ... I never thought of it, but I am a HUGE HOWARD STERN fan. Babby booey (stern's producer) LOVVVVEES Vinyl.. So my so that Stern ribs him about it. For booey to make a big deal, Ilearned there must be a benefit to vinyl...
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Records and FLAC are both lossless. But records are analog and FLAC is digital.
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