mulveling Posted August 21, 2007 Report Share Posted August 21, 2007 Normally the Sota TT/SDS/L3000 rig sounding like totally beyond awesome yall (IMO ), but something went a bit awry last night. It still sounded quite "good" but the magic was dimnished; I wasn't feeling the emotion and energy I would have expected from some newly acquired LPs (Judas Priest, Madonna, Opeth, Bryan Adams). The dynamics and separation weren't in full force and the balance/resolution was also a tad "off". Then today at lunch I noticed the shelf, and consequently my TT, were tilted by a significant amount to one side. Damn - I'd moved all my audio gear around the previous day and forgot to level the TT. Of course I'm somewhat miffed that apparently my floor isn't close to flat in the new spot - apartment living at its finest - but at least I was able to get the TT's sound quality back up to snuff with a quick adusting of the feet. Yep, now the good stuff is all back, *whew*. I would have expected a non-level table to have some obvious flaw like a channel imbalance, but that's not what I observed. So as a friendly reminder to all that have been liberated from the oppressive clutches of digital - remember to re-level your TT every time you move it! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deepak Posted August 21, 2007 Report Share Posted August 21, 2007 Glad to hear all sounds better. How does Opeth sound on vinyl? Thats a band I figured would sound better CD. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
postjack Posted August 21, 2007 Report Share Posted August 21, 2007 How does Opeth sound on vinyl? Thats a band I figured would sound better CD. nothing sounds better on CD. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Salt Peanuts Posted August 21, 2007 Report Share Posted August 21, 2007 Ahh, apartment floors. I don't think I have a single flat section in my apartment where I could place my rack. It's not as bad as my friend's old apartment, though - that house was sinking/shrinking in numerous places you could easily see the tilt in the hallway. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dusty Chalk Posted August 21, 2007 Report Share Posted August 21, 2007 nothing sounds better on CD. Things that aren't available on vinyl sound better on CD. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mulveling Posted August 21, 2007 Author Report Share Posted August 21, 2007 nothing sounds better on CD. Haha, that's pretty much my opinion on the matter as well - so long as you've got a reasonably clean copy. I've got the Opeth Morningrise LP, which sounds noticeably better than the CD version, IMO. I've also got Damnation on LP and CD, but unfortunatey I seem to have a bad vinyl copy - the surface noise is much higher than usual and the dynamics are a bit dull. That's the exception though - in fact almost *all* my metal LPs thus far sound significantly better on vinyl: Iron Maiden, Iced Earth (my fav so far), Opeth. Vinyl is just better at keeping pace, keeping transient edges clean & distinct, not clouding out details with grain, grit or haze. Not to mention the tone of guitar growl or wail just seems more powerful and natural. And drums - damn they sound good on vinyl Opeth can further benefit from vinyl since the soundstage/imaging, and spacialization is better rendered on vinyl. Very immersive. Listening to metal on LP has become a source of endless quality entertainment for me. Highly recommended! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deepak Posted August 21, 2007 Report Share Posted August 21, 2007 Haha, that's pretty much my opinion on the matter as well - so long as you've got a reasonably clean copy. I've got the Opeth Morningrise LP, which sounds noticeably better than the CD version, IMO. I've also got Damnation on LP and CD, but unfortunatey I seem to have a bad vinyl copy - the surface noise is much higher than usual and the dynamics are a bit dull. That's the exception though - in fact almost *all* my metal LPs thus far sound significantly better on vinyl: Iron Maiden, Iced Earth, Opeth. Vinyl just seems better at keeping pace, keeping transient edges clean & distinct, not clouding out details with grain, grit or haze. Not to mention the tone of guitar growl or wail just seems more powerful and natural. And drums - damn they sound good on vinyl Opeth can further benefit from vinyl since the soundstage/imaging, and spacialization is better rendered on vinyl. Very immersive. Listening to metal on LP has become a source of endless quality entertainment for me. Highly recommended! Nice. If you're a Sabbath fan you have to track down their green label US first pressings. Hearing the basslines and drums was an eye opener for me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mulveling Posted August 21, 2007 Author Report Share Posted August 21, 2007 Nice. If you're a Sabbath fan you have to track down their green label US first pressings. Hearing the basslines and drums was an eye opener for me. I ran across that Sabbath album this weekend at the local antique shop - pretty sure it's not a first pressing though. I should go back and pick it up anyways - I've had pretty good luck with many ordinary pressings sounding excellent once properly cleaned. Even stuff with lots of visible surface scratches seems to get tracked pretty well with my Benz Glider. Life is good! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Iron_Dreamer Posted August 21, 2007 Report Share Posted August 21, 2007 Vinyl is just better at keeping pace, keeping transient edges clean & distinct, not clouding out details with grain, grit or haze. Not to mention the tone of guitar growl or wail just seems more powerful and natural. And drums - damn they sound good on vinyl Opeth can further benefit from vinyl since the soundstage/imaging, and spacialization is better rendered on vinyl. Very immersive. Listening to metal on LP has become a source of endless quality entertainment for me. Highly recommended! I'm guessing this is largely due to mastering, or how much less compressed the vinyls are compared to CD's of the same metal. Grrr......damn fools and their compressors Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mulveling Posted August 22, 2007 Author Report Share Posted August 22, 2007 I'm guessing this is largely due to mastering, or how much less compressed the vinyls are compared to CD's of the same metal. Grrr......damn fools and their compressors That sounds reasonable for older stuff that's had the "digitally remastered" rape job treatment, though for newer recordings I don't understand why they'd ham-fist the CD and not the vinyl - I guess it's possible. I've found myself preferring vinyl almost equally for old and new music. Perhaps there's something about the electronics of a good TT vs. a CD player. A TT is so simple, basically P2P wiring from the needle to the phono stage. The modern CD player has so many ICs and circuit boards the signal has to pass through before it sees daylight. Sure there's typically a bit of PCB in the phono stage, but this seems minimal compared to most CD decks. Sure there's a transducer in the cart, but there's something pleasingly symmetric about the playback system starting with a transducer and ending with one Ok, maybe that's just crazy talk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
postjack Posted August 22, 2007 Report Share Posted August 22, 2007 I was listening to The Roots "Game Theory" on Def Jam regular vinyl last night. Now this is hip-hop! Slamming drum beats, full, rich body, vocals flowing like liquid through the midrange vein, every instrument existing in a huge space all its own. <-?uest Love Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deepak Posted August 22, 2007 Report Share Posted August 22, 2007 Oh yes Mike (or Jack) if you guys like post rock Godspeed You! Black Emperor F#A#(infinity) sounds awesome on vinyl. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DigiPete Posted August 22, 2007 Report Share Posted August 22, 2007 I think vinyl keeps the whole waveform (more or less) intact. Redbook CD samples at 44 khz, woefully less than needed to accurately reproduce 20khz waveforms. Now 96khz sampling is closer to what is really needed, and hi-rez formats IMO can sound very very good. The other piece is poor implementation of CD player dacs and output stages. Here is where good digital players that do it right, can really come close to vinyl performance, and hi-rez units done right are on par, when the source material is good. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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