[William Noble]

"Sonnova" wrote in message
...

giant snip ----------------
So, What I'd like to do is get opinions from this board. Have any of you
noticed that you don't enjoy listening to your audio system today as much
as
you did in vinyl days? If you fall into this category, do you have any
theories as to why? If you have happily left LP behind with no regrets,
I'd
like to hear your opinions as to why you think many people still get more
enjoyment from LP than CD and why you do not. Please, let's avoid the
obvious
remarks about about surface noise, limited dynamic range, wow-and-flutter
(as
obviously vinyl-philes seem to be able to listen around those and don't
find
them annoying).

Let the games begin!

there are a number of recordings where I have both the vinyl and CD - in
many but not all cases, the soundstage formed by the vinyl extends well
beyond the speakers, sometimes wrapping all the way around behind me. With
the CDs, in no case does the sound stage extend beyond the speakers.

I attribute this to a loss of phase information - I did experiments in
college that prove that there is a phase sensitive connection of some kind
between your ears - this is one of the digitization artifacts introduced by
CDs - the question is, how important is that artifact to you?

[Sonnova]

On Fri, 26 Sep 2008 21:59:04 -0700, William Noble wrote
(in article ):

"Sonnova" wrote in message
...

giant snip ----------------
So, What I'd like to do is get opinions from this board. Have any of you
noticed that you don't enjoy listening to your audio system today as much
as
you did in vinyl days? If you fall into this category, do you have any
theories as to why? If you have happily left LP behind with no regrets,
I'd
like to hear your opinions as to why you think many people still get more
enjoyment from LP than CD and why you do not. Please, let's avoid the
obvious
remarks about about surface noise, limited dynamic range, wow-and-flutter
(as
obviously vinyl-philes seem to be able to listen around those and don't
find
them annoying).

Let the games begin!

there are a number of recordings where I have both the vinyl and CD - in
many but not all cases, the soundstage formed by the vinyl extends well
beyond the speakers, sometimes wrapping all the way around behind me. With
the CDs, in no case does the sound stage extend beyond the speakers.

This is a fairly common experience and I have certainly heard it on more than
a few discs. Logic would dictate that since CD has, essentially, and for all
practical purposes, infinite channel separation when compared to the 15 -30
dB typical of most phono cartridges, that the opposite would be true. I
suspect that this wide, sometimes wrap-around soundstage from vinyl is due to
phase anomalies in the LP mastering/playback chain, as otherwise I cannot see
how it can be. But, you are right, whether this is a phase distortion effect
or not, it doesn't alter the fact that it makes the presentation sound more
alive.

I attribute this to a loss of phase information - I did experiments in
college that prove that there is a phase sensitive connection of some kind
between your ears - this is one of the digitization artifacts introduced by
CDs - the question is, how important is that artifact to you?

Like I said above, I attribute it to phase distortion rather than a loss of
information. The number and types of analog filters (both inherent and added
by the engineers) that characterize the cutting procedure as well as the
playback (magnets and coils) end of the system almost guarantees massive
phase shifts that surely weren't there on the original master tape. On
records that I have which exhibit this phenomenon, I like it a lot, although
I realize that it probably shouldn't be there.

[Steven Sullivan]

William Noble wrote:
"Sonnova" wrote in message
...

giant snip ----------------
So, What I'd like to do is get opinions from this board. Have any of you
noticed that you don't enjoy listening to your audio system today as much
as
you did in vinyl days? If you fall into this category, do you have any
theories as to why? If you have happily left LP behind with no regrets,
I'd
like to hear your opinions as to why you think many people still get more
enjoyment from LP than CD and why you do not. Please, let's avoid the
obvious
remarks about about surface noise, limited dynamic range, wow-and-flutter
(as
obviously vinyl-philes seem to be able to listen around those and don't
find
them annoying).

Let the games begin!

there are a number of recordings where I have both the vinyl and CD - in
many but not all cases, the soundstage formed by the vinyl extends well
beyond the speakers, sometimes wrapping all the way around behind me. With
the CDs, in no case does the sound stage extend beyond the speakers.

I would suggest your speaker setup is not optimal, then, or by sheer
misfortune you've never bought a well-recorded CD.



--
-S
A wise man, therefore, proportions his belief to the evidence. -- David Hume, "On Miracles"
(1748)