Nd555 : time to sell the turntable?

I think it is getting closer and closer to the day when vinyl is redundant

Yes people will hold onto it for nostalgia / the feel / certain recordings

But the NEED to have a great turntable has already gone...I'm seriously thinking of parting with mine while the wave is still rolling...

Indeed, that‘s what I did...almost full spec LP12. And I don‘t look back. Problem is only that I have to buy some LPs as downloads again....but that‘s ok, roughly 50 records out of 900.

It will be easier also for me to buy an nd555 and sell nds and rega rp10.  But for now, I can’t sell my turntable.  The vast majority of my lps sound a good step better on my vinyl system. The same albums on hirez , through my nds, sound a bit 2 dimensional and lifeless.  

My dealer will show the nd555 in some days.  I will bring some hirez from 70’s albums on a memory stick and will see if I can feel the same as with my rega rp10.

But isn't another very big consideration what sort of vinyl collection you have?  If I had a large collection and many early pressings no matter how good the latest streamer was I'd still want to retain a top-flight deck to play them on.  

Yes, you are right.  I kept only the lps I love and effectively, some don’t exist on hirez.  I have about 500 lps, so not so large collection.  Maybe around 50 don’t exist on hirez.  I would have to consider that also.

500 is still a sizeable collection and I suspect some of them are virtually irreplaceable and will appreciate in value. Well worth preserving and enjoying, I should think.  

I'll never have an ND555, and am enjoying vinyl more and more. So why did I reply to your post?

Max

French Rooster posted:

You are more and more to own the nd555.   Can it give the same satisfaction for sound quality as a top turntable, like linn klimax lp12 or other, in listening 60, 70’s albums?

Some nd555 owners sold their turntable.  Are you all ready to sell your turntable and keep only the nd555?

Interestingly buying Atom/Nova last year (I'd been wanting a streamer for years and thought they might have matured) actually rekindled my passion for hi-fi generally, and eventually getting my LP12 back together I was just bowled over by how good it was.

Now an NDX 2 I tried was superb and possibly on a par with vinyl via the LP12, but I love playing LPs and have a few thousand so replacing with downloads/CD rips is going to be costly.

I'm actually not convinced by many hi-res downloads but find my older CDs ripped onto a naff NAS sound surprisingly good - given that my CDc collection is substantially smaller than my LP collection I'd probably have to buy newer remastered CDs with 'loudness' issues.

Tidal/Qobuz etc are very good, but not perfect as yet - I still prefer files from my NAS compared to same purchase via an iOS app played via the internet.

As I was putting some LPs on new shelving tonight I was also stunned by the albums I'd forgotten I'd bought and remain unopened, or little gems that I have may have bought secondhand or duplicate copies of loved albums.  Someone mentioned the other day that original Oasis LPs were going for silly money, found mine tonight but won't be parting with them.

In fact I'm highly likely to look at some LP12 upgrades I sniffed at 10-15 years ago.....still have an original Lingo from 1990, no Keel or Kore......how much better might it sound with some upgrades and a decent Naim pre/power set up?

All these responses convinced me to not sell my turntable.  For the 500 lps I have, more than a half don’t exist on 24 bit format, only 16/44.  More than 50, perhaps even 100, can’t be found as downloads.   So I would be sad to not be able to enjoy all these lps I discovered, and some are rare and costly.   

Alley Cat posted:

French Rooster posted:

You are more and more to own the nd555.   Can it give the same satisfaction for sound quality as a top turntable, like linn klimax lp12 or other, in listening 60, 70’s albums?

Some nd555 owners sold their turntable.  Are you all ready to sell your turntable and keep only the nd555?

Interestingly buying Atom/Nova last year (I'd been wanting a streamer for years and thought they might have matured) actually rekindled my passion for hi-fi generally, and eventually getting my LP12 back together I was just bowled over by how good it was.

Now an NDX 2 I tried was superb and possibly on a par with vinyl via the LP12, but I love playing LPs and have a few thousand so replacing with downloads/CD rips is going to be costly.

I'm actually not convinced by many hi-res downloads but find my older CDs ripped onto a naff NAS sound surprisingly good - given that my CDc collection is substantially smaller than my LP collection I'd probably have to buy newer remastered CDs with 'loudness' issues.

Tidal/Qobuz etc are very good, but not perfect as yet - I still prefer files from my NAS compared to same purchase via an iOS app played via the internet.

As I was putting some LPs on new shelving tonight I was also stunned by the albums I'd forgotten I'd bought and remain unopened, or little gems that I have may have bought secondhand or duplicate copies of loved albums.  Someone mentioned the other day that original Oasis LPs were going for silly money, found mine tonight but won't be parting with them.

In fact I'm highly likely to look at some LP12 upgrades I sniffed at 10-15 years ago.....still have an original Lingo from 1990, no Keel or Kore......how much better might it sound with some upgrades and a decent Naim pre/power set up?

I would buy first a decent pre phono, like naim stageline, rega aria, ear 834.... it will transform radically your lp12 sound.

French Rooster posted:

Alley Cat posted:

French Rooster posted:

You are more and more to own the nd555.   Can it give the same satisfaction for sound quality as a top turntable, like linn klimax lp12 or other, in listening 60, 70’s albums?

Some nd555 owners sold their turntable.  Are you all ready to sell your turntable and keep only the nd555?

Interestingly buying Atom/Nova last year (I'd been wanting a streamer for years and thought they might have matured) actually rekindled my passion for hi-fi generally, and eventually getting my LP12 back together I was just bowled over by how good it was.

 

...

In fact I'm highly likely to look at some LP12 upgrades I sniffed at 10-15 years ago.....still have an original Lingo from 1990, no Keel or Kore......how much better might it sound with some upgrades and a decent Naim pre/power set up?

I would buy first a decent pre phono, like naim stageline, rega aria, ear 834.... it will transform radically your lp12 sound.

I actually have the original Linn Linto phono stage - not sure how it's regarded these days, but still sounds pretty good to me.

Perhaps it could even benefit from servicing?

Alley Cat, I thought you were using the phono of the nova. So the linto must be certainly ok, but I don’t know it.   Do you have a linn dealer near?

French Rooster posted:

Alley Cat, I thought you were using the phono of the nova. So the linto must be certainly ok, but I don’t know it.   Do you have a linn dealer near?

I honestly can't remember when I got the Linn Linto - probably on release around 1997 when I got my active SBLs.

http://docs.linn.co.uk/wiki/im...nformation_sheet.pdf

Just found this with a few reviews and the guy with a EAR 834 preferred the Linto.

http://www.audioreview.com/pro...iers/linn/linto.html

French Rooster posted:

Alley Cat, I thought you were using the phono of the nova. So the linto must be certainly ok, but I don’t know it.   Do you have a linn dealer near?

The Nova only has line in analogue inputs (I may have missed something!), no dedicated phono in AFAIK - I believe these analogue inputs are digitised, if so they sound very good.

As for a Linn dealer, I no longer have one locally.

French Rooster posted:

You are more and more to own the nd555.   Can it give the same satisfaction for sound quality as a top turntable, like linn klimax lp12 or other, in listening 60, 70’s albums?

Some nd555 owners sold their turntable.  Are you all ready to sell your turntable and keep only the nd555?

Since I got an NDS I hardly ever played my LP12. Since I got the the ND555 I haven’t even thought about it ( Was a good setup, Linn Ekos. Armageddon, etc. , but now a memory).

David O'Higgins posted:

French Rooster posted:

You are more and more to own the nd555.   Can it give the same satisfaction for sound quality as a top turntable, like linn klimax lp12 or other, in listening 60, 70’s albums?

Some nd555 owners sold their turntable.  Are you all ready to sell your turntable and keep only the nd555?

Since I got an NDS I hardly ever played my LP12. Since I got the the ND555 I haven’t even thought about it ( Was a good setup, Linn Ekos. Armageddon, etc. , but now a memory).

You have a large lp collection?     Don’t you miss some lps you can’t play on the nd555 ( no hirez available) ?

David O'Higgins posted:

French Rooster posted:

You are more and more to own the nd555.   Can it give the same satisfaction for sound quality as a top turntable, like linn klimax lp12 or other, in listening 60, 70’s albums?

Some nd555 owners sold their turntable.  Are you all ready to sell your turntable and keep only the nd555?

Since I got an NDS I hardly ever played my LP12. Since I got the the ND555 I haven’t even thought about it ( Was a good setup, Linn Ekos. Armageddon, etc. , but now a memory).

What are you playing David?  CD rips, hi-res downloads or streaming Tidal etc?

I had a LP12 Ekos, Keel, Lingo4, Akiva, Uphorik, 900 records...and now a lot of space more. My wife was upset about selling the suff, but she realized quickly how much more storage she had ????...Since digital becomes my only source, I try to optimized that path. That‘s why I asked the forum about different NAS approaches..(thanks folks!!!)

Unfortunately I don't have an ND555 although I wish I had, may be sometime in the future! How ever I think the lp and digital work OK together for me. Recently had the LP12 serviced, that was a revelation, wished I'd done it before. I have several hundred LPs and they are still listened to. Indeed some of my older LPs sound better than the duplicate CDs I have. So no, I won't be trading mine in for the foreseeable future. Rich 

As has been said it is fine if your entire collection is made up of modern reissues but I cannot see how a high res file can be made that will match an early 50’s, 60’s or even 70’s 1st press. 

Yes as technology improves the files do sound cleaner and clearer but also more clinical and less emotional.  For me music is about a feeling and when it comes to the emotional connection of music and listener then for me a vinyl record and a  turntable will always bring you closer  to that than a computer.  I don’t care how swanky that computer looks or unobtrusive it is. 

Yes Bob T Builder, mostly agree.  But some hirez come close on my nds. On the nd555, they should match my turntable.  But a lot don’t exist on hirez, or only in 16/44 format.   So I am not ready to sell my lps for now.

I wouldn't get too hung up on the hi-res stuff. Early CDs, with original masterings, will sound as good if not better. So many recordings are completely B*ggered up by remastering and making them hi-res won't make a silk purse out of a sow's ear.

Having posted the above, you're still well advised to keep your vinyl-playing equipment, for the reasons others have given.  Mind you, perhaps we should be encouraging others to dump their vinyl - bit of a shortage of good LPs on the second-hand market at the moment...

tonym posted:

I wouldn't get too hung up on the hi-res stuff. Early CDs, with original masterings, will sound as good if not better. So many recordings are completely B*ggered up by remastering and making them hi-res won't make a silk purse out of a sow's ear.

Having posted the above, you're still well advised to keep your vinyl-playing equipment, for the reasons others have given.  Mind you, perhaps we should be encouraging others to dump their vinyl - bit of a shortage of good LPs on the second-hand market at the moment...

You are probably right Tonym, but I wonder on some ideas:  first cd with original mastering can be made in the debut of 80’s, at the beginning of the cd erea.  I remember these first cds, I bought some in these years, but the sound was bad.

Also, to find the best original cd pressing, on the second market, is not so easy, and the prices may be high.

I see on your profile that you still have an lp12, at the top of the specs.  Do you still listen often to lps, since you have your dave/ melco combo?

French Rooster posted:

tonym posted:

I wouldn't get too hung up on the hi-res stuff. Early CDs, with original masterings, will sound as good if not better. So many recordings are completely B*ggered up by remastering and making them hi-res won't make a silk purse out of a sow's ear.

Having posted the above, you're still well advised to keep your vinyl-playing equipment, for the reasons others have given.  Mind you, perhaps we should be encouraging others to dump their vinyl - bit of a shortage of good LPs on the second-hand market at the moment...

You are probably right Tonym, but I wonder on some ideas:  first cd with original mastering can be made in the debut of 80’s, at the beginning of the cd erea.  I remember these first cds, I bought some in these years, but the sound was bad.

Was it the CDs that were so bad in the early 80s, or was it the CD players? The first players I heard were bad enough to put me off for life, and I just became that weird bloke who still had a record player.

ChrisSU posted:

French Rooster posted:

tonym posted:

I wouldn't get too hung up on the hi-res stuff. Early CDs, with original masterings, will sound as good if not better. So many recordings are completely B*ggered up by remastering and making them hi-res won't make a silk purse out of a sow's ear.

Having posted the above, you're still well advised to keep your vinyl-playing equipment, for the reasons others have given.  Mind you, perhaps we should be encouraging others to dump their vinyl - bit of a shortage of good LPs on the second-hand market at the moment...

You are probably right Tonym, but I wonder on some ideas:  first cd with original mastering can be made in the debut of 80’s, at the beginning of the cd erea.  I remember these first cds, I bought some in these years, but the sound was bad.

Was it the CDs that were so bad in the early 80s, or was it the CD players? The first players I heard were bad enough to put me off for life, and I just became that weird bloke who still had a record player.

It was a bit of both. I remember buying my first CD player and, full of anticipation, about to listen to “Perfect Sound Forever”...Wow, what a disappointment! But I've still got those early CDs, ripped onto my Melco, and the ones I bought back then sound great. Like many of us I fell for the lure of later remastered versions, which were almost inevitably poor in comparison to their originals.

Yes, still play lots of vinyl - I've a pretty large collection, mostly older stuff. Hugely enjoyable, lots not available as digital copies.