Why do some people buy and listen to vinyl records?

[raccoon]

Whatever floats your boat, but I much prefer CDs--less trouble.

Course I know somebody's going to tell me to get away from that and into MP3s and you're probably right. Lol.

[oberliner]

1. The answer lies in the difference between analog and digital recordings

The answer lies in the difference between analog and digital recordings. A vinyl record is an analog recording, and CDs and DVDs are digital recordings. Take a look at the graph below. Original sound is analog by definition. A digital recording takes snapshots of the analog signal at a certain rate (for CDs it is 44,100 times per second) and measures each snapshot with a certain accuracy (for CDs it is 16-bit, which means the value must be one of 65,536 possible values).

This means that, by definition, a digital recording is not capturing the complete sound wave. It is approximating it with a series of steps. Some sounds that have very quick transitions, such as a drum beat or a trumpet's tone, will be distorted because they change too quickly for the sample rate.

https://electronics.howstuffworks.com/question487.htm

[PoliticAverse]

8. That's a bad answer. Analog recordings aren't capable of "capturing the complete sound wave" either.

The real determiner of the quality of a recording on either CD or vinyl record is the quality of the original
master recording (ironically even for vinyl records the original master recording is often digital).

[oberliner]

11. Down with "HowStuffWorks"

And here I thought they were reliable.

[PoliticAverse]

15. For an alternate comparison see this article...

https://now.tufts.edu/articles/does-music-sound-better-vinyl-records-cds

Note that when recordings are released on "high end vinyl" these days they are often "remastered" which
can give them an advantage over the original recording on CDs. In fact the original transfers to CD of
many recordings were bad because the master recordings were intentionally modified to compensate for
the vinyl record they would be transferred to and when transferred straight to CD these recordings seemed
"off".

[hexola]

22. Nonsense - neither CDs or LPs are "recordings"

They are COPIES of a another recording...which is often a copy of another set of master recordings.

Digital is simply a better format for mastering and distribution.

Scratching a chunk of glass across a piece of plastic is the worst - regardless of what they tell you or how much you enjoy it.

All the whole "steps" thing is false...that's helpful for elementary explanation - but not really how it works, and ignores all sorts of other stuff...These days things are mastered at far higher rates than the final commercial product - which is increasingly getting the consumer in 24 bit format. ALAC/FLAC.

Linn LP 12 owner BTW...

[KatyMan]

31. Not to mention many albums are digitally

recorded, so the vinyl record of the album is a copy of the digital recording, no analog involved until the record.

[Locrian]

24. terrible article / question

It's totally BS, factually wrong:


They neglect the effect of a reconstruction filter in the answer. The digital "samples" are impulses NOT waveforms.
http://www.lavryengineering.com/pdfs/lavry-white-paper-the_optimal_sample_rate_for_quality_audio.pdf

Now I DO listen to vinyl (Grace 707 tonearm) - with a tube amp similar to an RCA SP10 and it's heaven!

[lagomorph777]

28. Shannon's Information Theory, and Nyquist's Sampling Theory can clarify.

...if you are interested in the math. A carefully sampled digital recording is at least as good as analog. As an engineer and an electronic musician, I use both technologies every day. Each has its advantages and disadvantages. Analog is really great for generating the original sound; it never aliases even with complex modulations and distortions applied. It's nice to turn a knob and hear the sound change in a creamy smooth way. On the other hand, digital is great for recording. It has huge dynamic range, and the convenience of nonlinear editing (assembling sounds in a visual way) would be impossible for me to give up.

For me, the reasons I sometimes listen to vinyl are similar to the reasons I roast and grind my own coffee. Sure, it's more effort, but I enjoy the physical connection to the product; the ritual adds to the pleasure. Also, it's fun to dig up some rare oddball in the thrift shop, and hear something that would never be available in digital form.

[Adrahil]

34. Need a like button. Good post. NT

[cemaphonic]

68. Yes, the dynamic range is a big argument in favor of digital

Not many people care, due to the high level of compression in popular music over the last 30 years, but something like the Rite of Spring sounds so much better on CD where the quiet parts aren't buried in the ambient noise inherent to vinyl.

[hexola]

71. Harder to wrap your head around dynamic range being about the quiet stuff...

and not the loud...took me awhile to grasp that.

[Lucinda]

2. Have you ever listened to a great album on vinyl? n/t

[raccoon]

4. Lots, but it's been decades ago. Nt

[Lochloosa]

6. Everytime I think of a vinyl album, I remember blowing my Bose 901's up playing Pink Floyd.

Dark Side of the Moon..the hearbeat did them in. Maybe it didn't have to be THAT loud.

That and Florida humidity. It deteriorated the lining around the edge of the speaker. Thought of replacing the speakers components till I opened the back..

[Lucinda]

26. If it had to die at least it went our playing Pink Floyd...

My favs.

[lagomorph777]

32. You can replace the foam surround on the speakers.

They sell kits for that; I'm considering it for some classic 70s speakers at my house.

901s are worth restoring; Bose made serious stuff in those days.

[Lochloosa]

35. That was a long time ago. I called Bose, but since they were bought used...

No warranty. They did offer me a 400 dollar credit on a new pair. They didn't have to do that. Good company and great speakers back then.

[A HERETIC I AM]

48. Back in the 70's my dad bought a system with this at the heart;

(Note the "CD-4" switch at the right. This was the "Quadraphonic Sound" that was all the rage for a couple years)

With a turntable like this; That one was belt drive. "Direct Drive" turntables were more top-of-the-line, but weren't cheap.

And speakers like these;

They were the size of end tables and that's what we used them for.

We had the loudest, clearest system in the neighborhood! When Boston released their first album, I had the living room full of neighbor kids listening to it completely cranked up (mom and dad were out, of course!)! You could hear it from a quarter mile away!

[bigbrother05]

64. Have a similar '72/'73 vintage system based on Technics receiver & turntable

With JBL studio monitors. The CD4 required a special stylus/cartridge combo to feed the 4 channels. Didn't go that way, just ran my system as 2 channel, but the receiver has 4 view meters. The turntable is a direct drive unit and totally manual. The hardest part is finding a compatible replacement stylus for my Stanton cartridge.

The warmth & presence of vinyl is hard to beat on a good system.

[Dave Starsky]

73. Sansui. Nice.

We were a Marantz family, but we had a similar setup. And yes, it was audio heaven. That was THE dad project back in the mid to late '70s. And the Boston album was the demo.

[jonno99]

57. Yep. As for my system - it took a pounding from the bass track on Hendrix's 'VooDoo Chile'.

Since I didn't have the money for the originals, I built a pair of "Klipschorn" styled bottoms from a kit (instructions) put out by 'SpeakerLab':



I always wanted a pair of 901's - though this is pretty cool system too:

[Lochloosa]

3. What is a MP3? Are they smaller than my CDs?

[crazycatlady]

14. digital file

You can burn them to CDs, or put them on an Mp3 player (like an iPod), phone, or tablet.

You can also create them by 'ripping' CDs into your music software.

I haven't bought a CD in over a decade. I use my iPod (and will until it croaks) or AMazon streaming (which you can also download for offline use).

[Blues Heron]

5. for that smooth, snappy sound that only vinyl can provide.

[icymist]

7. Because I have a huge vinyl record collection and a turntable to play them on?

BTW My first vinyl was a Beatles 45 of I Want To Hold Your Hand which I played over and over again and again!

[Kentonio]

9. Because lots of people falsely believe that vinyl is a more 'accurate' sound.

They are unfortunately wrong.

https://phys.org/news/2016-07-music-vinyl-cds.html

[Orrex]

10. I love how vinyl records sound while I'm jogging

Vinyl-philes will talk endlessly about the sublime perfection of the sound quality of vinyl, and that's super-duper, I guess.

I'm afraid that I simply don't spend enough time listening to music to make the issue a big deal for me. If vinyl-types like it, then I say good for them. It's lost on me, though.

[jberryhill]

74. Listening to vinyl while jogging or in the car can introduce distortion...

...because the vinyl record is shortened in the direction of travel in accord with the Theory of Special Relativity, turning the round shape into more of an oval. But because it is rotating at the same time, the vinyl has to stretch and then contract with each revolution. This puts a periodic stress on the piezoelectric crystal at the tip of the needle which induces a unique energy wave that can unbalance your chakras.

Dude, seriously, if you want to listen to your tunes while jogging or driving, get an eight track player.

[aikoaiko]

12. For some its true audiophilia, others are hipsters, others are nostalgic.

I don't hear enough of a difference so the convenience of digital is more important.

[TreasonousBastard]

13. Because they think they are getting better sound...

Theoretically, they may be right, but the vinyl wears and scratches, so after a while the sound isn't so hot any more.

And the vinyl is just two channels, with no ability to account for the acoustics of a proper hall. It also has to deal with electronic noise and speaker quality-- not actually different from what digital has to deal with, but digital might have more options to deal with it.

And since so much modern music is sampled in the studio anyway, what's the point?

Last I heard, mp3's are lossier than cd's, so they ain't so hot. No reason other digital formats can't be as good as CD's.

[Hoyt]

16. There is a slight difference in sound -- vinyl is smoother. But digital often has more clarity.

The final decision for me came down to fact digital is much more convenient. Try storing and carrying hundreds of vinyl records around. A box of 100 vinyl records is roughly 60 pounds.

Or try creating a playlist of 100s of songs from thousands of vinyl albums.

Finally, to get the most out of vinyl you have to have the amps, turntable, needle, speakers and acoustic environment to take advantage of the medium. I finally sold my tube amps, big speakers, etc., in favor of decent digital players and am much happier. Of course, aging hearing might have something to do with that. The album covers were nice, though.

Plus, with Amazon Prime, I can listen to most albums without incurring additional cost. Downside, I listen to a lot of obscure recordings that aren't available on Amazon, but they've gotten a lot better.

[janterry]

17. Spotify

n/t

[exboyfil]

18. I remember paying big money for

a sound system after graduating from college in 1984. It seemed important at the time. Eventually most of the components failed (after many years and many moves). Last year I gave my record collection (which included by dad's albums) to my nephew and my brother. I now listen to music with a $25 Kindle tablet and a $25 Bluetooth speaker. Definitely decluttered my space. Still have a massive amount of CDs though, but I don't seem to play them much.

Amazon Prime has virtually everything I want to listen to. Also free Spotify. I am currently three months on Amazon Music for 99 cents. It turns out that I would be satisfied for Prime's catalog even though I do enjoy working through lesser known albums of some of my favorite bands.

I don't have much of a musical ear so it doesn't matter to me.

[tymorial]

19. I listen to both

I have a ton of cds and vinyl. Some of my vinyl albums are original and priceless to me so I only listen to them once in a while. I have cds if each for general use but sometimes I just want to listen to albums from the original vinyl. It's probably all in my head but my jazz albums sound better.

[hexola]

20. LOTS of music only available on vinyl.

LOTS!

Record companies didn't republish their entire catalog when digital emerged.

I find it hilarious that raccoon makes the CD comparison...if anything is completely archaic and should be wiped off the earth - its the CD! Horrible...horrible format!

[Paladin]

21. To avoid the high-pitched hissing noise of CD's. (nt)

[phleshdef]

23. I collect vinyls of select albums that I really love.

I stream my music most of the time, but there is something special about loading a vinyl of a great album into a record player and letting it blast.

[PoliticAverse]

29. Album covers were/are certainly better than tiny CD booklets. n/t

[klook]

38. Not to mention you could actually learn something about the music.

The average Spotify listener generally has no idea who the band members are on the tracks they're listening to. I learned a lot about music and musicians' work by reading liner notes and personnel listings on LP covers, particular in the jazz realm.

I'd see the list of band members and think, "Oh, Ben Riley! He played with Monk -- this might be good." Or "Recorded by Rudy Van Gelder? I'm in!" Or I'd read an essay by Nat Hentoff or Ralph Gleason or Orrin Keepnews and learn something about the artists or the music -- often standing in a record store, where this new knowledge would send me to a different bin in search of new treasures to take home.

Same for rock music. And some helpful artists would even include lyrics for those of us unable to decipher words mumbled in a fake (or sometimes authentic) Southern accent.

And then, of course, there's the issue of rolling joints -- without the LP cover of Traffic's John Barleycorn Must Die or Coltrane's A Love Supreme, who can craft a tight, seedless doobie anymore?


And the artwork! LPs allowed a fantastic flourishing of album cover art that is hard to match in a cramped CD booklet (or Spotify / Pandora interface).

[HAB911]

25. Still waiting............

https://www.ponomusic.com/

[vi5]

27. I listen to vinyls or mp3/streaming.

I'm not an analog purist. I love the feel and sound of vinyl for certain types of music and if I'm just sitting around at home reading or doing some work. But for convenience of being in other spots, it's mp3's or streaming.

CD's are none of the sound quality and none of the convenience, plus the added burden of taking up space for less sound quality and less artwork/quality.

[ProfessorGAC]

30. CD's Are None Of The Sound Quality?

Compared to MP3's? I don't think the science of sampling and playback supports that MP3's were ever intended to even compete with CD sound quality. They were meant to be pretty darned good, but with the huge convenience of requiring no mechanical system for playback. Great for cars, joggers, etc. because they don't skip and no moving parts to wear out.

The file is pretty significantly compressed which does, to many ears, degrade the sound quality a bit. Not everyone can hear the difference, but i don't believe they were ever intended to be better sounding than CD's.

[vi5]

33. None of the sound quality of vinyl.....none of the convenience of mp3's

Again, the vinyl sound superiority doesn't apply for me to all music or to vinyl across the board. But certain styles (Jazz, punk rock, some classic rock) just works better for me on vinyl for a number of reasons. It's admittedly just personal preference.

I'm a fairly big music fan and a musician myself. I had and still have about 600 vinyl albums. I had 4,000 cd's. I still have the vinyl ad no longer have the cd's and I don't miss a single thing about them.

I don't buy newly pressed vinyl of old albums since most of the time those are done from digital copies anyway and serve no purpose. But if I can find an original copy of an older record than I usually will buy it. I will say that 75% of what I listen to is streaming/digital/mp3/whatever. But I still do break out the records when it suits the situation.

[ProfessorGAC]

40. Got You!

I thought you were applying both characteristic to both.

Now i get it. I'm one who strongly believes that this is a matter of preference, and the science doesn't support analog being superior to digital. But, i can certainly buy that they sound different, and then it becomes a matter of taste. At that point, there can be no right or wrong. It's just what A likes better vs what B likes better.

I admit i'm the opposite of you in this regard. I like the "bite" of CD and the lack of hiss. Given that i did quite a lot of sampling in the earlier digital days (think post Fairlight/Synclavier where you didn't have to be a millionaire to own a sampler) and all that stuff was 8 bit and around 26k. So, i certainly heard the distortion and aliasing if not done right. By the time the tech got to 16 bit and 48.4k those artifacts pretty much disappeared as a concern.

So, i can see where digital was inferior, but CD's were never at the low resolution, low speed sampling rates. Hence, i liked the hiss free high end. Others, presumably you among them, like the slightly warmer sound of LP. (I read some time back that this is caused by subharmonics of the high frequency phase canceling part of the highs on play back. Don't recall where i read that though.)

[vi5]

44. Yes, I should say "my preference" is as opposed to....

..superior sound quality.

I would never listen to a classical symphony on vinyl, nor most electronic based music as there's far too much going on in both that gets missed in the more blended tones I hear in vinyl. But when I'm listening to some gritty, dirty garage rock or hardcore punk I prefer it with some hiss and grit and I think digital sterilizes that music too much. Same thing with older jazz which I also like with some grit and hiss (although if the jazz is fusion I prefer it digital...go figure).

I'll admit I can't hear any of the loss from cd to mp3 or streaming which is why for me the convenience trumps all else.

[ProfessorGAC]

61. (In Butthead's Voice): Heh, heh...

. . .you said trump!

[Dreamer Tatum]

36. What do you prefer to cook your food: an oven, or a microwave? nt

[Adrahil]

37. Some folks like the feel of Vinyl...

But honestly, for 99% of people, the quality of your speakers or headphones makes the most difference in sound quality. And good quality sound from vinyl requires high-end components all the way through your playback set-up and then it's still not quite as good as a good quality digital file.

A lot of it is just hipsterism, though I note exceptions mentioned above by people who just enjoy it as a hobby, and/or love the aesthetic... good for them!

[maxsolomon]

41. well, an MP3 is NOT a "good quality digital file"

A FLAC file is; that's what's on a CD. But most everyone uses MP3s for the smaller file size. They're missing a lot.

[hunter]

47. FLAC is a compressed version of what's on a CD.

FLAC can recreate precisely what's on a CD, but it's not at all similar to the way data is represented on CDs. The actual digital recording on a CD, the ones and zeros, have many redundancies to cope with minor scratches and other similar damage to the CD's surface. FLAC is a true lossless compression scheme optimized for sound files.

[maxsolomon]

55. good info

thanks - I knew it was pretty close audio-wise.

mp3s are just decapitated - and it's easy to hear.

[Adrahil]

67. I never said an MP3 was a good quality...

Are you confusing me with someone else?

I do use MP3's because I find them convenient. But I have never claimed they are good quality.

[hexola]

72. 320K mp3 is hard to pick out

For most people...doable - but you have to know what to listen for...under ideal conditions.

[maxsolomon]

39. Because it's fun, it's relatively cheap, and it doesn't hurt anyone

CDs are fine, and I have many, but I enjoy the Jurassic technology aspect of turntables. That I can find an LP from the 1950s and play it after one from this year.

if you don't want to buy vinyl, good. Less competition for a limited resource.

[The Genealogist]

60. His is why I like vinyl

I have a lot of fun just working the turntable. Also, 45s are prettty cheap. I got a big stack of them for about 30 bucks this past weekend. There is also something heartwarming about those crackles and other noises. I like CDs and other more modern formats just fine, but they somehow lack the personality of vinyl. Also love the big variety of colorful labels.

[hunter]

42. For the gloriously large cover art...

... and the tactile joy of setting an LP down on a record player and gently dropping the needle down onto the outside groove.

Yes, I said record player. Fancy turntables are madness in these days of CDs, MP3, and FLAC music. I appreciate the unique sound of a record player. I'm not aiming to reproduce music perfectly, an LP can't do that, no matter how much money you put into turntables and amplifiers and such.

Years ago my wife gave me a record player which had served many years in a university music library. It's a deliciously mechanical machine that will play everything from old 16s to 78s. It required only minimal repairs, a few bits of rubber and some capacitors.

Some early CDs sounded awful because engineers were not yet familiar with the medium. In the process of engineering music for LPs the engineer creating the original LP masters essentially became one of the musicians. His instrument was your record player. The music was mixed to sound it's very best on a turntable. Engineers who'd spent their careers mixing for the RIAA curve, which is a sort of compression that made the 33 1/3 LP record possible, had trouble remixing original studio tapes for CDs. Sometimes there were flaws in the original recording that hadn't made it past RIAA compression, and sometimes engineers played with the expanded capabilities of CDs and lost whatever musical "magic" had been added to an album when it was engineered for vinyl.

It's possible to engineer CDs to sound like vinyl, and there are still people, musicians in their own right, carrying on the craft of mixing music for vinyl.

[IluvPitties]

43. Google Music in my phone and my Bluetooth speaker is all I need.

[bdtrppr6]

45. i've collected and loved vinyl

since I was a kid(i'm old). i've got lots of cds for the convenience and rocking in the car, but haven't bought a new one in years. i only really buy used vinyl, nothing new, unless the packaging is killer. just picked up a double lp soundtrack for the Hateful Eight, used, simply for the cool package. and of course, Morricone's sound work.

i kinda hate the digital availability of all music, the search for new album or band was the thrill of going to the record store. now you just read blurb somewhere, download the mp3 and stream the album. i've found that ease of choice typically leads to a quick lack of interest in the songs.

but that's just me! rock on either way!

[obamanut2012]

46. Because they need to wear their fedora for something

*rimshot*

[LeftInTX]

49. All of my vinyl LPs warped....I got rid of my collection about 20 years ago.

[jmowreader]

50. I hear the jackets are excellent for cleaning weed

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

78. Dude, are you gonna throw out those seeds? I can plant them ... nt

[ismnotwasm]

51. I have a musician friend

With a huge collection of vinyl. Years of collecting.On his Instagram he often shows a picture of a record playing and an often eclectic album in a the background. Today it was Nina Simone. A lot of his vinyl are people I’ve never heard of, or know nothing about. His collection is historically interesting in that way, his musical tastes are broad. I think it’s great

As far as sound? I’m not musically sophisticated enough to pick our differences from streaming, CD and vinyl—I don’t think— although live albums seem to sound better on vinyl. I’m sure it’s just me.

[Ferrets are Cool]

52. I used to think it was about the sound....now

I believe its about being snooty.
I have a $20K theater room, so I know a little bit about sound.

[msongs]

53. sadly the millenial vinyl trendoids are playing their vinyl on garbage cheap low quality turntables

barnes and noble honolulu has tons of new vinyl and sells junk turntables for $99. maybe the trendies are just showing off their vinyl but care not about actual sound quality of album care

[LisaM]

54. I can tell you that nothing on CD (or previously on cassette) can ever match the excitement I felt

when I brought an LP home from the store, popped the outside plastic with my thumb nail, and unwrapped it. The smell! The feel of it in my hands! Checking the stylus on my turntable to make sure it was in tip-top shape before lovingly placing the album over the spindle and listening to it for the first time.

There was something a lot more visceral about LPs (not to mention that they were often recorded in such a way that the whole "album" made sense as a piece of music, not just one song) compared to CDs. I've never felt that crackling excitement opening a CD. Never.

[lunamagica]

58. +1. I miss those days!

[Initech]

56. Ha, I was just having this argument with my dad.

Because I stated that I wanted to buy a turntable, and I found a turntable and speakers for $300, which is not that bad of a deal. He thinks MP3s and digital albums are superior to vinyl, but I told him most hardcore music fans and even musicians would definitely tear down that argument.

[hexola]

70. Your Dad is correct - always listen to your parents.

If you like vinyl - every time you play an album, record it to flac or high bit mp3 - all the glory of vinyl, preserved to digital.

[tenderfoot]

59. I can only assume that people buy and listen to vinyl because they like to.

Kind of like people who buy and read printed books as opposed to ebooks.

Then again, who cares?

[FarCenter]

62. First thing is to get your hearing checked.

Due to listening to loud music and other loud sounds and the consequent loss of hearing, most people are physically incapable of hearing any difference between CDs and vinyl. On the other hand, someone with very good hearing should be able to tell the difference between CD or vinyl and the lower bit-rate MP3s. However MP3 uses what is known as perceptual encoding in order to discard parts of the signal that a person cannot hear, so the higher bit rate MP3s will be perceptually indistinguishable from CDs or vinyl.

This is just one area of tech marketing where the consumer is sold a bill of goods based on specifications that far exceed realistic limits on what is perceptually significant.

[Runningdawg]

63. For me, it's nostalgia

but I sure do love the convenience of being able to carry my entire system + 300 albums in my pocket.

[Codeine]

65. I have a friend who has become a vinyl fanatic

over the last five or six years. This mostly means our board game or RPG sessions get interrupted every half hour so he can flip or change the record, and since everything is double sleeved in plastic it takes goddamned forever.

OTOH his prolific purchasing habits are single-handedly keeping a number of small record companies in business.

[pansypoo53219]

66. resale. i bought a pipe organ album at a rummage sale for 25. 4 disk mills bros i got for free.

[Sen. Walter Sobchak]

69. It baffles my parents

I will never forget the look on my mother's face when she saw Taylor Swift and Justin Timberlake records for sale. She thought I was joking when I told her young trendy people were buying them.

I remember when they bought their first CD player around 1986, it was a giant Akai unit that wasn't much smaller than a home computer at the time and they were throwing away vinyl as fast as they could. Me any my brother were experimenting with scratching because we had an endless supply. I'm sure some of the records me and my brother destroyed would be quite valuable by now.

[jberryhill]

75. Because you have something to clean your weed on

Have you ever tried to pick out the stems and seeds on a CD case?

[Codeine]

76. Because buying and NOT listening to them

would be very silly indeed.

[Docreed2003]

77. I prefer vinyl for home music listening

I’ve preferred vinyl over digital for my home listening for years, and a massive vinyl collection that’s made several moves to prove it, lol. I think most of it has to do with the connection I feel to the physical album and enjoy what I perceive to be the warmth of the sound of vinyl. There is a very clear difference in the sound of certain albums between vinyl and CD/digital. The two examples I can think of off the top of my head are Hendrix “Are you Experienced” and Springsteen “Live at Hammersmith Odeon. “Are you Experienced” has a much fuller sound, to my ears, on vinyl. Similarly, with the live Springsteen album, I always knew Bruce had a cold during that concert, but I couldn’t really tell that in the digital version I owned before getting it on vinyl. On the vinyl, you can clearly hear a difference in his voice, again at least to my ears.

At the end of the day, it all comes down to what you enjoy. I’m not going to argue with someone over which one is “better”, mainly because that’s like asking if creamy or chunky peanut butter is better. I think the important focus should be the music and I’d encourage anyone to enjoy the music their way. Now, I would agrue that playing a vinyl record on a crappy turntable is a travesty. You don’t have to break the bank on a good system, but there’s a lot of crappy turntables sold to the masses...looking at you Crosley...