You are happy with both your high quality Digital front end and your Record Player. How much do you use the latter?

CD player 95%

Record player 5%

Records give far more pleasure though

Vinyl 40 %

Compact Disc 30 %

FM 20 %

Cassettes 10 %

Kevin,

Ref:

Thanks Fernar. Interesting that a better LP12 swung it back a bit. I see you have Lingo, Kore, Ekos (cartridge?),now, but what did you change from? 

For everyone’s reference I should maybe clarify that what I heard today and was impressed by was LP12,  Roksan Nima, Dynavector 10x5, Kore, Lingo4. 

My LP12 ownership started off with a newly serviced second hand deck with a Akito arm + Adkit cartridge + lid donated from my Linn Axis that had stopped working (Power supply failed) + new Hercules power supply.

The upgrades taken over time were:

• New motor (the old one started clicking)
• Trampoline (the original base board was very tatty)
• Cirkus bearing
• Tigerpaw Khan top-plate
• Ekos(Mk1) arm + T-Cable + Dynavector 20X2 Cartridge
• Outer platter (the original had marks that I could not polish out and showed when playing a record)
• Lingo 3
• Tigerpaw sKare counterweight

Since the money tree at the end of my garden is not very big and the money it does produce get spent by my wife and children on things like food, clothes, fuel and holidays, etc. I have to think carefully what where and if I upgrade. 

On the one hand I would like to upgrade to a Lingo 4 or Raikal power supply or replace the arm with an Ekos SE or upgrade the cartridge.... alternatively since I listen more to the digital side, maybe upgrade the N272... but since there is currently no follow-on to the N272, this would mean changing to a NDX 2 and also a new pre-amp + associated power supply... which would mean an increase in the box count....  so currently I am in 'wait and see' mode .

50% Radio 3/4, Jazz FM, or streamed stuff through the Qb whilst I’m doing stuff in the back of the house.  

30% vinyl (Roksan Xerxes spec in my profile).

20% CDS3/XPS2.

But if I were starting now I doubt I’d do vinyl despite the fact that it is sonically best. 

For serious listening;

Roon via Nova 98%

Vinyl (Lp12/ittok/troika) 2%

Vinyl tends to be in binges. I would flog the vinyl except it's a reminder of around 50 years of hifi geekery and I don't need the money, also the physical LPs have a sentimental value.

I had a think about this earlier and realised that both CD player and turntable have been pressed into use barely a handful of times this year, and then it was only to use them as they were there rather than a need to hear CD or vinyl music.

Working at home music is on all day, all streamed through what was an ND5XS into a Nait 5si and is now a 272/250 combo, generally 6 Music in the morning, Radio 2 or 4 around lunchtime then before folk start arriving home around from mid-afternoon onwards it'll be my own music streamed from the NAS.

For serious listening in the evenings it's streamed from the NAS. Throw in an occasional nostalgia trip on cassette or minidisc, it's close to 100% streamed, either radio or NAS (all FLAC files now). Note to self - re-instigate the Tidal sub.

I can only relate this to a few years ago as I no longer have both.

10 years ago, rough estimate:

CD (Shearne Phase 7) 40-50%

Vinyl (Thorens TD150/RB300/AT-OC9) 50-60% 

The choice was purely on what I fancied playing. LP collection at the time was a bit larger than CD, and I still had plenty of go-to favourites that I aired ofted.

Between then and 8 years ago vinyl play was near 100% as I worked my way through my entire collection playing every one (that itself actually a rather interesting exercise, and one that perhaps we all could do with doing from time to time with our collections!). My trigger for doing that was ripping every record to CD, having not bought a record for probably 20 years, and that way preserving them from any further deterioration. On completion of that some time in 2010 I ceased playing vinyl and sold the TT,

Kevin - this thread has been an interesting read through - thanks for sharing your experience. As you may remember i’m pondering a similar question, although I’ve just not had the time to investigate further as yet - rather frustrating!

Could you please expand a little on the dem with Peter at Cymbiosis? Was it a stock LP12 or one of his secondhand part builds? Did you compare similar tracks via digital streaming to the LP12? 

20% turntable, 80 % streamer, 0% radio, 0% tidal.

Hi Kevin,

I have NDS with 2 x 555PS and an LP12 at Lingo 1, Cirkus, Kore, Ittok, T-Kable, Krystal spec.  Since acquiring the LP12 around 6 months ago, I have bought as many LPs as I could get to bolster my collection because I love how vinyl sounds; I also love how tactile vinyl is and have no problem getting up every twenty minutes or so to flip sides; surface noise can be an issue but I seem to be able to mostly ignore it when it's there!

Interestingly, on the right record, even my modest spec LP12 does things in terms of musical engagement that my NDS doesn't.  'Better' isn't a word I am wholly comfortable with because it is somewhat subjective.  More engaging on the other hand; for me, yes.  When funds allow, I will invest in a PS upgrade for the LP12 which should take it to a whole new level of involvement.  

Percentage wise, I probably still listen to the NDS more but that is only because I have more music on the NAS than records (around 400).  As my vinyl collection builds however, I can see me listening to the LP12 even more.

Am I happy with my NDS too?  Yes, I am, but it is a different listening experience and I confess, I am often distracted by the iPad when I listen; not something that happens with vinyl.

I have absolutely no regrets whatsoever buying the LP12; I only wish I'd done it sooner. 

Cheers,

Ian

when i had the 272

%20 Tidal - when does not drop

%60 Streaming from NAS

%5 CD

%15 LP

Now without the Streamer CD/LP 50/50..

 Still i found many of the LPs are just sound as CD but all Blue Note 45s are far but far better than CD

CD2x/555PSDR/SL DIN-DIN vs Dr.Feickert Woodpacker II/Jelco SA-750/ Lyra Delos/ Brinkmann Fien 

I will jazz with LPs rest with CDs till a new streamer.... maybe add a tube phono stage as well....

LPs are hassle except night time listening...

some LP's still sound excellent to my ears, but since the 

joerand posted:

With stats like that it's a wonder you can call yourself "analogmusic"

I don't see a problem here. Hugo was invented way after I chose my Naim.

Hugo is to my ears, the first digital source that I liked enough to make owning a turntable not a necessity  for me, anymore.

Dave takes that a lot further and is much superior to Hugo, and Blu2/Dave well that is very special and magical it just makes me believe there’s no hi if system there only a live musical performance 

For a serious listening session it will be

90% vinyl .    10%. Tidal .  I have no CD

For general listening its

65% tidal    30% streaming (nas but now core) .  5% . vinyl

So I guess I don't listen to ripped CDs seriously?

Slightly different answer. I have just bought a SN2 and Stageline. Since then I am playing vinyl 50/50 vs my ND5 XS and can't get enough of it. So I have effectively just acquired a new TT as my 1985 Rega Planar 3 with Garrott P77 (fully serviced and with TT PSU motor upgrade) sounds stunning through Naim amps. Before the new amp I was playing 90% ND5 and 10% Rega.

I have replaced a few of my LPs over the years with CDs or digital files so there isn't a lot of overlap. I have around twice as may ripped CDs as LPs.

Quite interesting. Taking only the serious listening where people have cited more than that, and most recent where things changed, the crude stats so far appear to show the following:-

• where people use vinyl and CD, the preference ratio is 1.3 to 1 (vinyl to CD)
• where people use vinyl and streaming (people not separating out Tidal), the preference ratio is 1 to 2.4 (vinyl to streaming)
• where people use vinyl and streaming (including Tidal where mentioned separately), the preference ratio is 1 to 2.1 (vinyl to streaming)
• only one person cited using both CD and streaming.

So, overall in terms of playing frequency vinyl wins clearly but not overwhelmingly against CD, however streaming wins against vinyl, and by almost twice the margin, though less so when streaming is taken to include Tidal.

And it seems that once people get streaming, they cease bothering with CD.

My overall conclusion from the above is that it tends to confirm my own view that streaming, from one’s own collection, is best. It is certainly the most popular. (Amongst the respondees so far).

My listening (FWIW) has changed much over the years - mainly due to availability.  It used to be 100% vinyl, then increasingly tape (mainly reel to reel, but also cassette) but vinyl was my much preferred source.  If I was sitting down just listening to music it would be vinyl.  DAT increased my tape listening to some extent, but it was always from recordings of my LPs or from radio.  Vinyl still was preferred.

When CD came out, I used that more and more, and vinyl less and less.  

With streaming, I eventually sold my TT and am seriously considering selling my CD player.

Steve

For clarification, my assessment of stats in my last post was the proportion of usage of each medium where people did use vinyl and another, not simply the average for all the figures given for one medium against all the figures for another.

The figures can be summarised further:

Where people use streaming* and vinyl, streaming is 2.4 times as popular as vinyl as a playing medium as vinyl, which is 1.3 times as popular as CD for people who ese both vinyl and CD.

I didn’t include radio and tape in the figures, but radio is significantly less popular than streaming, vinyl or CD, and tape very much a minority interest.

   *Not including where people have said wholly from Tidal.

Emre posted:

when i had the 272

%20 Tidal - when does not drop

%60 Streaming from NAS

%5 CD

%15 LP

Now without the Streamer CD/LP 50/50..

 Still i found many of the LPs are just sound as CD but all Blue Note 45s are far but far better than CD

CD2x/555PSDR/SL DIN-DIN vs Dr.Feickert Woodpacker II/Jelco SA-750/ Lyra Delos/ Brinkmann Fien 

I will jazz with LPs rest with CDs till a new streamer.... maybe add a tube phono stage as well....

LPs are hassle except night time listening...

brinkman edison?   or nagra vps or ear 88pb?  the last is a killer for the price.

My Pro-ject spins about 2 records a week, so very little. 

Personally, as the majorly , i listen mostly to my streamer . But i don’t find that the streaming source is better sounding than my turntable.  With good recorded lps, i still find that vinyl sounds more real than digital.  But i am discovering more music in digital format and the convenience is bigger too.  ( nds/555dr.   /   rega rp10/ delos/ ear 912 phono).

Innocent Bystander posted:

For clarification, my assessment of stats in my last post was the proportion of usage of each medium where people did use vinyl and another, not simply the average for all the figures given for one medium against all the figures for another.

The figures can be summarised further:

Where people use streaming* and vinyl, streaming is 2.4 times as popular as vinyl as a playing medium as vinyl, which is 1.3 times as popular as CD for people who ese both vinyl and CD.

I didn’t include radio and tape in the figures, but radio is significantly less popular than streaming, vinyl or CD, and tape very much a minority interest.

 

   *Not including where people have said wholly from Tidal.

Yes, I use streaming more than vinyl because it’s easier to put on and do other stuff while I’m listening. I use Tidal because I spend a lot of time listening to new stuff which I don’t want to buy. 

I spend more money on vinyl and the music I really like I own on vinyl.

I spend more time watching digital TV than Blu Ray, but that doesn’t mean Blu Ray has worse picture and sound. Luckily for me, I don’t have to choose between the two.

The bottom line is, it’s not binary. The perfect early 21st century system has both. Vinyl, at its best outperforms digital, but most people wouldn’t want to be without digital, which is also bloody brilliant. It’s not a competition. If the digital-only folks are happy to do without vinyl then fair enough, but they are missing out on more than nice big cover art and the ritual of playing LPs (in my opinion).

KRM posted:

 

The bottom line is, it’s not binary. The perfect early 21st century system has both. Vinyl, at its best outperforms digital, but most people wouldn’t want to be without digital, which is also bloody brilliant. It’s not a competition. If the digital-only folks are happy to do without vinyl then fair enough, but they are missing out on more than nice big cover art and the ritual of playing LPs (in my opinion).

In your view, that is (shared by some others). My view (amd that of some others) is the opposite, though I do fully accept that some digital masterings may be inferior to some vinyl masterings - there the fault is the bad mastering, not the medium, and with sufficient resources to have a top flight TT and everything that goes with it certainly could be complementary to digital, enabling sourcing of the best copies in whatever medium, for which doubtless across my range of music taste some would be vinyl and others digital, and the better mastered copies might overcome the limitations otherwise inherentn in vinyl.

Yetizone posted:

Kevin - this thread has been an interesting read through - thanks for sharing your experience. As you may remember i’m pondering a similar question, although I’ve just not had the time to investigate further as yet - rather frustrating!

Could you please expand a little on the dem with Peter at Cymbiosis? Was it a stock LP12 or one of his secondhand part builds? Did you compare similar tracks via digital streaming to the LP12? 

Hi YZ, the reason I drove 200miles to Leicester was because Peter is uniquely knowledgeable and skilled in all things LP12 and his demo’s are so thorough. He has around 20 differently spec’d LP12’s in the room which he painstakingly switches in and out so that you can here how each different component affects the sound. I don’t want to wax too lyrical and risk getting moderated. Suffice to say that if you decide to investigate LP12 I can’t think of a better place to do it. 

Re comparison of stream vs Vinyl. No, not in the LP12 dems. Just Vinyl vs Vinyl. In today’s speaker dem I used both, but no similar tracks in both formats. Not necessary in my view. Good luck with your search. Kevin

Innocent Bystander posted:

KRM posted:

 

The bottom line is, it’s not binary. The perfect early 21st century system has both. Vinyl, at its best outperforms digital, but most people wouldn’t want to be without digital, which is also bloody brilliant. It’s not a competition. If the digital-only folks are happy to do without vinyl then fair enough, but they are missing out on more than nice big cover art and the ritual of playing LPs (in my opinion).

In your view, that is (shared by some others). My view (amd that of some others) is the opposite, though I do fully accept that some digital masterings may be inferior to some vinyl masterings - there the fault is the bad mastering, not the medium, and with sufficient resources to have a top flight TT and everything that goes with it certainly could be complementary to digital, enabling sourcing of the best copies in whatever medium, for which doubtless across my range of music taste some would be vinyl and others digital, and the better mastered copies might overcome the limitations otherwise inherentn in vinyl.

Hello, by Adele sounds better on vinyl, but it’s not a fair competition because the digital is so bad. That goes beyond opinion. Apart from that, I reckon we agree 

Keith