The Great CD vs Vinyl debate

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aldinblack
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Re: The Great CD vs Vinyl debate

Post by aldinblack »


Palais81 wrote:I listen using 3 methods all going through an old NAD amp and old Wharfedale speakers


Phone using Apple Music. It's good to listen to stuff that you don't want to shell out your hard earned dosh. Also, putting it on to shuffle is a bit like having a really good radio station.

CDs. Better sound than the phone, louder and clearer. Just always hated those plastic cases. Shite! Plus the sleeve notes are tiny for my poor old eyes.

Vinyl. The best sound on the NAD. Very loud and energetic sound. But what makes vinyl best is that it forces me to listen to the whole side because I can't be bothered to get up and lift the needle! Just like the old days, thereby giving the album a chance to be listened to thoroughly.

Call me old skool!
Would you mind sharing what model NAD amp you have?

When I was about 16 I had a NAD3020, which I was so proud of, those were the days!
Also what turntable do you use ?
I agree with your vinyl promoting album listening end to end..

I never did own a pair of wharfedales but remember checking them out in hi-fi shops.. which ones do you have?
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Re: The Great CD vs Vinyl debate

Post by Palais81 »

Yes it is the 3020 NAD. The turntable is just an Ion which my wife bought for me to transfer the vinyl to MP3 but I gave up doing that. It does play well just as a record deck. The speakers are Delta 30s. I had the choice of those are Diamonds at the time but opted for the Deltas to provide more bass (well.i am a Stranglers fan!). They are on tiled dining kitchen floor and they produce a whopping sound. All budget stuff but I am not in a hurry to change.
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Re: The Great CD vs Vinyl debate

Post by Jake »

On this subject I’m curious do people prefer brand new vinyl or used/second hand?


I’m quite torn on the issue. I’ve been pretty disappointed with a few new pressings, to some extent you know what you’re getting with second hand vinyl, so long as you can check it out first. I also think older pressings tend to have better quality control than some of the rubbish available now at extortionate prices.

The over inflated price of some second hand vinyl often irritates me though. Some people have more money than sense from what I’ve seen. Buying off discogs can be really hit or miss too, the very few purchases I have made, I found 50% of the time the great condition of a record to be over stated.

A local record dealer had some Japanese stranglers pressings, but at 50 quid a pop for a seven inch, not a chance, which might lead to another topic…
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Re: The Great CD vs Vinyl debate

Post by Dom P »

Jake wrote: 18 Nov 2021, 20:08 On this subject I’m curious do people prefer brand new vinyl or used/second hand?


I’m quite torn on the issue. I’ve been pretty disappointed with a few new pressings, to some extent you know what you’re getting with second hand vinyl, so long as you can check it out first. I also think older pressings tend to have better quality control than some of the rubbish available now at extortionate prices.

The over inflated price of some second hand vinyl often irritates me though. Some people have more money than sense from what I’ve seen. Buying off discogs can be really hit or miss too, the very few purchases I have made, I found 50% of the time the great condition of a record to be over stated.

A local record dealer had some Japanese stranglers pressings, but at 50 quid a pop for a seven inch, not a chance, which might lead to another topic…
New vinyl is hit and miss... i use this for second hand:

https://eil.com/index.asp
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Re: The Great CD vs Vinyl debate

Post by Jake »

Dom P wrote: 18 Nov 2021, 23:24
New vinyl is hit and miss... i use this for second hand:

https://eil.com/index.asp
Nice one Dom, out of curiosity what have been the better and worse of more modern vinyl pressings you’ve come across?
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Re: The Great CD vs Vinyl debate

Post by Dom P »

Jake wrote: 19 Nov 2021, 00:19
Dom P wrote: 18 Nov 2021, 23:24
New vinyl is hit and miss... i use this for second hand:

https://eil.com/index.asp
Nice one Dom, out of curiosity what have been the better and worse of more modern vinyl pressings you’ve come across?
I find that vinyl that is current, ie, new albums, are fine, as good as ever... it's the re-issues and remasters etc that can be awful. I think this is mainly down to the remastering, especially when they claim to be going back to the original source blah ... two examples of utter shite are re-issues of the Selecter's Too Much Pressure and Soundgarden Superunkown. Just dreadul inferior muddy sound.
A 180g reissue of Nevermind is shit too (not heard the latest one)...
I've never had problems with quality (ie warped or scratched on delivery) .... it's more whether the mix has been properly adjusted for the medium.
I think Dark Matters vinyl has a very different, and superior less compressed (hot) mix than the digital versions, so thumbs up to that.
Recent Style Council three-LP set is great as well. That was done at Abbey Road so they knew what they were doing.
So I try to avoid these heavyweight re-issues... orginal floppy 100g 80s vinyl always sounds better!!
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Re: The Great CD vs Vinyl debate

Post by Jake »

Dom P wrote: 19 Nov 2021, 14:21

I find that vinyl that is current, ie, new albums, are fine, as good as ever... it's the re-issues and remasters etc that can be awful. I think this is mainly down to the remastering, especially when they claim to be going back to the original source blah ... two examples of utter shite are re-issues of the Selecter's Too Much Pressure and Soundgarden Superunkown. Just dreadul inferior muddy sound.
A 180g reissue of Nevermind is shit too (not heard the latest one)...
I've never had problems with quality (ie warped or scratched on delivery) .... it's more whether the mix has been properly adjusted for the medium.
I think Dark Matters vinyl has a very different, and superior less compressed (hot) mix than the digital versions, so thumbs up to that.
Recent Style Council three-LP set is great as well. That was done at Abbey Road so they knew what they were doing.
So I try to avoid these heavyweight re-issues... orginal floppy 100g 80s vinyl always sounds better!!

Cheers Dom, I haven’t got a lot of remastered new vinyls. The Siouxsie and the Banshees JUJu I received factory sealed and new had marks and scratches all over it, but sounds like it might actually be a good remaster, The Rapture is not a good vinyl master, I am not hugely into that album anyway, but sounds really poorly mastered for vinyl, Join Hands, which is a bit of a hit and miss album, sounds very good. I have a couple of XTCs remastered vinyls and to my ears they sound great. But I seem to find one in ten new vinyl pressings has factory defects, no doubt due to the lack of pressing plants and high demand on such limited capacity
There was some discussion in the MSM regarding the current dire situation with getting new vinyl pressings, Adele and Ed Sheehan’s new albums have had a big impact on getting orders for other artists. Apparently even they had to submit the masters to the plant six months in advance, and if you are a smaller artist you can expect a lot longer to wait.
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Re: The Great CD vs Vinyl debate

Post by Waffle waitress »

theraven1979 wrote: 26 Aug 2021, 10:42 Sounds ideal. I do prefer vinyl over CD. Especially since you had those Sound Wars or whatever the fuck it was called. I swear I have some CDs that you can hear vinyl crackle in also :lol:

The vinyl is more of an experience. Dropping the needle, examining the sleeve notes all part of the enjoyment/ceremony. Definitely more of an experience.

I've a friend who spent 10s of thousands on his sound system. So much so when he bought it some bloke from the place he bought it from spent the day with him getting the levels right and everything. What does he listen to? Phil Collins! I keep meaning to pop round with some decent music and check it out.


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Re: The Great CD vs Vinyl debate

Post by theraven1979 »

Waffle waitress wrote:
theraven1979 wrote: 26 Aug 2021, 10:42 Sounds ideal. I do prefer vinyl over CD. Especially since you had those Sound Wars or whatever the fuck it was called. I swear I have some CDs that you can hear vinyl crackle in also Image

The vinyl is more of an experience. Dropping the needle, examining the sleeve notes all part of the enjoyment/ceremony. Definitely more of an experience.

I've a friend who spent 10s of thousands on his sound system. So much so when he bought it some bloke from the place he bought it from spent the day with him getting the levels right and everything. What does he listen to? Phil Collins! I keep meaning to pop round with some decent music and check it out.


Jim

Did you ever get around to doing this Jim?
I have streamed some stuff through his setup but I can't really tell the difference tbh


Jim

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Re: The Great CD vs Vinyl debate

Post by toilerinblack »

My favourite subject........Vinyl v CD
No contest vinyl everytime for everything it stood for with what held in your hand with the massive cover and reading the lyrics song by song that many albums had printed in them back in the day to the putting the needle on it's everything that with owning itmafter you finally purchasing it an walking out with it from the record and you couldn't wait to get home and play it again again lol again lol also with vinyl you bloody well looked after it too in it's protective plastic clear sleeve that you would put it back again after playing it with the rest of the tightly squeezed collection in the record coloured lockable case or box, those where the days and how I have regretted getting rid of so many in the past and I only wish if I could turn back time....massive mistake!
But like you have said sound wise then CD is best for sure everytime it just doesn't feel like i'm owning the same product with a CD album like I did with vinyl,so overall it's a draw in each corner for vinyl v CD.
CD ....Best quality sound
VINYL..best owned product.
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Re: The Great CD vs Vinyl debate

Post by Waffle waitress »

theraven1979 wrote: 06 Nov 2023, 21:03
Waffle waitress wrote:
theraven1979 wrote: 26 Aug 2021, 10:42 Sounds ideal. I do prefer vinyl over CD. Especially since you had those Sound Wars or whatever the fuck it was called. I swear I have some CDs that you can hear vinyl crackle in also Image

The vinyl is more of an experience. Dropping the needle, examining the sleeve notes all part of the enjoyment/ceremony. Definitely more of an experience.

I've a friend who spent 10s of thousands on his sound system. So much so when he bought it some bloke from the place he bought it from spent the day with him getting the levels right and everything. What does he listen to? Phil Collins! I keep meaning to pop round with some decent music and check it out.


Jim

Did you ever get around to doing this Jim?
I have streamed some stuff through his setup but I can't really tell the difference tbh


Jim

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Re: The Great CD vs Vinyl debate

Post by ThinkTank »

I think i was one of the last people to change over from Vinyl to CD or i certainly was in my social circles. So many people told me on very regular basis how much better CD sounds compared to Vinyl. Also of course it was becoming less and less chance of getting the albums you wanted on Vinyl and CD became more important to own.
So i cant remember exactly when but i took the plunge i bought myself a new and very good hifi system with a CD player and went out and started buying all the Vinyl i had owned all over again on CD. I first replaced all my Stranglers catalogue.

My first memory was how CD sounded different and i thought not as good. Vinyl sounds like it fills the room when you play the record but CD seems to have a held back sound i later learnt that CD are compressed and thats what i was experiencing. Vinyl to me almost felt like a live sound that resonated through out the room in comparison and i really miss that. Even though CD has no interference sound i do miss that crackle and hiss at the beginning of a song as its just about to play that sort of added the anticipation and excitement of the song to me.

No one i don't think has mentioned the convenience of CD. I could never go back to vinyl because i love the playlists i can create i have music on in the background all day and i can have playlists that last days if i really want to. Vinyl you have to get up literally every 20-25 minutes to turn the disc over or change the disc completely. I can mix album or artists or mix any song i like with anything i like by using CD and transferring all the songs to my devices and Laptop.
I agree totally with you Toiler about the Vinyl playing was a bit of a ritual thing and i remember focusing very much on the cover and reading the song titles over and over again and looking at the cover photos as i listened to the album. Handling the vinyl at the sides of the disc and cleaning after every use and dropping that needle on to the vinyl it was very much an event to listen to an album. Good times.

I now stream my music straight to Sonos mobile Speakers at CD quality through the Wifi (much higher quality) or Bluetooth use voice commands to play anything i like for how ever long all from my seat if i want. Playlists with Individual tracks , individual albums , Individual Artists or just anything , everything in anyway i want. Not to forget how mobile digital music is as well you can just take your music with you wherever you go

The convenience of digital music far out weighs vinyl and I couldnt go back to Vinyl now.
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