Which format do you prefer?

Vinyl beyond any doubt.

On really excellent equipment (I use a Pink Triangle Anniversary TT with an SME V arm and Lyra Lydian cartridge) needle noise is not generally intrusive (except on worn/damaged albums) and the music sounds sensational - clear, analytical and natural.

I have archived most of my collection onto metal/superchrome cassettes (yes, that old format) and my own recordings off vinyl sound far better than the same CDs do.

I suspect most peoples' experience of vinyl is on cheap and nasty decks and they can sound pretty horrible. But try a Projekt, Rega or similar deck and you'll start to see what I mean. If you are able to buy something like my deck (Linn, Nottingham Analogue, Roksan or similar), your mind will be blown.

ergaster wrote: Snow Dog wrote: ergaster wrote: Snow Dog wrote: Hercules wrote: Snow Dog wrote: king wrote: Once you've heard good vinyl, you won't be happy with anything else.   You are wrong. Then you've never heard good vinyl. I have. You think you have. Doesn't really matter what you say. I always have and always will prefer CD. After suffering vinyl for so many years I was glad to see the back of them. Well of course it doesn't matter--it is all personal preference after all.  but still....

Other. Phonograph cylinder.

Edited by Gandalff - October 11 2010 at 13:32

Hercules wrote: and my own recordings off vinyl sound far better than the same CDs do.

Surely, this proves that it's all in audiophiles' heads? I mean, why ON EARTH would direct rips from vinyls on to CDs that are COMPLETLY unoptimized for the format sound better than actual mastered version? I'm thought this for a while and what I'm hearing on this thread just further cements that belief.

Anyways, CDs/320kb. Both sound perfect to my ears. FLACS are nice, but I can't afford multiple terabytes of hard drive space for my music collection .

Edited by Alberto Muñoz - October 11 2010 at 12:54

For vinyl to sound great:

1. Need a first pressing.
2. Needs to be on non-recycled vinyl.
3. Needs to be played on expensive equipment.

 And yet...

1. Dynamic range is still limited.
2. Surface noise is ever-present
3. Quality degrades every single time the needle runs across the surface
4. Dust accumulation.
5. Effects of gravity during storage.

A CD, on the other hand, sounds as perfect today as the day it rolled out of the factory in 1985.

Nathaniel607 wrote: Hercules wrote: and my own recordings off vinyl sound far better than the same CDs do. Surely, this proves that it's all in audiophiles' heads? I mean, why ON EARTH would direct rips from vinyls on to CDs that are COMPLETLY unoptimized for the format sound better than actual mastered version?

Read my post more carefully - the recordings I made were on cassette, not CD. The vinyl sourced, self-recorded cassettes sound far better than the commercial CDs.

Hercules wrote: [QUOTE=Nathaniel607] [QUOTE=Hercules] Read my post more carefully - the recordings I made were on cassette, not CD. The vinyl sourced, self-recorded cassettes sound far better than the commercial CDs.

Hercules wrote: Nathaniel607 wrote: Hercules wrote: and my own recordings off vinyl sound far better than the same CDs do. Surely, this proves that it's all in audiophiles' heads? I mean, why ON EARTH would direct rips from vinyls on to CDs that are COMPLETLY unoptimized for the format sound better than actual mastered version? Read my post more carefully - the recordings I made were on cassette, not CD. The vinyl sourced, self-recorded cassettes sound far better than the commercial CDs.

Let me get this straight... you take a sound on a crackly, hiss and surface noise filled format with a limited dynamic range and then place a second generation copy onto a format with an even more limited range and additional hiss. Then, you say it sounds better than crystal-clear digital perfection.

Yeah, and  I'm Batman.

I love vinyl for reasons I don't need to explain to vinyl fans. I won't debate analog vs digital sounds, but vinyl has the charm because of the great art, and a listening ritual and pleasure of record spinning.

However, I voted for other, since this poll is oriented on various digital formats.

My preferred format is mp3 with variable bit rate. I won't say it's better than other formats, I just like it.

Honorable mentions go to:

1. Cassette. I'm the child of the 80's, and I've been discovering the world of music on my double-decker boombox. (ITT-Nokia!)

2. Reel-to-reel tape. When you're recording music, the pleasure at looking at reels spinning and vu-meters jumping in the rhythm of your music is beyond description.