Posted on 09/07/2019 9:08:03 AM PDT by fidelis
Sales of vinyl records have enjoyed constant growth in recent years. At the same time, CD sales are in a nosedive. Last year, the Recording Industry Association of America’s (RIAA) mid-year report suggested that CD sales were declining three times as fast as vinyl sales were growing. In February, the RIAA reported that vinyl sales accounted for more than a third of the revenue coming from physical releases.
This trend continues in RIAA’s 2019 mid-year report, which came out on Thursday. Vinyl records earned $224.1 million (on 8.6 million units) in the first half of 2019, closing in on the $247.9 million (on 18.6 million units) generated by CD sales. Vinyl revenue grew by 12.8% in the second half of 2018 and 12.9% in the first six months of 2019, while the revenue from CDs barely budged. If these trends hold, records will soon be generating more money than compact discs.
(Excerpt) Read more at rollingstone.com ...
I agree with you, Texasgator. CDs are vastly superior in sound than vinyls.
But vinyl is so much more fun than CDs. Just the big 12” x 12” covers and all that.
MP3 and streaming digital is compressed but the modern compression algorithms are so good that you barely notice them.
I’d probably be more interested in modern digital if there were more modern music worth listening to.
I am an audiophile, and long refused to buy CDs, since they are not analog, which is real.
However, there has been too much music I wanted that only became available as CD (which included recordings of all the concerts in which I have performed). Further, my entire (very expensive) system, including manual turntable with special cartridge, was stolen.
I now rely on CDs, partly because they are space-saving, and longer lasting (with proper care). I am (re-)building a system that will maximize the rendering as pseudo-analog.
I was once in temporal audiophilic heaven with the advent of Half-Speed Masters: Cincinnati (Telarc) 1812/Tchaikovsky, Katy Lied/Steely Dan, Dreamboat Annie/Heart, Rumours/Fleetwood Mac. (Sigh.)
I played some on my system in a spacious, properly dampened ballroom. I closed my eyes, and the performers were in the room with me.
Although I compromise with digital, I refuse to use MP3 if at all possible. I would use FLAC, but my overall setup favors WAV - and I use an editor for metadata.
Which means they are mid-to-low-fi. Many younger people do not know what good audio sounds like.
“The Hi-Rez digital 24-bit downloads can surpass vinyl - it’s all in the mastering.”
Yep. And today so much mastering is focused on the dude listening to a 96 mbps mp3 on his phone with his $6.99 Bluetooth earphones.
Thank goodness the high res sites allow you to sample before buying.
“MP3 and streaming digital is compressed but the modern compression algorithms are so good that you barely notice them.”
It has greatly improved but even at Pandora’s best resolution, I can’t play it for more than a short time for dedicated listening. OK for background but If I want to enjoy some listening, I go to my digital library.
DACs have improved immensely - higher performing chips and filters that are light years superior to earlier designs.
I’m testing a new DAC that uses a Sabre 9038 chip,7 different filters, superb analogue circuit with exceptional power supplies - an extraordinary sound!
Of course they are but this is a portable age where vinyl (definitely) and CDs (arguably) can’t carry volumes of music as well as a flash drive full of MP3s or a cellphone. Nobody (well, almost nobody) sits and listens to music anymore.
“I would use FLAC, but my overall setup favors WAV -”
Both are lossless but the WAV file is larger.
It does not entirely surprise me.
I worked with my brother years ago, building hi-fi speakers. We showed at CES two years. He could tell the difference, and I learned from him to tell the difference. But many cannot.
Personal hearing frequency response is just one factor. Cultivating an ear for sound reproduction authenticity is another factor.
I am now a semi-professional chorister. I had to cultivate an ear for harmony, timbre, et cetera. At first, I could not tell anything (except, I like it, or, I don’t like it.)
In contrast, my first teacher, who trained with one of the most famous choral conductors in the world in the past forty years, cannot tell the difference between true hi-fi and so-so-fi.
Her organic hearing is actually better than mine: no shooting, no airplanes.
She never cultivated an ear for hi-fi. But she grew up listening to Classical Music, and got a degree in Music. She can pick out one voice from a full choir in the moment, and correct the singer’s pitch, volume, timbre, pronunciation, et cetera - it is quite remarkable. (That is how I learned to sing harmony: She gave me instant feedback.)
But she cannot easily tell the audiophilic difference in sound reproduction between different sources. It used to drive me nuts. I would stage demonstrations to show her, and she would just shrug with a shamed face, and say they did not sound much different to her.
She was listening to the MUSIC, not to the SOUND.
“Just the big 12” x 12” covers and all that.”
I like the jacket photos displayed on my 75” TV.
Look me up on Discogs.com:
https://www.discogs.com/seller/sicvee/profile
“She was listening to the MUSIC, not to the SOUND.”
When I am deer hunting I don’t really see the forest or hear the birds unless I stop focusing on trying to see that deer.
“I do think that is one of the appeals of vinyl records, the issue of sound quality aside. Handling the album and playing the record on the turn table is a tactile experience and the album covers and liner notes add to the experience— more so than on a tiny CD, let alone a bodiless digital version.”
Long ago we passed the albums around to decide what to play next. Now we pass around the remote or use the app on the phone to select the next play.
Or ask Alexa/Google.
I like the jacket photos displayed on my 75” TV.
Look me up on Discogs.com:
https://www.discogs.com/seller/sicvee/profile
Sorry....but you're wrong and the market sales are indicative of my statement.
Additionally, one does not need to "sit and listen" to appreciate the higher sound quality of even a CD - especially when played back on a quality Transport feeding an equally quality DAC.
I find music thru my pro-level ear buds connected to my phone's iHeart app can sound OK for about 45 minutes during my fitness club workout...but it's more background noise than music.
I pity the people that limit themselves to this "noise" as they tell themselves it's music.
“I am an audiophile, and long refused to buy CDs, since they are not analog, which is real.”
Far from ‘real’.
“Which isn’t the same as holding a vintage album cover in your hand.”
No, but I have over 300 CD quality or better albums on my media drive, phone and in my car.
My ears are so shot by now, it really doesn’t matter.
There's also a lot of different things going on.
I can surely tell the difference between digital and analog versions of, say, Electric Ladyland or Dark Side of the Moon.
But it's more than that. Another poster mentioned the album art itself.
Then there's just the ritual of taking the record out of the album cover, gently placing it on the turntable, running the cleaner over it, placing the needle in the groove....
Then BAM! I'm transported back to 1970 - it's magical.
A Freeper posted last year about him and his wife listening to Dylan's Blood on the Tracks album on a rainy afternoon with a bottle of wine - again, magical.
Can't get that with a CD or MP3.
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