Vinyl versus CD

[picanin]

Just read a test between a £1000 turntable and a CD player of equal price. Both were very highly regarded specialist machines, very well thought of in their respective markets. Nearing the end of the road for CD sales and still it gets beaten by vinyl for sheer sound quality. Now to scratch the £1000 together for the turntable......

PS Edmonsta it is the acrylic Pro-Jekt again!

[spam]

Originally posted by picanin
Just read a test between a £1000 turntable and a CD player of equal price. Both were very highly regarded specialist machines, very well thought of in their respective markets. Nearing the end of the road for CD sales and still it gets beaten by vinyl for sheer sound quality. Now to scratch the £1000 together for the turntable......

PS Edmonsta it is the acrylic Pro-Jekt again!

And one scratch on the vinyl and bang goes your sound quality.

[picanin]

Originally posted by spam
And one scratch on the vinyl and bang goes your sound quality.

Spam the same can be said of a CD too although I do agree it takes a lot more to scratch a cD than vinyl. But that said if you look after your vinyl it should not get scratched. Use decent quality anti static liners. Never touch the vinyl, use a good carbon fibre brush and occasionally get your records professionally cleaned. The pride of my collection of vinyl is a 1964 pressing of a Dave Brubeck album. This pressing still wipes the floor with any CD version. Despite its age and the fact it gets played regularly it still sounds A1.

[edmonsta]

Originally posted by picanin
..... Never touch the vinyl...

That could be a real big problem for somebody like me who has to touch it to do what I do when I'm doing what I do....

[edmonsta]

Originally posted by picanin

PS Edmonsta it is the acrylic Pro-Jekt again!

Man, I think I'm in love with that thing... maybe one day....

I must admit, even with my turntables, the sound quality is so much better...

Ok, the CD's don't have the "buzzing" noise that turntables tend to make, but if you listen past that and actually concentrate on the sound of the music, then there is no doubt that vinyls are better....

I can't explain it, although a cd may be "clearer", the vinyl has so much more "musical depth"

Does that make sense? :confused:

[picanin]

Originally posted by edmonsta
Man, I think I'm in love with that thing... maybe one day....

I must admit, even with my turntables, the sound quality is so much better...

Ok, the CD's don't have the "buzzing" noise that turntables tend to make, but if you listen past that and actually concentrate on the sound of the music, then there is no doubt that vinyls are better....

I can't explain it, although a cd may be "clearer", the vinyl has so much more "musical depth"

Does that make sense? :confused:

Ed the buzz you are hearing is one of the negative aspects of having a direct drive motor powering your turntable. Audiophile turntables are almost always belt drive using a decoupled suspension - a combination which tends to do away with that annoying buzz. My ancient Pink Triangle PTII is whisper quiet when running and they can be made even quieter by the addition of after market modifications to the motor and power supply - my PTII actually runs of a 12v rechargeable battery supply to make it quieter and more stable.

As to what you say about the clarity of vinyl you are 100% correct. Decently recorded vinyl has a lot more depth and vividness in comparison to CD. Unfortunately most people never got to hear the awesome quality of vinyl back then and so CD with its ease of use came in and overtook vinyl. However, now that the sun is setting on the CD format the new formats that will take over have at least brought the digital age within a range of analogue in terms of sheer sound quality.

[edmonsta]

Originally posted by picanin
Ed the buzz you are hearing is one of the negative aspects of having a direct drive motor powering your turntable. Audiophile turntables are almost always belt drive using a decoupled suspension - a combination which tends to do away with that annoying buzz. My ancient Pink Triangle PTII is whisper quiet when running and they can be made even quieter by the addition of after market modifications to the motor and power supply - my PTII actually runs of a 12v rechargeable battery supply to make it quieter and more stable.

Hmm, I see. Unfortunately in a DJ turntable, you can't really do without a direct drive, because you need the torque. Only the cheaper (beginner) turntables have Belt drives these days, although I know thats only the case with DJ turntables and not fancy ones like yours.

Unfortunately belt drives are way too sluggish for mixing.... so I guess the "buzz" has to stay...

I'd be quite keen to hear the quality of one of these monster turntables though.... must be something pretty special..

[picanin]

Originally posted by edmonsta
Hmm, I see. Unfortunately in a DJ turntable, you can't really do without a direct drive, because you need the torque. Only the cheaper (beginner) turntables have Belt drives these days, although I know thats only the case with DJ turntables and not fancy ones like yours.

Unfortunately belt drives are way too sluggish for mixing.... so I guess the "buzz" has to stay...

I'd be quite keen to hear the quality of one of these monster turntables though.... must be something pretty special..

Ja I can understand that belt drive wouldnt work for you. But to be honest Ed clubbers arent after the ultimate in sound quality so that bit of buzz isnt too much of an issue. HOWEVER probably the greatest top end turntable ever made is the Linn LP12 - made up in Scotland - which has actually become pretty popular amongst DJ's wanting absolute sound quality. However bareing in mind that a fuly setup LP12 with arm and cartridge is going to cost you around 5-6k you can see why it isnt a popular option!

Ed if I do get around to buying myself one of those babies, I shall invite you round for a beer!

[Jangar]

Originally posted by edmonsta
Hmm, I see. Unfortunately in a DJ turntable, you can't really do without a direct drive, because you need the torque. Only the cheaper (beginner) turntables have Belt drives these days, although I know thats only the case with DJ turntables and not fancy ones like yours.

Unfortunately belt drives are way too sluggish for mixing.... so I guess the "buzz" has to stay...

I'd be quite keen to hear the quality of one of these monster turntables though.... must be something pretty special..

Technic's 1200 ?

Where we used to shop in Durbs for DJ equipment at a certain shop one of the 2 owners was a DJ and the other a music affinando (sp ?) and we used to listen to both of their set-ups... The quality of the string weighted turntable was superb but what DJ can wait for the table to pick up speed and then a few seconds more for the stylus to hit the vinyl ? And with the stylus being so light on the record there is no way one can 'scratch'.... And mind you, it wasn't double edged either :p

I now own the 1200's kleinboet the 'BD22D' which is perfect for me, good quality for the price and a relatively nice speed up time for when I am converting my vinyl to cd

One day when I grow up I'll buy a proper turntable

BTW did you know that a turntable is able to replay frequencies up to 25 kHz and a good amp is able to amplify frequencies that high ? Most often that is the reason why vinyl 'feels' better than CD's as even though you cannot hear these frequencies you can feel them...

[edmonsta]

Originally posted by Jangar
Technic's 1200 ?

Nope, they're Numark TTx1's. They're the daddies!

http://www.ttx1.com/

It was a huge toss up between the technics sl's and the Numarks, but in the end, the Numarks won the battle and went home with me, firstly because they have more torque than the Technics, they feel much better and they just look so darn beauootiful!

They reckon that these babies are the turntables that Technics wishes they were...

Technics are still great though. (in my, er, expert opinion, of course)