Al, I actually came back to vinyl around 2000 after selling all of my records in the 1990s. That was a big mistake that I regret. I am still vinyl only and listen to very few digitally recorded records.
How do you know when you are done?
- Thread starter Mike Lavigne
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Al, I actually came back to vinyl around 2000 after selling all of my records in the 1990s. That was a big mistake that I regret. I am still vinyl only and listen to very few digitally recorded records.
They have gear. You have a nice collection of great sounding recordings, some of which you carry around to judge other people’s systems. I have bought some of your recommendations. Thank you. They sound great.
You forgot to mention belt/thread tension and length. They both matter too.
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For the most part the resurgence is a result of hype, young lemmings follow each other and playing vinyl has become cool. They rarely own capable systems anyway and i see so many especially young girls selling of their complete Collection of shit music on the used market. They can not hear the difference anyway. This resurgence will pass, they are fickle customers.
For me recordings from 1959-1965 were the best of the best with 1961 being my absolute favorite. Over the years I’ve pondered why this might be.
When people ask me the best way to improve their system- and I am talking your typical "audiophile group" I reply: buy the best recordings you can afford of the music you enjoy. Almost no equipment change in the same room will have as profound positive experience as listening to an exquisite recording.
No interconnect, power cable , fuse or footer will ordinarily have as profound effect as a good recording.
Take your own system play an ordinary recording- then play and exquisite one- your experience is transformed in your own room with your own system with that superb recording.
No interconnect, power cable , fuse or footer will ordinarily have as profound effect as a good recording.
Take your own system play an ordinary recording- then play and exquisite one- your experience is transformed in your own room with your own system with that superb recording.
Agree! Combine this with proper set up and having a decent room will mean more than any 300k box will
For me the years 1956 to 1958 stand out as the very best recording dates. I have a habit of writing the recording date on the back of my LP covers, and it dawned on me at some point that many of my very favorite jazz records were from those years.
There is something to that, except that I found that often recordings that I found to be mediocre or ordinary in the past turned out to be good or even excellent when my system improved.
A good and improved system makes most recordings sound better, and the best sound even better than before.
I agree with this. It is probably best to try to improve both your collection of recordings and the presentation from your system through careful selection and set up. It does make one ponder, the possibilities of spending that 500 K on the latest greatest speaker versus cherry, picking the best recordings of your favorite music. That money can go a long way towards a superb record collection. It could also get you an excellent new room addition to an existing house.
Jeff found this out. He seems to have a great jazz vinyl collection, system, and new room.
I don't doubt this one bit. My perception is, Audiophiles are into the gear. Music lovers use any gear, but have deep knowledge about the media.
Most of the kids buying records have neither the gear or the knowledge. But some are serious. About the music. I have met young people that have extensive knowledge about band, their albums, members of the band and who else they play with. Maybe not as much knowledge about the recording process. Some are like a walking talking Roon app. But they don't have any real system to listen on. Just a simple Project TT. They don't listen to music to critique the recording quality. That is something an audiophile does. They critique the recording to discuss the content of the music and what it is trying to convey to the listener. Or the skill of the musicians. Not the skill of the needle to track the high frequency.
depends on the particular genre. for instance; for early classical music reproduction there was a gestation of discovery and performance and focus on original instruments and the peak of early music vinyl might have been 70's early 80's....even late 80's still all analog. many of the organizations and academic activity really got going then which was who was doing it. they hung in there with their purist recording approaches too. the commercial aspect of that movement was secondary.
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Some numbers to show the relevance of AAA in the vinyl ressurgence.
DG pressed a few tittles on the “Original Source (pure analogue)” issuing around 2500 copies of each. Only the most sought and famous are sold out.
Just Sam Fender "People Watching" , issued in 2025 has sold more than 50000 vinyl copies.
BTW, issuing vinyl is also part of the marketing strategy of music labels - it reaches even people who do not care about vinyl.
Yes, even clicks and pops are not discontinuous ... Nice to see someone acknowledging that vinyl artifacts can be appealing to some listeners. Surely artifacts are part of the ritual.
Yes, my dealer reported that sales of vinyl cloths and brushes increased. He regrets that no one is buying good sleeves and the good cleaning machines. I just bought a like new VPI 16.5 because the price was too cheap to let it stay in the shop ...
If you consider the ritual as part of the listening preference, yes.
BTW, I also listen to some jazz and nostalgia in vinyl.
My post was intended to refer to jazz records from 1956-1958, my primary interest. I agree with you regarding classical recordings made after that period; I have many excellent classical records from the 1960s and 70s.
One reason records pressed in the 1950s and early 60s sound so good is they used tube electronics exclusively, not just in the recording but also in the mastering and pressing. By the late 60s, transistor gear was being phased in, along with multi-track recording.
IMO this is a view dominated by the perspective of an existing collection of LPs ...
Surely the "period instrument movement" had a long buildup and reached its peak visibility 1970s–1990s. They focused on Bach, Monteverdi, and early Baroque. But since the middle 80's the "period instrument movement" entered cruising speed and we could start hearing Mozart, Haydn and even Beethoven, as well as less known composers, on period instruments, mostly issued in digital, performed by great orchestras with also great conductors.
I have no problem assuming that I enjoy much more listening to the recordings of the younger generations than to those of the old references, of the past, that are now many time issued in boxes commemorating the 50 or 75 years of the recordings. .. I listened to them extensively with great pleasure at a moment of my life, I need something different now. Surely there a few performances that stayed forever - for Tchaikovsky 4th I need Mravinsky and the LPO, nothing else!
BTW, I do not listen 8 hours a day - probably my musical perspective would be different if I listened for more time.
i was a fan of digital period instrument recordings for many years, but had no depth to my understanding of it. i just liked the more intimate, vibrant presentation and richer tone. i did stumble on miscellaneous early music recordings that touched me and i returned to, but again had no appreciation of where the music fit and any idea of the early music recording movement. so i already had a taste for it and so was open to the unexpected deep dive my acquisition of that collection delivered.
but no doubt the collection sampling and sorting process did trigger a love for that and investigation of that whole genre. it now is a significant portion of my vinyl and digital listening and it seems like there is no limit to what it's doing. it's a rich musical landscape.
right.
i came into this backwards; first listening to the more mainstream composers with period instruments on digital, then more early music on digital, and then the collection discovery experience filling in the whole picture (at least as whole as i have yet discovered).
it is a privilege to be retired and listen as much as i like. but it's not the same priority for everyone. or sometimes a choice either.
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