analog or digital

[parry]

Guys...

our friend hasn't been around for ages...
I'm sure the "Jazzmaster phase" of his life is just one in a number of embarrassing detours on the road to self-discovery...

Let's just wish him all the best.
WE know the method of recording isn't nearly as important as the quality of the music...

Okay, I know...
quoting yourself in this context is always gauche... but when I saw this (and who listed it), I actually laughed out loud (REALLY hard!)...
http://cgi.ebay.com/Fender-AVRI-Jazzmas ... .m14.l1318

I thought I'd take a chance though...
I was wrong about the pointy guitar... 

[thingsthatfly]

And if you do really think vinyl is better than say a wave file / CD / DVD or other digital method of playing music, then you truly are a moron

I think that it a pretty silly thing to say, it is purely subjective.  I think most CD's sound preety bad compared to vinyl, early ones sound completely lifeless, where as recent are compresed to the point of having no dynamic range, I know it is not necessarily the fault of the CD format but rather how it is used but this is how most CDs are these days, where as albums mastered for vinyl aren't.  It really hit me when I got the first joanna newsom album on Vinyl, I loved it on CD, but it sounded so much better, its hard to describe but it seemed multidimensional and, despite the imperfections, more real it sounded like she was actually playing there

[Kawentzmann]

Unfortunately the 44.1 khz 16bit format of CDs was based on average listeners ratings, not audiophiles’. I don’t consider myself an audiophile but back when CDs entered the market I used to be annoyed by the sound of the cymbals, and I never could understand people using DATs with that format to record. Now that my ears have aged somewhat, CDs are fine, but I keep listening to vinyl due to the beautiful mastering. Vinyl mastering aides the human ear. For some music you will want the overwhelming approach possible only in the digital realm, though.

[noirengineer]

Unfortunately the 44.1 khz 16bit format of CDs was based on average listeners ratings, not audiophiles’. I don’t consider myself an audiophile but back when CDs entered the market I used to be annoyed by the sound of the cymbals, and I never could understand people using DATs with that format to record. Now that my ears have aged somewhat, CDs are fine, but I keep listening to vinyl due to the beautiful mastering. Vinyl mastering aides the human ear. For some music you will want the overwhelming approach possible only in the digital realm, though.

yes.. i somewhat agree.. but it's convenient, and I love my ipod..
many mastering engineers today are kind of out of control imo.
it's like volume wars.. see how much I can squash any life
out a dynamic track so it has the appearance of loudness.

[northern_dirt]

Unfortunately the 44.1 khz 16bit format of CDs was based on average listeners ratings, not audiophiles’. I don’t consider myself an audiophile but back when CDs entered the market I used to be annoyed by the sound of the cymbals, and I never could understand people using DATs with that format to record. Now that my ears have aged somewhat, CDs are fine, but I keep listening to vinyl due to the beautiful mastering. Vinyl mastering aides the human ear. For some music you will want the overwhelming approach possible only in the digital realm, though.

yes.. i somewhat agree.. but it's convenient, and I love my ipod..
many mastering engineers today are kind of out of control imo.
it's like volume wars.. see how much I can squash any life
out a dynamic track so it has the appearance of loudness.

True.. but seriously.. most music doesn't deserve any better..

[rickenmetal]

I do think vinyl sounds better, because I have some albums I bought on CD, then I bought the vinyls, so I can compare and say it sounds better.

CDs can sound good, if they are properly mastered. mp3s don't really sound good, although they will sound better if the songs have fewer highs.

Cassettes seem to have "fatter" bass, I was listening to some analog cassettes, and they sound great. Are cassettes with test tones at the beginning digitally mastered? I listened to a few and they didn't sound as good as older cassettes without the test tones.

[echobaseone]

I love my vinyl.
I love the convenience of my iPod.
I think CDs aren't very good at all. That said, I've managed to collect at least a thousand of them. Feeling kind of dumb.

[northern_dirt]

I hate vinyl, and am regretting spending nearly $10 K on it..

I am selling it all as soon as I can...

[rickenmetal]

It's funny how sound quality degrades in favor of storage space. Cylinders sounded better than records, records better than CDs, CDs better than mp3s. Although I am not surprised that studies show that younger people now have worse hearing than young people decades before. I have a feeling it's not just city traffic and that kind of stuff.

[ugly casanova]

dont forget the kids who enjoy listening to music from their mobilephones.. 

[northern_dirt]

Play a vinyl record 50 times.. and a CD the same...

Ill take the CD's sound quality over the vinyl in that case..

Not to mention, unless you have a BOMBASS turntable, needle and reciever.. Ill take a CD over Vinyl everytime..

I had friends gushign about how great their Vinyle sounded over a CD, and they were playing
the records on these portable pieces of crap... sounded like ass to me..

[noirengineer]

i don't know.. i like the nostalgia of putting a record on..
it's cheesy, but it makes me feel all warm and gooey inside.

[northern_dirt]

i don't know.. i like the nostalgia of putting a record on..
it's cheesy, but it makes me feel all warm and gooey inside.

Thats pretty much how I felt.. though now I see it was
silly and unrealisitc.. especially whith having over 1000
pieces of Vinyl.

Kinda reminds me of my X who used a typewriter all the
time.. sure its romantic and cool.. but its about as useful
as tits on a bull..

[noirengineer]

i feel the same about cd's though.
I buy them.. then stick em into my mac so I can rip
them to my ipod.. then i have a stack of useless plastic
in my closet that never get looked at ever again.

[northern_dirt]

i feel the same about cd's though.
I buy them.. then stick em into my mac so I can rip
them to my ipod.. then i have a stack of useless plastic
in my closet that never get looked at ever again.

Im a music geek, I end up re reading liner notes a million times..
All my CDs are up on shelf as well.. once I get my new place, ill pick up
a CD player thats a bit better and play those instead of my ipod..