I’ve never understood the recent insurgence from digital into a vinyl world. I once owned hundreds of vinyl albums and high end turntables along with their pricey cartridges and needles. Yeah, at the time the music sounded good but wasn’t nearly as clear, brilliant, and noise free as a digital reproduction. Once I heard digital I never went back.

Some say the warmth of the sound is better, but to me its only mottled tones with less definition.

With my vinyl collection noise and static was always a problem…I have lived in an environment that has fine dust particulates which is exasperated by a forced air home heating system. Once, I had several brushes and wet solution cleaning devices for the vinyl and used them at least 2-4 hrs weekly to help keep the noise and static levels down. With digital the problem rarely exists.

The vinyl’s storage was always a problem, too.

JMO.

 

Plus the ease of selecting the song you want to listen to.
Levi

 

Vinyl. Even compared against good CD players.

 

For purity of sound, digital for me. I do enjoy listening to vinyl as well, but it's limited to older recordings that essentially should be listened to on vinyl anyway. Vinyl for me is more about the nostalgia than anything else, hearing the pops is part of the enjoyment.

 

I prefer the smoother, more "round", and "linear" sound of vinyl over digital. However, the convenience of digital is great.

That said, I usually go with whatever delivers a high level of fidelity at the price I'm willing to pay. CDs are becoming so cheap, it's reminding me of when I started dumpster-diving for vinyl back in the early 90s. After that, play it through the best equipment you can afford.

 

Being in that business for over 30yrs I can tell you that some people enjoy the "smoother" sound of vinyl, but the digital format has S/N ratio and dynamic range which is what makes music sound live! Vinyl can't compete when it comes to dynamic range, but to each his/her own.

 

The best music comes out of old bar speakers. I don't care how it gets there.

 

Vinyl for the overall experience, taking the album out of the cover and sleeve, placing it on the turntable, cleaning the record, positioning the tone arm, flipping the lever and watching the tone arm gently glide onto the intro groove. Reading or just admiring the cover while the opening track plays. It's just a lot more involving.

One study found that people tend to multitask much less when listening to vinyl and instead just sit back and take in the music.

Digital for the sound, though. And the convenience.

But these days I mostly listen to podcasts.

 

Agreed with this 100%. With Vinyl there's a process involved, you're invested in the album and with a Nitty Gritty vacuum record cleaner and a Denon DP-61F, a record in decent condition can sound pretty damn good too.

Digital format almost makes the music a "commodity". So much to choose from at your fingertips, can find myself constantly moving around but I ultimately believe digital sounds better.

What I find really funny / ironic / dumb are those that choose to listen to Vinyl versions of modern albums that were recorded in a digital format. If it starts digital, Vinyl won't "fill in the gaps".

 

I truly came of age along with stereo equipment.
there was an anticipation listening to the choouck shhhshh shhhhsh shshhs as the lead track lead into the music.
and tof's right the process of an album was cool...
enough with that crap. I've got around 10 gig of music on my phone.
I don't really know how much music that is. a couple hundred cd's worth.
oh yeah and it sounds great. of course perhaps back when i was a golden ear and could hear out past 20k perhaps i might not have agreed.
but i doubt it.