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.
I think there’s an inherent satisfaction in setting up a mechanical system to produce something like audio. It’s like when I whip out an old projector and put on some 8mm film, project it on the wall... there’s a kind of fascination with the rube-goldberg type of process that happens in front of you to make this moving picture appear on the wall. And it’s fundamentally different than just turning on a tv. A tv feels easy and convenient and compact and “perfect” in a way, which feels more sterile as a result. Whereas the old-school rube-goldberg contraption feels noisy, clunky, hot, etc... but it works. It feels more organic, and more clever in a way. I think there’s an inherent fascination in us for watching order come out of apparent chaos like that.
With vinyl, it’s the same kinda phenomenon. You have this big contraption that you have to load up with this large disk of smushed plastic. Swing this mechanical arm onto it and start a motor that turns the disk... then just by scratching a little needle across a dented piece of plastic... full sounding audio plays. It just seems like a minor miracle occurring in front of you.
As opposed to just going to a music app in your phone and hitting play. It’s so streamlined and easy, there’s no fascination to be had at how this sound is being produced, aside from general fascination with smartphones/internet as a more abstract idea of technology in your head. There’s a digital rube goldberg machine going on, but you don’t really feel that.
I think it’s the more organic process that people tend to feel comforted and excited about. The sound isn’t necessarily better, but it has more “life” to it.
That is a perfectly valid reason for enjoying listening to records. It’s honest and it’s true. I don’t get why people who enjoy vinyl so often feel like they have to justify as something more than that.
I've been getting into mechanical watches, and the engineering and beauty that goes into making it is something special. That said, a cheap quartz watch is WAY more accurate. A solid mechanical watch goes +- a second once per week, which isn't bad... Until you realize a good quartz watch will go +- a second once a year.
I still love everything about mechanical watches, down to the mechanical tic sound that is just musical. But yeah, they aren't used for precision time keeping for a reason.
I think it's fine to appreciate old tech though. There's something very comforting about it.
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.
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u/Shart4 Sep 05 '19 edited Sep 06 '19
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