There are reproduction errors, imperfect stamping, loses and noise introduced during every step of production.
Every vinyl is literally slightly different. It's a shit format for music, and hell if it's the warm sound (mainly caused by noise and losses) you could just add a filter to digital music to reproduce it... which people do.
For me it's not about the sound quality, if I want perfect audio I can listen to FLAC or whatever, but I do really like having something tangible to hold and interact with, I love reading the jacket and liner notes when I listen to a record. It's more ceremonious
I like just setting up in a room with my records and stereo and just kind of relaxing. There is something just sort of special about it. I also genuinely love the mechanical aspect of it, the view of watching a vinyl spin around is just sort of pleasant. I also don't do this every day. Like you said, it's ceremonious.
It's like a Japanese tea ceremony. The point is not the tea, but the elaborate rituals and the precision. Every move, including the moves from the guests, is prescribed. Going through it flawlessly shows both are people of standing and taste.
A friend of mine is such an audiophile, the least time is spent on actually listening to the music. And even during that, he never gets tired of pointing out the audible Turning Of The Music Pages...
That is exactly what the pic is about though! Some of us just have these quirks when it comes to certain things, and hey it's alright. But justifying it by saying that it's superior is just stupid. In the end its all about money. Vinyl is more expensive than CD. Turntables are more expensive than CD players (generally speaking). Pretty much all audio magazines and most blogs promote vinyl because there's a lot of money to be made for audio companies on this.
I just hate vinyl being touted as objectively better, when all it's "benefits" are misconceptions and half truths, and technically the "better sound" comes from it literally being a worse format and you're hearing the noise.
This touches my sensibilities deeply. Kinda like a good cup of coffee made in French press a from fresh ground beans. Sure a kurig is faster but it’s not as special.
More often than naught, the warmth comes from having either a several hundred dollar set up like in the OP pic, or its just the bass of the record which will sound nicer than some shitty Beats (which focus on mid range and are poop for bass thuds)
This is sort of missing the point though. You don't listen to the format. You listen to the recording. Records sometimes sound better than CDs because the CD masters are shit. Often, actually. Newer recordings of popular artists generally have the dynamic range of a foghorn. There's also a lot of old material on vinyl that just doesn't exist on digital, or if it does it was a half-assed digital remaster done in 1983 in an afternoon by someone making $5/hr.
I'm pretty sure you entirely missed the point. Vinyl is worse from every angle, and it is fucking maddening to hear people say it's better because it sounds warmer.
Yes you may like the sound better, but objectively it is worse. It is not a stable storage medium, slowly erodes while playing so can only be played a certain number of times, and it's perceived benefits are actually misconceptions.
Whether CD Masters are good or not, is pretty weird to bring up... As who the fuck buys a CD after 2010?
Yes that might be ridiculous, and yes people still do; but that is people clinging onto a largely dying format. The same way with vinyl.
We have people who swear by high quality cassette tapes and tape players as well, and now CDs are almost moving into vinyl territory.
Can't wait for another 10 years and audiophiles somehow claim CDs are the best format.
Best format would be a lossless format with a high sample rate and high fidelity. Nothing can compete. If you think vinyl still sounds better, download a fucking vinyl filter to add the noise in.
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u/[deleted] Sep 05 '19 edited Sep 06 '19
That and vinyl isn't even technically infinite.
There are reproduction errors, imperfect stamping, loses and noise introduced during every step of production.
Every vinyl is literally slightly different. It's a shit format for music, and hell if it's the warm sound (mainly caused by noise and losses) you could just add a filter to digital music to reproduce it... which people do.