you don't hear "new" sounds that you didn't hear before.
the sounds you have always heard just take on a new quality.

for example-- the remaster of "billie jean" makes the bass sound crisper,
but on the vinyl, it sounds rounder. and it sounds more like a bass.


i think. the differences i hear may be psychological.
i don't know if i could tell the difference between a vinyl copy and a CD copy in a double blind study.

but that's how it feels to me.


also, some CD's either never got remastered or had a shitty
transfer over to digital. so on some CD's, you can hear hiss
and other things that you don't hear on the vinyl.
which means that the limitations of vinyl make the album sound better
than they would on CD. (kinda like how Sanford and Son looks better
on Standard Definition TV than on High Defintion CD.)
i mean, 60's motown sounds flat and compressed on CDs,
but they pop when they come out of a turntable.

then again, some CD remasters sound incredible.
the remaster of "let it bleed" sounds better than the vinyl...
and the effort that went into the remaster reveals how great of a job
the original engineers did. the CD is capable of revealing sonic qualities
that may have been hidden in the original vinyl pressing.


^^ bear in mind, some of that may all be in my head.
sonics isn't even why ppl dig vinyl.

ppl dig vinyl because it turns the listening experience into a ritual.
you can see the record spinning, and you can see the needle,
and you can see the grooves on the record.

when the record is playing, you can follow along the liner notes and get lost
in the cover art (CD liner notes are like reading the dictionary,
but vinyl covers are big enough to feel and get lost in).

it's also fun to browse through record shops (again, the cover art is
cool to get lost in... whereas browsing for CD's is tedious.)
and it's fun to take a chance on an album in the dollar bin and find something great.

see... that's something that MP3s can't give you.
the joy of discovery.

you can't really browse for mp3s. so whatever you find
was based either on a recommendation or familiarity with the artist.
vinyl, on the other hand... you can discover a band most ppl forgot about
and get spun in an entirely new direction for your musical appreciation journey.
part of the thrill is finding something that resonates with you in a sea of junk.
something you would have never have thought to look for in an MP3 search.

that's why i love vinyl.
i think some vinyl sounds better to me, but that could be
fetishism for the medium.

it's more the act of listening to and discovering vinyl that i love.



and now, i regret selling my albums.
i may buy a turntable this weekend and start my collection over again.






>the instruemnts being played are much more defined and you
>hear the subtle sounds that one wouldn't be able to pick it up
>on other mediums.