Vinyl

[Danny]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nodak Another good audio forum is : AudioAficionado.org

Thanks! Both of them cover vinyl and a lot of other useful audio topics including Marantz

[ejman]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Danny Thanks! Both of them cover vinyl and a lot of other useful audio topics including Marantz

Marantz, you said Marantz? I love 70's Marantz. I have a 1200 integrated, 1060 integrated and a 27 all in daily - nay- constant use. Listening to my 27 @ my office system and Dual 1019 as I type this , ,

[Nodak]

I'm a fan of early McIntosh systems and have a C28 pre-amp, MC 2100 amp, and a pair of ML-1C speakers all purchased in 1971; they still work great. It took me about 3 years to pay them off but it was well worth it.

[ejman]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nodak I'm a fan of early McIntosh systems and have a C28 pre-amp, MC 2100 amp, and a pair of ML-1C speakers all purchased in 1971; they still work great. It took me about 3 years to pay them off but it was well worth it.

Beautiful equipment you have. I'm sure they still sound magnificent after almost 40 years. Unlike Marantz which declined substantially in quality in the late 80's and 90's, McIntosh kept up their outstanding quality and performance throughout. Fortunately, Marantz is also now back to producing top quality. I believe both Marantz and McIntosh are now owned by the same parent company.

[NW-Bound]

It just occurs to me that there is something you record aficionado audiophiles might have tried already.

What's wrong with trying to capture the sound of your beloved album, i.e, digitizing it for posterity? I mean if you believe the CD audio quality of 44,100 Hz sampling and 16-bit resolution is not enough, you can get better sound cards for a reasonable price now. How much does it cost to get something with, say, 24-bit resolution and 192 KHz sampling or such? The sound files will be huge, but with terabyte HDs so cheap now, who cares?

Can you really tell the digitized sound from the original then? Except for the nostalgia of watching the platter spin, what will you be missing?

[Danny]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ejman Marantz, you said Marantz? I love 70's Marantz. I have a 1200 integrated, 1060 integrated and a 27 all in daily - nay- constant use. Listening to my 27 @ my office system and Dual 1019 as I type this , ,

Nice!

I am currently possessing 2 70's still working Marantz receivers the 2220B & 2230 plus Marantz 6100 turntable and KLH 23 speakers - 36 years sure got my monies worth....

Yes good to see Marantz back to form

Nodak - quality workmanship lasts and is a beautiful thing. I think back to how much I spent in 74 - well, it was $100 more than I paid for my 1970 Mercury Montego the same year. The Merc is long gone but Marantz & KLH endure!

[ejman]

Quote:

Originally Posted by NW-Bound It just occurs to me that there is something you record aficionado audiophiles might have tried already. What's wrong with trying to capture the sound of your beloved album, i.e, digitizing it for posterity? I mean if you believe the CD audio quality of 44,100 Hz sampling and 16-bit resolution is not enough, you can get better sound cards for a reasonable price now. How much does it cost to get something with, say, 24-bit resolution and 192 KHz sampling or such? The sound files will be huge, but with terabyte HDs so cheap now, who cares? Can you really tell the digitized sound from the original then? Except for the nostalgia of watching the platter spin, what will you be missing?

I think its a wonderful experiment you propose. Please conduct it and report back your findings

[NW-Bound]

My hearing has been deteriorating. I don't think you would want to rely on me to conduct this experiment. :-)

Seriously, has any of these audiophile Websites have anything to say about digitizing? Surely, there got to be a lot of tinkerers who have done it already.

[ejman]

NW-Bound -

A further thought on a slightly more serious vein re digitizing is that in fact vinyl records are extraordinarily durable. I regularly buy Goodwill special of 50 year old LP's that have been handled very very roughly and with a good cleaning sound remarkably good. I have quite a few CD's however that have become unplayable due to decay of the aluminum substrata as well as scratches etc in the plastic covering the aluminum. I think we have all experienced the unplayable CD syndrome. If memory serves these examples of perfect sound forever (CD's) are estimated by the library of Congress to have at most a 100 year lifespan under IDEAL conditions. LP's on the other hand have an indefinite lifespan. As to converting my precious 2,000 LP collection to a Hard Drive (Other than the time involved) have you ever heard of a hard drive crash? And then even assuming the perfect hard drive that never crashes what do I have, just a copy of the original. A photograph of a Renoir is still only a photograph

[ejman]

Quote:

Originally Posted by NW-Bound My hearing has been deteriorating. I don't think you would want to rely on me to conduct this experiment. :-) Seriously, has any of these audiophile Websites have anything to say about digitizing? Surely, there got to be a lot of tinkerers who have done it already.

Yes, its done all the time. I have the software and have done it at the 44K CD resolution level - it comes out OK but does not sound to me as good as the original and like I said its very time consuming.

I do employ this digitizing method when playing 78 RPM records because those really are a PITA changing the record every other song.

[NW-Bound]

Yes, sadly digital media do not have the lifespan that we hope for. One would need to make multiple copies, and refresh them. We discussed this before in another thread.

However, like you said, records do not play long enough. Not even LP. I like to put on a
DVD-MP3 and have it randomly play all day (>500 songs). I do not have many records, by the way.

Back on digitizing, my point was that for purists, wouldn't the higher sampling rate be something to experiment with, not the common 44KHz? I have too many things going on now to toy with that, but thought you or someone else might want to give it a shot.

[Nodak]

Quote:

Originally Posted by NW-Bound It just occurs to me that there is something you record aficionado audiophiles might have tried already. What's wrong with trying to capture the sound of your beloved album, i.e, digitizing it for posterity? I mean if you believe the CD audio quality of 44,100 Hz sampling and 16-bit resolution is not enough, you can get better sound cards for a reasonable price now. How much does it cost to get something with, say, 24-bit resolution and 192 KHz sampling or such? The sound files will be huge, but with terabyte HDs so cheap now, who cares? Can you really tell the digitized sound from the original then? Except for the nostalgia of watching the platter spin, what will you be missing?

I have been doing that for some time now. I use 24 bit with 320Kbps sampling whenever possible. The files are indeed enormous but, the resulting sound is very good. MP3s made from those files sound excellent in my car sound system. The problems come in attaching my good turntable to my computer system. It's cumbersome to do and the fact that I have to use the computer for other things means it won't stay connected for long. As for how long they will last I don't know. Have never had a problem with a commercially produced CD but those I have made for use in my car have a limited life span before skips and other problems appear.

[IndependentlyPoor]

Quote:

Originally Posted by NW-Bound What's wrong with trying to capture the sound of your beloved album, i.e, digitizing it for posterity? I mean if you believe the CD audio quality of 44,100 Hz sampling and 16-bit resolution is not enough, you can get better sound cards for a reasonable price now. How much does it cost to get something with, say, 24-bit resolution and 192 KHz sampling or such? The sound files will be huge, but with terabyte HDs so cheap now, who cares?

Like you, my hearing is deteriorating, so the nuances of high fidelity are lost on me now. OTOH, it doesn't detract much at all from my enjoyment of music
I think lots of folks are digitizing their albums. There are turntable digitize gadgets available for just this. I doubt may true audiophiles are doing this though.

I used to be an audiophile, and spent embarrassing amounts of money on high-end equipment. After a while, we noticed that we were not listening to our LPs any more and decided to cull them. We spent several evening listening to just a minute or so of each (of several hundred LPs) and were amazed at the quality differences in the recordings.

There was no rhyme or reason to it either. Some recordings from well-regarded labels such as Deutsche Grammophon (not to pick on them) were just awful. Some old pop albums could make our bazillion dollar stereo sound like a transistor radio. Some recording from bargain-basement labels were lovely. I recall that we stopped and listened through our entire collection of Beatles LPs because the recordings were so great. Los Panchos recordings from the 50s were stunning.

The exercise left me thinking that the most important person other than the performer is the recording engineer, and they are almost never credited.

[NW-Bound]

Please don't tar and feather me, but I have many more audio cassettes than records.

I have digitized them with standard 44KHz PC hardware, then applied filtering to reduce hiss. Sounds OK, not great. But then the original sound was already mediocre.

[Nodak]

Beatles albums were always well done. I remember how amazing the sound on "Sgt Pepper" was when it came out in 1967. It showed how good stereo recording could be.

[Danny]

let us not be forgetting the importance of the album art - Half-priced Books is selling frames for them

Like the album autographs that bbbamI posted especially the p.s. by Doug Ingle to "Take Care"...

Also there are some records that have not been put on CD

I'm now playing my 42 year old In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida record and remembering when they came to our college basketball floor in 69 - the clouds of smoke that started whafting from Ingle's head when they hit the first notes of In-A is still in my head.


I too think the Bon Scott AC/DC era was the best - he was scary. Next up: If You Want Blood You've Got It

[bbbamI]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Danny let us not be forgetting the importance of the album art - Half-priced Books is selling frames for them Like the album autographs that bbbamI posted especially the p.s. by Doug Ingle to "Take Care"... Also there are some records that have not been put on CD I'm now playing my 42 year old In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida record and remembering when they came to our college basketball floor in 69 - the clouds of smoke that started whafting from Ingle's head when they hit the first notes of In-A is still in my head. I too think the Bon Scott AC/DC era was the best - he was scary. Next up: If You Want Blood You've Got It

Oh...that did it! I'm gonna get my IB album and listen to In-A... I think I'll turn my speakers on so that they will play outside on my patio. Gonna let the neighbors enjoy it as well! .....

[Danny]

Quote:

Originally Posted by bbbamI Oh...that did it! I'm gonna get my IB album and listen to In-A... I think I'll turn my speakers on so that they will play outside on my patio. Gonna let the neighbors enjoy it as well! .....

Hell Yeah!

[RonBoyd]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ejman Yes, its done all the time. I have the software and have done it at the 44K CD resolution level - it comes out OK but does not sound to me as good as the original and like I said its very time consuming.

Which is why I am considering this solution:

Victoria Retrowriter - Vinyl and/or AUX to CDs (GDI-C2CDRW) [GDI-C2CDRW] - $249.99 :

It would also take care of my Cassette problem also.

[RonBoyd]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nodak MP3s made from those files sound excellent in my car sound system.

Now, this is where I do have a problem. For whatever reason (and my ears are really old), I can hear the difference between compressed and uncompressed audio files -- in addition, an hour or so of headphones and MP3s give me a splitting headache. Same is true of several hours in the car on a road trip. Of course, WAV files are very large but worth it (IMHO).