ERD50
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
sounds like you need to update your turntable and amplifier - when is the last time you changed the cartridge? I have a ton of cash vinyl. ...Originally Posted by FUEGO View Post
The experience was kind of cool, but kind of not. DW asked why it was scratchy (I'm guessing dust on the record and/or needle). I grew frustrated flipping through the hundreds of albums in the collection and finding not a single Johnny Cash album (it takes about 6.5 seconds to listen to this via Youtube).
It could be the vinyl itself is scratched/dirty/worn. A lot of people did not treat their vinyl carefully, I doubt that an updated turntable and/or amplifier would overcome that. I've seen some ugly, ugly vinyl, worn and scratched way past any cleaning efforts.
... even on a crappy (70s) high school system vinyl sounds 10x better than mp3/stream
I avoid lossy compression like mp3, but I think you are underestimating how bad a 70's turntable, old, improperly set up cartridge, and dirty worn records can sound!
I'm sure that your pristine vinyl, on a decent 70's turntable, with a decent, clean and properly set up cartridge can sound better to you and many others (it is subjective - they each have their pros/cons) than an mp3, but the reality is that not everyone has a decent setup that has been maintained.
BTW, my turntable is a lower-middle-of-the road 70's unit, with a Shure V15 cartridge. My records have only been played a few times, and I treat them well. They sound very good, and I mainly use the turntable to digitize those old LPs, then I listen to the lossless FLAC recordings I make (after carefully cleaning up some pops/clicks that bother me). I don't use the automatic software - that always seems to muck up the sound, IME.
-ERD50