Albums better heard NOT on vinyl

Hi,

But there were other bits that were more fun than a CD ... 

It's hard to find these days, but one Monty Python LP had 3 sides ... and the fun thing was hearing a DJ announcing one piece, and when he put it on ... was another ... which got me laughing really hard, and the moron never got any kind of idea what the 3rd side meant! Or asked about it. (It was an alternating groove on the LP. btw!!!!!)

It can only happen on the LP.

Another fun bit ... several folks did it, including Guy Guden on his album ... and it was when the side comes to an end, and becomes an endless loop. At least one German band did this.

And even better ... is something that you can experience with an LP but not a CD ... the stuck bit, and someone knocking the needle forward ... you can hear it in many places, and even MP makes fun of it (...ohh you scratched the record!) ... and while I'm not sure of this, Frank Zappa was the first one to do this. The bad/good one is on the Amon Duul 1 album ... when it gets stuck, the needle is moved forwards and it continues. Sort of like ... interruptions don't matter! But what was better was that it was TIMED CORRECTLY ... you got annoyed, got up off the couch, and by the time you arrived at the turntable, it was back to normal! The joke was on you!

A couple of other bits ... that are not do'able with a CD ... most radio station's turntables had adjustments for speed (at least Guy Guden's place in Santa Barbara did) and it allowed for some really big fun ... that Guy used for many comedy bits ... like the music wows and flutters, and goes faster and slower, and the joke might be about the composer being drunk ... or totally ripped ... but the best? The backwards stuff ... and specially the sound effects ... now you know why I was able to give Guy Guden some 300 plus hours of recordings of his shows in the 70's ... many gems in there, and I'm not even mentioning the crown jewel of them all ... that was copied by at least one other mula in the station. Guy plays many of these bits on his weekly show now. 

It will be about 5 to 10 more years before the CD grows up to become a more fun thing ... but all in all, the idea that the LP's did not have their place and they added a lot to the music ... is strange. Because of Guy's "audio alchemy" a lot of things are way better on vinyl, than they ever will be on CD or the history of the piece of the music! But, none of you guys will ever hear those things, unless Guy plays them ... but I think these bore him these days. 

...

And JD asked for no technobabble talk, some just can't keep their panties on LOL!!!

I don't think ANYTHING sounds better on vinyl, anyway (aside from the fact that vinyl is much harder to take care of and STILL gets damages over time, is less versatile and cannot be used in a vehicle, is heavy and hard to transport, cannot directly be uploaded to a computer or phone, etc.). It has a lower potential dynamic range than CD and digital (although the human ear can barely, if even at all, pick up the difference when we reach the maximum DR on any format), and the sound of vinyl depends heavily on your setup and each person will have different preferences. If you're like me and can't afford an expensive setup, vinyl sounds - and I'm going to ruffle a lot of feathers here. I don't care - like utter sh*t. At triple the price I would pay for a format that doesn't sound like sh*t and which won't even allow me to listen on my phone or in the car. Depending on your set up and the amount of wear on the hypothetical CD, either digital download or CD is the way to go. Any bitrate above 320 is unnecessary (although I concede that WAV is the best sounding format, albeit not enough to warrant them larger size - FLAC is a straight up scam). Sure, if you're paying very close attention 24-bit may sound nicer than 16-bit, but it's not noticeable enough to warrant the higher price. Basically, if you want the objectively best sounding format, WAV, 24-bit digital download is the best. But I'll stick with regular CDs and 320 mbps MP3s, thank you.

There is one exception to my dislike of vinyl - poorly mastered digital albums. When a digital album out CD has been brickwalled or just poorly mastered, then vinyl is better because it likely is not AS poorly mastered. It still won't sound good, but it'll be better than the digital version. Regardless I hate this trend of producing digital albums as if their vinyl. It's better than brickwalling it, but you know there's a way to make a god sounding digital album without either brickwalling it nor treating it as if it were vinyl, right.

So my answer? Pretty much most albums released after 1986 sound better NOT on vinyl. And even a lot of stuff before then, too! In theory, that is. Let's be real - 8/10 remasters sound like piss-stained sh*t. Since most well-selling music before 2005 has gotten a sh*tty remaster (except for some very new remasters of initially poorly mastered albums, such as the 2022 Nightwish remastered which actually FIXED the brickwall), I actually prefer the vinyl for a good plurality of anything released before 1986 (and a good minority of albums released after 1997) for which the price of these vinyl will not usually exceed $5-10 USD, if I shop at the right store (which is cheaper than the digital/CD reissues). So the takeaway here? Poorly mastered albums on digital formats are better on vinyl, as are the original vinyl releases for albums that had only s sh*tty remaster on digital. Otherwise, vinyl sucks. Sorry. Of course there's more nuance here than I'm making this out to be with.

If there are too many scratches on the LP, of if it runs in the same groove, I would prefer another media for sure. Apart from that, I would probably choose other medias in case of music with very silent moments - so that the LP noise doesn't get in the way. Here I am thinking f.e. of some classical music or several types of electronica.

Otherwise my main concern would be sound quality and the effect it has on the musical experience. If the sound is good, I don't really care if I am listening to a vinyl, a CD, or to online streaming.

When I do buy the vinyl, it is either 1) for sentimental reasons (I do have something of a collector's gene in me), 2) if the album has been remixed and the LP is the only way to get the original mix, 3) for aesthetic reasons (cover art), 4) it allows me to read the lyrics or 5) if I want to support the artist financially.