Lovesexy was the first P album I got on CD. It was for my 17th b'day. All the others I already owned on LP. SO Lovesexy was the turning-point, when the turntable stopped turning.

I think it changed the way I listened 2 P albums that came after, that they were always on CD. I still have 4U thru SOTT on vinyl only.

ANy1 else have any comments on the vinyl-disk divide?

(Yes, this post was inspired by Anji's LS thread.)
[This message was edited Wed May 14 2:58:04 PDT 2003 by wasitgood4u]

Yeah - unless you've got a system worth about the same as a car, then you're missing bags of detail on vinyl. You need some serious equipment to achieve the sort of depth and detail that cd provides.

I actually like the sound on vinyl, and the physical experience of putting on a record. When u crank up the sound u don't miss any "details" just some digital definition which often sounds artificial, especially on material recorded b4 CD technology.

Beleive me, you do miss details! I also like the sound of vinyl, I'm just saying to get the same sound quality as you do from a cd system, you need to be spending a lot of money (about 8 to 10 times the value of the digital system to get the same effect.)

Shame you're not in my area - one listen to my system would have your jaw on the floor!!! Seriously, there are details available on my set-up that you just never thought were recorded to the disc. You should also be able to hear every detail no matter what volume you are listening at.

Also, a well-balanced system will not sound artificial. Yeah, a cheap £100 cd player with the approriate system will sound bright and harsh - but a good system will just give you goosebumps. And material recorded from before digital technology only sounds bad if it was a bad recording in the first place. Listen to Pink Floyd, recorded in the 60s and it still sounds warm and amazing, even today. Put something badly recorded and produced on (like ANY Oasis album) and, even though they were recorded recently, they sound like shit! It has nothing to do with when something was recorded, but how.

Seriously, you really need to get yourself in front of a good quality hi-fi - you just won't believe your ears!
[This message was edited Wed May 14 3:45:40 PDT 2003 by Mindflux]
[This message was edited Wed May 14 3:47:04 PDT 2003 by Mindflux]

I still enjoy fondling my vynil. The size, the sleeves, the labels.
The grooves.

But CD's are so much more user friendly. Okay, they are digital, but at least they do not get worse in quality everytime you play them.

And now MiniDisc. For me a fun medium. I use them as I used tapes/LP's. The quality is way better and the extra's are great, like you can boost the sound of Sign "O" The times up, so it sounds RIGHT on disc. Also, both discs fit onto ONE MD, so no more switching anything.

And my Revolution MD's include all the b-sides and extended versions. They make a great play. Prince and WB make us miss out on so much we should spank both entities.

Even though I like the opportunities Prince's sites offers us, I miss the excitement of b-sides and extended versions (NOT remixes, mind you).
Nothing beats a nice release on LP, if the artist and record company allow it to breathe. No album after SOTT even comes close artdesign-wise...

But hey! That was then, this is...now.

And I kept on collecting the LP's. Even after SOTT.

The Gold Experience is kewl.
Rave is kind of okay; they should have released it on white vinyl. And WITH Pretty Man, damnit.

The first Prince album I ever bought on CD was 'Graffiti Bridge' in 1990.By that time,vinyl was becoming very hard to find.But I still listen to my old vinyl records all the time.I have the 'D&P' album on vinyl (it's a 2-record set).


...
[This message was edited Wed May 14 4:49:41 PDT 2003 by DavidEye]

I started buying CD's even when I did not have a player yet.
Parade was the first I bought.

Interesting that the first album u got on CD was the one album that has all songs on one long track as opposed 2 individual trax. I know this certainly threw me 4 a loop when I first got it.

paisley2002 said:

Thank whatever for that tracked version.

Hey Mindflux,

What setup have you got? i.e. make of CD player, amp etc.

Adam.

Hehe - ok, here goes.

CD player - Musical Fidelity A3 24-bit

Amps - Audiolab 8000S and 8000SX, bi-amp configuration (for those that don't know, bi-amping is where you have one amp driving the treble and one amp dedicated to the bass, offerring a much cleaner and more controlled signal)

Speakers - Monitor Audio PMC703. Floorstanding, 2-way beauties with gold/ceramic alloy bass drivers and gold tweeters. Also complimented by a Rel Q100E sub-woofer.

Cables - all Van den Hul Silver/Carbon hybrids. VdH Thunderline between cd and amp, VdH d-102 III between amps and VdH CS-122 (4 x 5meter runs, ouch, expensive!) to the speakers.

All sits on a lovely, vibration-isolating Soundstyle X105 rack.

With the versatility of the 8000S, I have easily tagged on a home cinema too which includes;

Yamaha DSPA1 - handles signal processing and drives the surround and center speakers (Mission 77C and 77Di-polar surrounds (though soon to be upgraded to Miller & Kreisel sat system) and pre-amped to the Audiolabs, which drive the main channels, being far superior amps.

DVD - Sony DSP735D
TV - Sony KV36FS70 - picture perfect, 36" wide-screen.
Again, VdH cabling throughout.

Mindflux said:

Jebus Krispies, how much have you spent on that thang??

And can I come over and listen?

Yes - of course! Come round, you won't be disappointed.

Erm, price, well bear in mind that its taken me 3 years to get this system together, but its just shy of £10,000 (or around 17,000 in USD)! Worth every penny, mind you. There is not a layer of magic the Prince puts in that I don't get out (or any other artist for that matter - with a system like this, you find yourself listening to a LOT of music, and quite a range, though, not that I didn't do that before!)

Musicians, eh?!

Mindflux said:

Really. Quite the artistic li'l fella, aren't you? I mean, you write like a mutha - I'm usually very impressed with the insight and writing skills in your posts. What do you play?
[This message was edited Wed May 14 9:12:16 PDT 2003 by FunkMistress]

Drums, keyboards, guitar and bass

Oh, and thank you for the props :redface:
[This message was edited Wed May 14 8:46:06 PDT 2003 by Mindflux]

Thanks for the info. I currently perform some kind of bi-amping by having an individual power amp for each speaker. Is you method of using a seperate amp for highs and lows better?

Adam.

Mindflux said:

24-bit? AFAIK red book CD's conly have PCM samples of 16 bits on them...



Oh dear. You must have had nothing else to spend that cash on? What are the special characteristics that you bought the van den huls for? Oxygen free? Less skin effect?


I guess you get the point.

udo

Ahh, so you're "monoblocking" so to speak. Erm, actually, maybe you are!!

I assume that you must 2 mono amps, one doing left duty, the other right, right? If not, you're going to get unusual results.

Monoblocking is where you have either 2 mono amps as left and right, or 4 (if you have 2-way speakers), which is a whopping 1 amp per drive unit (ie left treble, left bass, right treble, right bass).

So, which is better? If you 2 amp monoblock, that's fine if your amps are top notch quality. But, most real-world amps will benefit more from bi-amping. Seperation of left and right audio channels at the amp stage is usually very good, whereas seperation of treble and bass signals is (usually) non-existent. Therefore, you split the signal just after it has left the amp and give it a "clean" path to the speaker. So, for most, bi-amping is the way to go and gives stunning results. But, if you can afford it, go for the 4-way monoblock method and, well, you'll probably never leave your house!

Udo - I'm not sure I do get the point, but anyway!

Don't be too confused by the fact that the A3 is a 24-bit cd player. This is it's processing power, it actually upsamples the 16 bits found on most audio cds - so it will play any cd (and, even "20-bit Remasters" are not discs with 20 bits on them, again, it is the processing power used in the remastering process).

Why did I pick Van den Hul - a few reasons, the most important being my ears!! I auditioned loads of cables and picked the right one for my tastes and my music. I like a fast, clean sound, wit good treble and mid-band detail allied with oodles of bass, but well-defined bass. These cables hit the mark. Second, they are the worlds premier manufacturer of audio cables and a lot of speakers and elctronics are internally wired with cable sourced from Van den Hul. I compared them with Chord, Monster, Audioquest QED and DNM, but the VdH won out overall. Yes, some cables excelled in areas better than the VdH but, as I said, I listen to a very wide range of music, so I need an all-round cable.

ANd, yes, cables do make a MASSIVE difference (for those who think this might all be pie-in-the-sky). ANd, I'm not rich and could have spent the money elsewhere - but music is my life, so my money tends to go on equipment that will help me both create and enjoy music.

man, I need to check my manuals to see what I did actually setup. Unfortunetly we are currently decorating so my gear is all packed up, and now reading this thread has made me miss the sound even more (currently got a £30 ALBA cd-radio thing to play the CDs)

I do believe my amps have a mono light so I guess I need to reinstall and check whether it lights up.

I do know that after a few years of owning half decent stuff my current gear is the best yet and I just want to listen to CDs again and again.

Adam.