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

Yes to everything you said about sound. It's really a question of warmth and (as you suggest) distance, to my ears, which I chalk up to issues of a) mastering/remastering and b) compression when we're comparing to cds/mp3s/digital formats. I do think that this quality can help you to notice things you didn't notice before, because it draws your attention in...

but so do good speakers... and if nothing else, most folks who are buying turntables right now are also investing in *slightly* better speakers than the $20 headphones or the $30 computer speakers they've been listening on for most of their lives.

And *that* change is crucial. I got a turntable a few years ago, and a set of real (still cheap, but real-ish) bookshelf speakers and a sub, with a real-ish amp. Nothing fancy, but enough to really make a difference in the total package of the sound.

Willie Nelson's voice never sounded so present. Elton's classic records felt whole, total, everything in their right place, where as on some of the newer remasters they sometimes feel disjointed sonically, texturally.

Don't get me started on Sly's Riot and Fresh...

>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.

>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 yes to all of this. I wish more people would recognize this. A lot of folks write off the recent vinyl resurgence as just hipster consumerism. There's some of that. But I think for a lot of people, it's part of an effort to make music/art count in there lives by giving it some tangibility, something to hold on to (literally). The weight and effort of vinyl make cds feel paltry by comparison, which has much less to do with issues of sound than with listeners' desires.

*plus* vinyl brings history with it. It's great that so much new stuff is being released for vinyl now, but there's a chance of finding anything and everything on vinyl, because pre-CDs, it was released there first. Shitloads of jazz records never got transferred to CD, period. Classical records, too. Not to mention the range of independent recordings, private pressings, etc.

Of course, vice-versa: a lot of stuff never got pressed to vinyl, esp. after the early 90s...

In short, vinyl+speakers do make a difference in sound, but the renewed interest in vinyl is, for some, an almost metaphysical or existential concern: it's about trying to anchor the 0s and 1s in something more present and experiential, less ephemeral.

-thebigfunk

~ i could still snort you under the table ~