Motoring2 mins ago
A New "vinyl" Chart Has Been Started Apparently
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Can anybody explain why anyone would buy music on vinyl, instead of a CD, or a download ? I was one of the first people I knew to get a CD player, back in 1983 and I was able to hear music for the very first time, without all the noise brought about by scratches. CDs were much easier to look after and it wasn't long before they could be played in cars. So why are some people going back to buying new music on LPs and singles ? It doesn't make sense to me at all !
Can anybody explain why anyone would buy music on vinyl, instead of a CD, or a download ? I was one of the first people I knew to get a CD player, back in 1983 and I was able to hear music for the very first time, without all the noise brought about by scratches. CDs were much easier to look after and it wasn't long before they could be played in cars. So why are some people going back to buying new music on LPs and singles ? It doesn't make sense to me at all !
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Ratter...I remember all the Hi-fi magazines trying to persuade us to spend over £1000+ on a Linn Sondek a few years ago, and it was obvious to me that companies like that were staring defeat in the face. Of course, they all make CD players now !
One aspect of recorded music that is sometimes forgotten, is that it can't be better than listening to the performance live in a good Concert hall. In Swansea we are blessed with a marvelous venue, called the Brangwyn Hall, which is regularly used to record classical music, because of its good acoustics.
On one occasion years ago, I was lucky to be present when Pavarotti and
Kiri Te Kanawa were recording an opera. As a BT Engineer, I managed to blag my way in and sat at the back completely immersed in the music !
One aspect of recorded music that is sometimes forgotten, is that it can't be better than listening to the performance live in a good Concert hall. In Swansea we are blessed with a marvelous venue, called the Brangwyn Hall, which is regularly used to record classical music, because of its good acoustics.
On one occasion years ago, I was lucky to be present when Pavarotti and
Kiri Te Kanawa were recording an opera. As a BT Engineer, I managed to blag my way in and sat at the back completely immersed in the music !
When the music I want is issued on vinyl I will start buying records again. My LP's have been looked after over the years so there aren't any scratches to spoil the sound. CD's are fine in the car but to listen to music at home, and I mean listen to rather then just being on in the background, then you can't beat vinyl, it has a richness and depth that just isn't there on a CD. Of course the playing equipment has to be top notch as well.
Here you go Mikey, this explains it... http://
It looks like vinyl is appealing (albeit in small numbers compared to downloads) to all generations judging by this week's Vinyl Chart which include Shout by Lulu at number 5 and Bowie's Young Americans at 7
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All serious music aficionados (not me) still prefer vinyl to CDs.
I still buy CDs instead of downloads. CD quality is significantly better than MP3, which if fine for jogging on the beach, but I wouldn't want it at home.
Apparently MP4 format is closer to CD quality, but still not as good.
Download formats have become popular, but they were only ever intended to be a quick and convenient compromise format, to carry around on your phone, or while you are out on your bike.
I still buy CDs instead of downloads. CD quality is significantly better than MP3, which if fine for jogging on the beach, but I wouldn't want it at home.
Apparently MP4 format is closer to CD quality, but still not as good.
Download formats have become popular, but they were only ever intended to be a quick and convenient compromise format, to carry around on your phone, or while you are out on your bike.
The guy in Ratter's video puts markers on his screen, the lower of which was 44kHz. It's all completely academic because, if you put "human ear frequency response" into your favourite search engine, the result comes back "20Hz-20kHz" (and you start losing the top end, gradually, from your early 20s).
Either my ears are kaput or my phone's speakers are rubbish but, when I play this video, it fades at about 9400Hz. There are some artefacts - 'beat frequencies', if you will - on the way to 20k but, other than that, silence.
When I use a frequency generating app on my phone, my upper limit is usually 11khz or so but I still don't know if it's my ears or the speaker's limits. I will ask my optician for a hearing test on my next visit.
My argument, on favour of vinyl, is that the waveform output is curved, whereas CD/MP3 are digitised and thus a jagged/stepped waveform. Your eardrum might succeed in smoothing this out but the fact that it has to must have some structural impacts. When CD's were new on the market, some purists would insist that vinyl sounded "smoother" but that was their subjective assessment, not based on what oscilloscopes showed.
Additionally, some audiophiles would consider a piece of vinyl as 'spent', or at least having the edge taken off its top end response after as few as 10 plays. You'd get it home, listen to it once through, to check for flaws, commit it to tape on the second run, then put it on the shelf. Eight more top-quality plays for when the tape wore out or adding a track to a compilation, say.
Then again, if wine snobs can fail at blind tastings, I'll bet that audio snobs couldn't pick apart CD and vinyl other than by reference to cues such as dust/static on the vinyl version (in the quiet passages).
Either my ears are kaput or my phone's speakers are rubbish but, when I play this video, it fades at about 9400Hz. There are some artefacts - 'beat frequencies', if you will - on the way to 20k but, other than that, silence.
When I use a frequency generating app on my phone, my upper limit is usually 11khz or so but I still don't know if it's my ears or the speaker's limits. I will ask my optician for a hearing test on my next visit.
My argument, on favour of vinyl, is that the waveform output is curved, whereas CD/MP3 are digitised and thus a jagged/stepped waveform. Your eardrum might succeed in smoothing this out but the fact that it has to must have some structural impacts. When CD's were new on the market, some purists would insist that vinyl sounded "smoother" but that was their subjective assessment, not based on what oscilloscopes showed.
Additionally, some audiophiles would consider a piece of vinyl as 'spent', or at least having the edge taken off its top end response after as few as 10 plays. You'd get it home, listen to it once through, to check for flaws, commit it to tape on the second run, then put it on the shelf. Eight more top-quality plays for when the tape wore out or adding a track to a compilation, say.
Then again, if wine snobs can fail at blind tastings, I'll bet that audio snobs couldn't pick apart CD and vinyl other than by reference to cues such as dust/static on the vinyl version (in the quiet passages).
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