R.I.P Prince

Gerald · Aug 14, 2017

I was wondering is the dynamic range of vinyl actually better than cd in general? What is exactly the reason vinyl returned?

The thing about cd's is, it just varies so strongly from cd to cd. Some sound like crap, others superb.
I want to get better equipment than what I have, but it is so hard to know where to start: there are so many brands. And since so many real stores disappeared, you can't even listen in a store anymore. It was always hard to tell exactly in a store too, but at least you got some idea.
I don't think I'll ever return to vinyl, but what would be the best brands of equipment to play cd's in general?

Prince is certainly among the artists whose cd's always sound great to me. Also, with some cd's the quality even varies quite from track to track.
The problem with the equipment I have at the moment (JVC and Technics) is that often on the weaker sounding cd's, for example, the verses of songs sound good, but when you come to a chorus, which is often louder, it starts to sound bad. Not sure if this is to do with the equipment or my headphones (I don't have particularly expensive headphones). I could probably start with getting better headphones and if I'm still not satisfied change my other equipment too.
But you need to hear it before you buy it, which is hard nowadays. The last time I listened in a store, even with more expensive headphones there were still a lot I didn't like the sound of - it's just so personal what sounds good to you.

Dana Jean · Aug 14, 2017

Gerald said:
I was wondering is the dynamic range of vinyl actually better than cd in general? What is exactly the reason vinyl returned?

The thing about cd's is, it just varies so strongly from cd to cd. Some sound like crap, others superb.
I want to get better equipment than what I have, but it is so hard to know where to start: there are so many brands. And since so many real stores disappeared, you can't even listen in a store anymore. It was always hard to tell exactly in a store too, but at least you got some idea.
I don't think I'll ever return to vinyl, but what would be the best brands of equipment to play cd's in general?

Prince is certainly among the artists whose cd's always sound great to me. Also, with some cd's the quality even varies quite from track to track.
The problem with the equipment I have at the moment (JVC and Technics) is that often on the weaker sounding cd's, for example, the verses of songs sound good, but when you come to a chorus, which is often louder, it starts to sound bad. Not sure if this is to do with the equipment or my headphones (I don't have particularly expensive headphones). I could probably start with getting better headphones and if I'm still not satisfied change my other equipment too.
But you need to hear it before you buy it, which is hard nowadays. The last time I listened in a store, even with more expensive headphones there were still a lot I didn't like the sound of - it's just so personal what sounds good to you.

I kind of like that scritchy sound on vinyl when you drop the needle.

GNTLGNT · Aug 14, 2017

Gerald said:
I was wondering is the dynamic range of vinyl actually better than cd in general? What is exactly the reason vinyl returned?

The thing about cd's is, it just varies so strongly from cd to cd. Some sound like crap, others superb.
I want to get better equipment than what I have, but it is so hard to know where to start: there are so many brands. And since so many real stores disappeared, you can't even listen in a store anymore. It was always hard to tell exactly in a store too, but at least you got some idea.
I don't think I'll ever return to vinyl, but what would be the best brands of equipment to play cd's in general?

Prince is certainly among the artists whose cd's always sound great to me. Also, with some cd's the quality even varies quite from track to track.
The problem with the equipment I have at the moment (JVC and Technics) is that often on the weaker sounding cd's, for example, the verses of songs sound good, but when you come to a chorus, which is often louder, it starts to sound bad. Not sure if this is to do with the equipment or my headphones (I don't have particularly expensive headphones). I could probably start with getting better headphones and if I'm still not satisfied change my other equipment too.
But you need to hear it before you buy it, which is hard nowadays. The last time I listened in a store, even with more expensive headphones there were still a lot I didn't like the sound of - it's just so personal what sounds good to you.

....for me, I will always love vinyl....I grew up in the eras and spun a hell of a lot of it as a DJ.....all things being equal, and the vinyl virgin-then the warmth of that sound is more impressive to me than the sterile depths of CDs......

Gerald · Aug 15, 2017

GNTLGNT said:
....for me, I will always love vinyl....I grew up in the eras and spun a hell of a lot of it as a DJ.....all things being equal, and the vinyl virgin-then the warmth of that sound is more impressive to me than the sterile depths of CDs......

People always talk about the warmth of vinyl, is that really why it's come back? I've never been able to hear that myself, or maybe I hear it, but it just isn't important to me enough. The only benefit of vinyl to me is the bigger sleeves - at least to look at, in a practical sense I also find the smaller size of cd's handier.

kingricefan · Aug 15, 2017

Gerald said:
People always talk about the warmth of vinyl, is that really why it's come back? I've never been able to hear that myself, or maybe I hear it, but it just isn't important to me enough. The only benefit of vinyl to me is the bigger sleeves - at least to look at, in a practical sense I also find the smaller size of cd's handier.

It's been so long since I've listened to an actual vinyl album. I think the vinyl version does add more 'depth' to the music. You might want to go over to prince.org and look through the thread about the vinyl/cd debate. Seems that folks are leaning more towards the vinyl now.

Gerald · Aug 15, 2017

kingricefan said:
It's been so long since I've listened to an actual vinyl album. I think the vinyl version does add more 'depth' to the music. You might want to go over to prince.org and look through the thread about the vinyl/cd debate. Seems that folks are leaning more towards the vinyl now.

I listened to vinyl a lot. But what I like about cd, is that it doesn't age. The more you play vinyl, the more it damages basically. Are the vinyl records nowadays of better quality or is it the same basically?
Also, cd's can put on much more music. There are still artists who make around 40 minute records, but also a lot who make much longer ones. And of course, you don't have to flip a cd around like a record to get to the B-side. I only ever saw plus-sides to cd. I was a bit surprised that vinyl had so many fans that it actually made a comeback.

kingricefan · Aug 15, 2017

Gerald said:
I listened to vinyl a lot. But what I like about cd, is that it doesn't age. The more you play vinyl, the more it damages basically. Are the vinyl records nowadays of better quality or is it the same basically?
Also, cd's can put on much more music. There are still artists who make around 40 minute records, but also a lot who make much longer ones. And of course, you don't have to flip a cd around like a record to get to the B-side. I only ever saw plus-sides to cd. I was a bit surprised that vinyl had so many fans that it actually made a comeback.

Some albums you can get in a higher grade vinyl that costs more than the regular ones. I don't remember what those types are called. Back in the day I used to buy a silicon spray that I used on my records that helped preserve them. It was called Sound Guard. What you did was spray it on the record and then use the velvet covered 'handle' that came with the kit to wipe the spray around the record into the grooves (you had to do it quickly as the spray evaporated fast!). It was great stuff! Don't know if there's anything like that on the market now.

Gerald · Aug 16, 2017

kingricefan said:
Some albums you can get in a higher grade vinyl that costs more than the regular ones. I don't remember what those types are called. Back in the day I used to buy a silicon spray that I used on my records that helped preserve them. It was called Sound Guard. What you did was spray it on the record and then use the velvet covered 'handle' that came with the kit to wipe the spray around the record into the grooves (you had to do it quickly as the spray evaporated fast!). It was great stuff! Don't know if there's anything like that on the market now.

Nice. Never heard about it.

Gerald · Aug 16, 2017

I was wondering what brand of audio equipment people here are using? And which models and price range?
I think in terms of headphones (which I always like to use) Sennheiser is pretty much the best, but in terms of players and amplification I find it harder to tell with so many brands

I also get the feeling that our hearing gets more and more refined by the higher quality of audio that is now available. For example the audio on blu-ray in general sounds better to me than that on cd or dvd.

kingricefan · Aug 16, 2017

Gerald said:
I was wondering what brand of audio equipment people here are using? And which models and price range?
I think in terms of headphones (which I always like to use) Sennheiser is pretty much the best, but in terms of players and amplification I find it harder to tell with so many brands

I also get the feeling that our hearing gets more and more refined by the higher quality of audio that is now available. For example the audio on blu-ray in general sounds better to me than that on cd or dvd.

I have a Technics SA-GX390 receiver and Kenwood LSK 504 3-Way speakers. They're both older models. I don't have headphones.

Gerald · Aug 16, 2017

kingricefan said:
I have a Technics SA-GXrve390 recei and Kenwood LSK 504 3-Way speakers. They're both older models. I don't have headphones.

Thanks! I have a Technics 5-disc rotary system cd-player. Technics is quite a good brand, certainly in a mechanical sense: I have it for a long time now and it always works perfectly.

But a receiver is just an amplifier, right? In what do you play the disc itself?

For some reason I always find the term 'receiver' confusing, but it's more or less what was called a 'tuner' before that, if I'm not mistaken?

kingricefan · Aug 16, 2017

Gerald said:
Thanks! I have a Technics 5-disc rotary system cd-player. Technics is quite a good brand, certainly in a mechanical sense: I have it for a long time now and it always works perfectly.

But a receiver is just an amplifier, right? In what do you play the disc itself?

For some reason I always find the term 'receiver' confusing, but it's more or less what was called a 'tuner' before that, if I'm not mistaken?

I use my bluray player to play my cd's in. I used to have that same 5-disc Technics player!!

Gerald · Aug 16, 2017

kingricefan said:
I use my bluray player to play my cd's in. I used to have that same 5-disc Technics player!!

That's quite a coincidence. This it it: Amazon.com: Technics SL-PD887 CD Player Changer w/ 5 Disc Rotary Changer System: Cell Phones & Accessories
It seems they pretty much had only one model, as I get the same results everywhere from just typing in 5 disc rotary system.

EDIT: actually there are still differences between them, this is exactly the one I have: Technics SL-PD9 5 Disc Rotary Disc Changer | eBay

Did it eventually break down?

What I don't get about the word 'receiver' is: what does it 'receive'? Why not call it an amplifier? A 'tuner' was called that, because you tuned it to the frequency of the radio wave, I think, but I don't quite get 'receiver'.

Also a receiver or amplifier can only reproduce the sound as good as it gets the signal from the player itself - so the player itself must also be of a certain quality.
I'm now using a JVC mini-set of which the cd-player broke down, and have the Technics 5-disc on its AUX. But it is far from ideal. For a long time I didn't care so much, as I didn't use it often, but I'm playing more cd's now.

kingricefan · Aug 16, 2017

Gerald said:
That's quite a coincidence. This it it: Amazon.com: Technics SL-PD887 CD Player Changer w/ 5 Disc Rotary Changer System: Cell Phones & Accessories
It seems they pretty much had only one model, as I get the same results everywhere from just typing in 5 disc rotary system.
Did it eventually break down?

What I don't get about the word 'receiver' is: what does it 'receive'? Why not call it an amplifier? A 'tuner' was called that, because you tuned it to the frequency of the radio wave, I think, but I don't quite get 'receiver'.

Also a receiver or amplifier can only reproduce the sound as good as it gets the signal from the player itself - so the player itself must also be of a certain quality.
I'm now using a JVC mini-set of which the cd-player broke down, and have the Technics 5-disc on its AUX. But it is far from ideal. For a long time I didn't care so much, as I didn't use it often, but I'm playing more cd's now.

It's called a receiver because it has AM/FM radio on it and therefore 'receives' radio signals.

Gerald · Aug 16, 2017

kingricefan said:
It's called a receiver because it has AM/FM radio on it and therefore 'receives' radio signals.

But the AM/FM signals are essentially the same as they always were? Can you still search or 'tune' to them yourself with static in between?

kingricefan · Aug 16, 2017

Gerald said:
But the AM/FM signals are essentially the same as they always were? Can you still search or 'tune' to them yourself with static in between?

Yes. But I never listen to the radio, even in my car, because I hate hearing one song and then ten minutes of commercials before the next song.

Gerald · Aug 18, 2017

kingricefan said:
Yes. But I never listen to the radio, even in my car, because I hate hearing one song and then ten minutes of commercials before the next song.

But then why get a receiver and not an amplifier without a radio?

fljoe0 · Aug 18, 2017

Gerald said:
I was wondering is the dynamic range of vinyl actually better than cd in general? What is exactly the reason vinyl returned?

The thing about cd's is, it just varies so strongly from cd to cd. Some sound like crap, others superb.
I want to get better equipment than what I have, but it is so hard to know where to start: there are so many brands. And since so many real stores disappeared, you can't even listen in a store anymore. It was always hard to tell exactly in a store too, but at least you got some idea.
I don't think I'll ever return to vinyl, but what would be the best brands of equipment to play cd's in general?

Prince is certainly among the artists whose cd's always sound great to me. Also, with some cd's the quality even varies quite from track to track.
The problem with the equipment I have at the moment (JVC and Technics) is that often on the weaker sounding cd's, for example, the verses of songs sound good, but when you come to a chorus, which is often louder, it starts to sound bad. Not sure if this is to do with the equipment or my headphones (I don't have particularly expensive headphones). I could probably start with getting better headphones and if I'm still not satisfied change my other equipment too.
But you need to hear it before you buy it, which is hard nowadays. The last time I listened in a store, even with more expensive headphones there were still a lot I didn't like the sound of - it's just so personal what sounds good to you.

Cd's are capable of more dynamic range than vinyl but it's not done. You can actually have too much dynamic range like those blu-ray movies that you have to crank way up to hear the dialog and then the music blows you out of your chair. I think that the lower amount of dynamic range works better for the smaller speakers like ear buds and that's why that method is more popular now. Here's a website that gives dynamic range info on albums. It's a little confusing because they list so many different releases of single albums but it's an interesting guide.

Album list - Dynamic Range Database

kingricefan · Sep 11, 2017

Appeals court rejects 2 more would-be heirs to Prince estate
Be sure to watch the Sheila E. interview- she says she knows her and Prince recorded over 100 songs together that are in the Vault!

Chelle71 · Sep 11, 2017

GNTLGNT said:
....for me, I will always love vinyl....I grew up in the eras and spun a hell of a lot of it as a DJ.....all things being equal, and the vinyl virgin-then the warmth of that sound is more impressive to me than the sterile depths of CDs......

WOW you were a DJ...dude you are so cool!

R.I.P Prince

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Dirty Pirate Hooker, The Return

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