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Porsche RennSport 4 Monterey_ 880 by Max_911S_fahrer, on Flickr

For whatever reason I envision turntables as kind of an old school work of art. The act of getting out the record, cleaning it, setting the stylus down and reading the liner notes while its playing is something I really enjoy.

Yeah I know, carbs, LPs and clutches are obsolete. I don't give a rats ass.

It's sad to say.....
but I could potentially tell my grandchildren that "when I was young", there were no mp3s, computers, cell phones, VCRs, or even internet.

(edit: I'm only in the 40's. Life goes fast.)

my dad was before radio

I was before tv was in existance most places

Dad always wanted a Garrard.
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Me and my Dad SOLDERED AND BUILT our own HeathKit TUBE radio.



tell that to the kids today that can't even wear a belt or hike up their pants so their underwear isn't showing...........

Heathkit.
It cost a lot more then buying a comparable fully assembled item. But the fun and satisfaction of the assembly was worth it.
I miss Heathkit.. I think I still have some of the stuff

The days of learning of electronics................it was DANGGG FUN going to the tube tester at the local store.

those days are so long gone when you can buy a DVD player for $16-$20 on sale.


heathkit stereo - Bing Images

I've got one of these (not my video):
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Mitsubishi Quartz Logic Direct Drive Linear Tracking

^This. To me, listening to music on a turntable is an experience. It's all about putting the LP on, adjusting bass/treble/loudness/etc. and then relaxing on the couch (positioned at the sweet spot between the speakers) and reading through liner notes and lyrics that I have read many times before. It's why I know obscure things like Fran Sheehan played bass on the first Boston album or that Geezer Butler's first name is actually Terry (or I suppose "Terrence"...). SmileWavy

here's mine... VPI HW-19 MK IV... yes, it is interaction, it is warm sound, it is beautiful LP artwork, as IROC said, "it is an experience"

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For the cost of a turntable, I could probably just download my collection from Amazon or iTunes.

I have read that an MP3 file has 10% of the analog signal. Like those msispeleld words that you still recognize, you 'hear' the song.

But she's not there.

The human brain does an amazing job of filling in the missing pieces, same thing can be said for 30fps video vs. real life. This processing does not some for free; there is a fatigue factor.

Sampling of the original analog sound is used for digitization and storage. In an analog playback system, there is no sampling; all information is present. While excellent sound can be still achieved with sampling, there is reduction in quality and information by method - period.

Don't get me wrong, I love the modern conveniences of youtube and hundreds of records on an SD card in my daily driver, but when I really want to listen and enjoy music for the sake of music, nothing beats vinyl.

I have turned on many folks to this and to their own amazement opened their ears up to a whole OLD level of enjoying music.

Sorry, I simply don't believe that. I have some very good (not reference quality, but pretty darn good) headphones, and I simply cannot hear the difference between a WAV (bit-for-bit copy of the CD track) or the same track rendered as FLAC (lossless compression).

Audiophiles truly despise MP3's because it's a lossy compression. And there are very many crappy MP3's out there.

But with high-quality renderers (LAME), correcting rippers (Paranoia) and suitable (high, preferably variable) bitrates, MP3's can be produced which I cannot audibly distinguish from either WAV or FLAC. And neither apparently can audiophile snobs with music PhD's and a sound engineering background (yeh, tested on the ex).

It's quite ludicrous for this even to come up come up in the context of a "music conversion" system that costs sub-$100. There's the smoking gun for ****ty quality right there. A $5 DAC might be digital, but not all digital is equal.. And a turntable without bearings? Please - folks who cared used to spend more on a STYLUS - 30 years ago - than that entire system costs :)

Just don't do A/D at all unless you're going to do it right. Ripping audio digitally from CD's - reading ALL the bits that were recorded - means that the only A/D converter involved in the whole process was an expensive one with lots of blinky lights in the recording/mastering studio run by a professional.

^^^^ This!

I have hundreds of albums and 78s that are long out of production and unavailable on CD/MP3. I am preparing to do A/D for preservation and want to do it right. I have gotten excellent A/D results in the past with high quality A/D converters to 320 bit MP3s. I plan to do these archives in WAV. I have worked in the professional music production side and while I don't consider myself a "golden ears audiophile" I do have minimum standards. $100 turntable simply won't do.

For reference, a full digital audio file is 1411.2 bit. MP3 compression ratio looks like this 128=11/1(9%), 256=5.5/1 (18%), 320=4.4/1(23%)

Can you hear the difference between sample rates? Take the test: http://www.noiseaddicts.com/2009/03/mp3-sound-quality-test-128-320/

I still tinker with turntables. Whn I'm in a "close 'n play" mood, I use one of my old Bang & Olufsen models. I also like to take old AR XA's, re-do the suspensions and power supplies, then add a fairly low mass arm like the old Infinity Black Widow or even a Grace. My favorite table since the 70's is the tried-and-true Linn Sondek LP12. (Someone mentioned Heathkits, I love modifying old Dynas).

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Clip 1 was obviously 320kHz sample rate and I could hear that in bed on my laptop's garbage speakers.

I am not saying one can't achieve amazing results but ALL conversions have a loss - PERIOD. The sound at the mic, console, mixing, mastering and production, loss, loss, loss, loss.... This is true in the analog and digital domains.

Vinyl playback has mas many inconsistencies that digital media is not plagued by. Nevertheless, there is no information missing in the stream and extended frequencies surpass that of digital media. It is my preferred playback method.