This thread is for people who have compared directly in a familiar high-end audio system the sound of a vintage turntable to the sound of a contemporary turntable.
It is fascinating to me that there is even a controversy that today's turntable designs cannot soundly beat designs from 20, 30 years ago. Yet here we are . . .
Why is there no consensus that sophisticated technologies which in theory seemingly solve the problems of LP playback (air bearing, magnetic co-rotation, air suspension, huge mass, servo-feedback platter speed control, vacuum hold-down, etc.) actually in practice solve the problems posed by LP playback? (I am asking this purely rhetorically.)
In all of the sophistication and technology of today's SOTA turntables is somehow a bit of the soul of the music lost, compared to other, simpler, vintage designs?
I am well aware that unless the same tonearm and cartridge are mounted on each turntable you cannot be sure what you are hearing from which component, and you cannot be sure to which component you can attribute sonic characteristics. Of course even holding the tonearm and cartridge constant there are sample to sample variations among cartridges of the same model, and differences in the alignment of two different copies of the same cartridge can result in significant sonic differences.
Comparing apples and apples (holding the tonearm and the cartridge constant) how would you compare and contrast the sound you heard from the vintage turntable versus the contemporary turntable?
PS: DDK has covered much of this ground in his wonderful threads describing his amazing collection of vintage turntables. I would be curious to read from others who also have compared in a valid way the sound of vintage turntables to the sound of contemporary turntables.
It is fascinating to me that there is even a controversy that today's turntable designs cannot soundly beat designs from 20, 30 years ago. Yet here we are . . .
Why is there no consensus that sophisticated technologies which in theory seemingly solve the problems of LP playback (air bearing, magnetic co-rotation, air suspension, huge mass, servo-feedback platter speed control, vacuum hold-down, etc.) actually in practice solve the problems posed by LP playback? (I am asking this purely rhetorically.)
In all of the sophistication and technology of today's SOTA turntables is somehow a bit of the soul of the music lost, compared to other, simpler, vintage designs?
I am well aware that unless the same tonearm and cartridge are mounted on each turntable you cannot be sure what you are hearing from which component, and you cannot be sure to which component you can attribute sonic characteristics. Of course even holding the tonearm and cartridge constant there are sample to sample variations among cartridges of the same model, and differences in the alignment of two different copies of the same cartridge can result in significant sonic differences.
Comparing apples and apples (holding the tonearm and the cartridge constant) how would you compare and contrast the sound you heard from the vintage turntable versus the contemporary turntable?
PS: DDK has covered much of this ground in his wonderful threads describing his amazing collection of vintage turntables. I would be curious to read from others who also have compared in a valid way the sound of vintage turntables to the sound of contemporary turntables.
