most of them should end up framed
Vinyl set to outsell CDs for first time since 1986
401–410 of 410 posts
Re: Vinyl set to outsell CDs for first time since 1986
#402Earlier quoted context omitted.
You'd have to come up with a good source to convince me that 16bits per sample is not good enough for consumer audio (or that you could tell the difference even in perfect conditions. So might be able to hear it, the vast majority of people won't) but beyond that it doesn't really matter in this discussion because vinyls have a much worse fidelity. If you sample vinyl audio at more than 16bits you'll just be sampling…
> Audiophiles are very hard to take seriously because the hobby is 95% snake oil and 5% reasonable engineering. I bought some half decent speakers by my standards around a year ago (Creative T40s for what its worth). As a test I tried some MP3 tracks at various bitrates sitting on my hard drive to see if I could guess the difference. Most of the time I thought the 192kbps sounded better than the 320kbps.
To be fair, speakers are the component in your signal chain that actually has a major impact on audio quality - it is by far the most important factor and it should take up the majority of your (audio) budget.
Not to sound condescending but those speakers you mention don't seem very decent at and probably don't warrant any conclusion towards the benefits of various compression settings or audiophile configurations in.
Re: Vinyl set to outsell CDs for first time since 1986
#403Earlier quoted context omitted.
I think the "good enough" phrase you used really touches on the reason vinyl still exists. Streaming is "good enough." But physical media is a different experience. It's more intimate. You can touch, feel, and examine the music and the packaging. Some bands (REM is one) even put Easter Eggs in their physical media that can't be reproduced by digital. Streaming is fine for when you want to fill your space with sound.…
> Physical media is for when you want to really enjoy the music. Wow this is some condescending, pretentious nonsense. Also, every streaming service I've ever used is perfectly capable of playing an album in order.
There's a middleground: I'm a music collector and enthusiast that maintains a lossless, digital-only library. All the benefits of truly owning music, including rare releases not available on any streamign service, with the convenience of a digital medium stored on my NAS and online (as a backup).
Obviously when it comes to rare music I have to buy and rip vinyl and CDs from time to time, but I couldn't care less about the physical medium or romanticizing nostalgic rituals. I care about the music. If I want to read background information and liner notes my iPad is always close by.
Re: Vinyl set to outsell CDs for first time since 1986
#404I think there’s some confusion in here that everyone buying vinyl is repeating the habits of our parents and grandparents. I think there’s this misconception we’re buying records of whatever the latest hit band is with only 3 good songs and mostly filler. Vinyl today is very much about the collecting of good music and taking part in the physical ness of that collection. The b-side is just as good as the A-side, even…
Some artists do special masters for vinyl, though. For Devin Townsend's new record, Empath, he spent an extra month (I believe) just mastering the vinyl version, not to mention the tremendous effort for extra artwork. This intentionally different sound offsets the technical inferiority of the format.
Wholeheartedly agree with your comment, though. My house as a "music room" without any screens for that purpose. Some people might say that's a bit excessive, but I too enjoy my hobby. :)
Re: Vinyl set to outsell CDs for first time since 1986
#405So I've been thinking a lot about this video recently: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aZ2czFuIYmQ It talks about, demonstrates and measures the air quality around vinyl. Apparently the things are leaching dangerous compounds into the air constantly, especially when being played. It made his air quality measuring device give an alarm, instead of just reporting the number of particles or something. I'm not sure, maybe…
I lost my dad to cancer last year, and I think it can be maddening to try to unwind the causes. I think when you lose somebody, the natural impulse can be to reach out for a cause, at least so you can understand it, and there's a tendency to seize on any evidence or theory, no matter how weak, just to have somewhere to lay down the blame. So you might be right that vinyl records are dangerous, or maybe that had no im…
And considering carcinogens specifically, they're so ubiquitous in modern life in various tiny quantities that eliminating credible risks becomes an exhausting goose chase.
Re: Vinyl set to outsell CDs for first time since 1986
#406Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Audiophiles are very hard to take seriously because the hobby is 95% snake oil and 5% reasonable engineering. I bought some half decent speakers by my standards around a year ago (Creative T40s for what its worth). As a test I tried some MP3 tracks at various bitrates sitting on my hard drive to see if I could guess the difference. Most of the time I thought the 192kbps sounded better than the 320kbps.
To be fair, speakers are the component in your signal chain that actually has a major impact on audio quality - it is by far the most important factor and it should take up the majority of your (audio) budget. Not to sound condescending but those speakers you mention don't seem very decent at and probably don't warrant any conclusion towards the benefits of various compression settings or audiophile configurations in…
Yes, I am not an audiophile. They still sound a lot better than the TV speakers the sound was coming through before and they are more than good enough for me. Some kids listen to music through the speakers on their phones.
Re: Vinyl set to outsell CDs for first time since 1986
#407Earlier quoted context omitted.
This seems kind of counterproductive for the (I think) vinyl target group. If I listen to vinyl, I want the kinda retro feeling "real" analog audio signal, else I'd just get a CD or online download. A mid-range stylus is completly sufficient for a great experience without any noticable noise and next to no real wear on the records.
I'd add that the ritual around vinyl (i.e. manually adjusting tone arm, touching a vinyl and placing it on the platter, etc) is the part that people like the most, not the actual sound. I don't think anyone would be able to discern a new vinyl from a cd in a blind test.
This is basically my position; I buy lots of music on vinyl and I hold no illusions that it's "higher quality" or "better fidelity" or that I could tell the difference between a song played off one of my records and the same song played from a CD with my eyes closed.
But I like the rituals around it: taking the album out of the sleeve and looking at the artwork; placing the album on the table and setting it to spin; lowering the needle. I like how I have to purposefully listen to the music - you can't just set up a playlist and walk away, you have to pay attention to the songs and flip over the record once the side is finished, or put the second disc on.
Re: Vinyl set to outsell CDs for first time since 1986
#408Earlier quoted context omitted.
I can be convinced otherwise as statistics isn’t a strength of mine, but those two numbers are by units. Unit share doesn’t seem to make sense as a comparison point to me. A single or ringtone shouldn’t be given equal respect to a full collection of songs. Downloaded singles are 75% of the unit market share but only 5% of the revenue market share in 2018. 2018 will be the last year downloaded singles have a greater r…
I agree that unit shares don't make sense, I was referencing the volume % which seems less absurd. The % of volume that LP had in 2018 was similar to the late % in the 80s. My point was that in the late 80s vinyl was "dead" and it's still "dead".
But it’s not dead in the same way. The resurgence has it stabilized and growing a bit still. In 89 it was on a 5 year drastic downtrend.
Now it’s on a tear compared to 93 to 07 and beyond.
There’s active communities online and in real life of people who like vinyl and are buying it. Though there were always enthusiasts. The buying part wasn’t happening from 93 to 07. If you can run a successful business off something that isn’t trending down, without the biz being too crazy, then the thing isn’t really dead. It’s niche sure. But dead wouldn’t make sense. Cassettes are dead. Paying for ringtones are dead. Those two aren’t close to vinyl.
Re: Vinyl set to outsell CDs for first time since 1986
#409Earlier quoted context omitted.
How about a FLAC rip of the first playing of a vinyl disc?
...would only make sense if everything was recorded and processed analog from studio to press, and then immediately converted to digital on that first play (...and then I'd also be hearing a lot of analog audio equipment, some like this, I hate it, clarity, cohesion and reproducibility float my boat). I'm not sure, but I'm guessing in modern recording techniques, it's pretty soon converted to a digital format, and fr…
The playback process of a needle moving repeatedly through a groove tends to physically smooth out the waveform compared to a digital copy of the same recording. Speaking entirely subjectively, I think this makes bass sound warmer+smoother.
Besides, all too often your digital sound recording isn't making use of 16-bits of dynamic range, what with the loudness war peaking during the CD era. Oftentimes the vinyl versions of albums are mastered a lot more conservatively since brickwalling the recording with compressors and limiters will cause the record needle to skip.
Re: Vinyl set to outsell CDs for first time since 1986
#410Earlier quoted context omitted.
Perceptually lossless and mathematically lossless are two different things. I'd be happy with the former.
But for a backup, you’d want actual lossless compression, wouldn’t you? Not for listening, but for re-encoding.
I think it's something I could tolerate sacrificing if the storage gains were substantial.