A turntable? Vinyl records? Today it’s not easy…

Digital, with a resolution at least equal to that of CDs, should be superior to vinyl. Old records are back in fashion and have been synonymous with “cool” for a few years now. We see them in movies and TV series (even in an episode of modern Star Trek, a guy was listening to records in his spaceship). And prices have risen to such an extent that even I, who still listen to vinyl records, find it very difficult to buy an LP rather than a CD. I mean, who would buy a certain record if it costs 60 on vinyl but only 10 on CD? But vinyl is so cool ! Well, hi-fi enthusiasts like me should make the rational choice and buy six CDs for €10 rather than a vinyl record just to look cool.

The point of this page is not to argue that one format is sonically superior to the other. Vinyl records offer a different way of enjoying music which, provided you are willing to take care of a serious analog system (which is no joke), can still be very satisfying today. But it’s a choice. First of all, however, it is important to understand that it is not the medium that is superior or inferior, but the original recording. In short, a high resolution (higher than CD) file, perhaps a modern remastering (often much worse than the original) of a record from the days when only vinyl existed, will almost certainly sound quite worse than a vinyl record in a quality system.

I still have many of the records from my youth and I still buy them when I can. The pleasure of listening to a real record, something perfectly normal 30 years ago, is not easily explainable to young people today (some elders have also forgot about it). One should try. It is a much more natural way of enjoying music than today’s digital media. Digital is cold, hasten, distant, just like today’s society. The physical contact with the record itself, its cover, so large, made of paper not plastic, warms the soul in a way no optical disc or ethereal music file can do.

How to begin

If you don’t already have a few records to play, it’s probably not worth starting a collection today and buying a turntable, cartridge, and maybe even a phono preamplifier. But everyone spends their money as they see fit.

For those who do not want any problems or don’t feel comfortable with used stuff, a Project Debut or Essential would be a great start. It is a cheap plug-and-play turntable, factory adjusted with a stock cartridge included. A modern Rega RP-1 would probably be even better, but an old Thorens turntable like the one I have, or a Garrard, Lenco or Dual, fine tuned and properly refurbished, can maybe give a run for their money to modern medium-cheap turntables. It could certainly sound much better than a mid-class CD player. Mind you, a badly recorded vinyl disc will sound worse than a well recorded CD, this is the undeniable truth. A CD can sound damn good in a top-level player. I do love vinyl records, so I don’t feel prepared to play files off a computer or hard disk (although it seems they should sound better than CDs). But if I were to advise a person who has no vinyl records and wants to build a HiFi system form scratch, I wouldn’t suggest a turntable as the source. If passion and fascination are overwhelming, ok, go ahead, but there would be more sense in starting off with a CD player, since it still is the most common sound medium and, thanks to the increasing music download habit, the golden discs can be really cheap today.

The black discs (spin the black circle…)

“See this needle, see my hand dropping it down…oh, so gently… Pull it out a paper sleeve. Oh, my joy, only you deserve conceit. You’re so warm…oh, the ritual, when I lay down your crooked arm…” So my equals-in-age Pearl Jam were singing (rather strongly!) in distant 1994 (Vitalogy album ). The track “Spin the black circle” was a rock tribute to the musical medium they love most.

Recently, vinyl record sales have increasingly raised. This happened mainly because the music industry smelled the chance to increase sales and started pressing records  to take advantage of the renewed fashion. The risk is stumbling in a poor recording or a CD dump. But a well recorded vinyl disc sounds maybe more natural to the human ear. Listening to a well tuned up turntable today may surprise you more than you imagine.

The CD was presented to us as a technological miracle, the science fiction “laser disc” with no background noise, with the sole purpose of reviving the saturated record market. It was certainly the result of years of research into digital recording by Philips and Sony. It’s a fascinating story, but the new format was welcomed with open arms by record companies because they saw a revival in sales, with consumers intent on replacing their entire discography with the new optical discs.

Therefore, if you still have a turntable at home, do not underestimate it. If you don’t have one, but still have your old vinyl record collection in a good state, it is certainly worth looking for a new TT (Project, Rega) or a used one (Thorens, Rega, Linn, Dual, Garrard, AR). In the latter case, some experience is necessary. You won’t regret it, it’s true records get ruined, thay’re clicking and noisy but if you knowhow to set a turntable up you can minimize all this. Consider that when vinyl was the only music medium, few users cared for adjusting their turntables, they just didn’t know. Clicks and surface noise may be there but a quality setup, especially a good cartridge and tonearm, can decrease, minimize, sometimes even almost cancel them. When this is not possible, the quality of listening is such that we learn how to live with surface noise happily. A properly maintained vinyl record, well cleaned, replaced in its paper sleeve, stored vertically, always played on a well-tuned turntable, can last longer than we imagine. I have records from the 60s (!!!) that still sound perfect…

In theory, digital is superior, it has a dynamic range that vinyl can only dream of, recording digitally is much more practical, and the obstacles to overcome are insignificant compared to those involved in transferring music to vinyl and then playing it back. There is no comparison, yet there are direct-to-disc vinyl recordings that sound really impressive. As TNT-Audio director Lucio Cadeddu put it, it’s a bit like the difference between a fireplace and a radiator: the radiator heats very well and is more practical, but what about the flame in a fireplace? Playing a vinyl record is a ritual we enjoy from taking it out of its sleeve, cleaning it with a brush, then the stylus descends and, upon contact with the groove, the miracle happens—and it really is a miracle when you think about the technology used. That’s right, vinyl shouldn’t sound good, but it doesn’t know it and sounds good anyway…