Anybody still listen to LPs?

Now you're taking me back! At the back end of the lp era I went through a period probably identifiable in terms of psychological disorder, with zerostat pistols, brushes and velvets and cleaning fluids. Over time I came to the conclusion those fluids were doing more harm than good, sometimes producing faint swishes on the disc. To restore the sound I finally resorted to the technique mum would have recommended: warm water and soap, using one of those fancy micro-bristle record-cleaning brushes to work suds into the grooves. In most cases it did the trick perfectly. My recording of Harper and Tear performing Britten's Serenade and Les Illuminations today sounds as clean as the day I bought it after going through a crackle and swishy period. In quieter spots you can hear birds in the background far more clearly than you can on the remastered cd.

I'm planning to buy one of those exotic turntables that make a  hole in your bank account - am I decadent or what?..........

In my line of work I am constantly hearing stories of the massive difference in the music quality of vinyl LP records and CDs.

The usual comment is that although digital recorded CDs have a very clean and clinical sound, the listening pleasure is often limited to only an hour or two because of hearing fatigue.

I have transferred many Lyrita LPs to CD amongst other record labels and the end result is breathtaking, lifelike, natural and and a complete joy to listen to capturing the original magic of the performance!

It seems that the listening experience back in the 1970s/80s from LPs had that pure and rich sound that could be listened to for hours on end with no hint of abrasiveness.

So, the question still remains - do serious enthusiasts still listen to LPs or CDs?

In my experience both are acceptable but LP records successfully transcribed to CDR with the aid of EMT & Cedar, well, I know where I would put my vote! 

Yes SpiderJon I had read Wilma Cozart's comment as I have the booklet you indicated given out with a sampler CD some years ago. Thanks for reminding me about the Mercurys though, I hadn't played any for a while. I have a quite a number on CD but only half a dozen on LP although I see that Speakers Corner who put out the facsimiles of the early Decca stereos some years ago (mostly still available) have now turned their attention to Mercurys. I did though try a couple of comparisons. The only one I had complete in both formats is Dorati's Respighi Airs & Dances  where I marginally preferred the CD to a 1970s Dutch LP (probably not made from an original mastertape). The only other item I have in both formats, due to different compilations, is Liszt's second Hungarian Rhapsody (Dorati LSO) and here I preferred the LP (on an American Mercury Wing LP pressing). So, swings & roundabouts.

I have always thought the late 50s and early 60s LSO the brightest, brashest and most virtuosic of orchestras but do sometimes wonder if that is due to the brilliance of the Decca & Mercury recordings of the time. Dorati was said to have knocked the re-formed orchestra into shape after it almost dissolved in the late 50s and they play brilliantly for him and yet it was said (Richard Morrison's book on the LSO) that most of the musicians hated him!

The short lived Everest label too followed Mercury's recording techniques and I see some have re-surfaced on CD. A few years ago some appeared on limited edition LPs made from the original 3 track masters "using all vacuum tube playback & mastering equipment". A couple of them, Copland conducting Copland and Susskind in Copland & Gould, LSO again, are splendid performances beautifully recorded in Walthamstow Town Hall in 1958 and the pressings are immaculate.

Hi Vic thanks your comments on digital streaming, I had read last month in Gramophone the review of the Naim device but was still unsure as to what it actually did. I may be being a bit dense here but how does the music get into the Linn DS device? Do you download music from the internet into a computer and then does the DS device extract it from the computer in digital form and convert it to analogue in better quality than merely connecting the computer audio out to a stereo system or am I missing something?

Does it connect directly to the internet and if so is this via the wireless modem supplied by one's internet provider?

Lastly if your CDs are ripped to a separate unit doesn't this rely on a hard drive for storage which will lose everything when it ultimately expires?

John's answer covers all the bases and "basically conduits to audio stored on a hard drive" sorts it out for me too.

I must say that although I came across the DS player by accident (I went to my dealer expecting to upgrade my CD player), I have been absolutely delighted with its discovery and can't recommend it highly enough - for convenience, security and stability, and sound quality.  The dealer set up all the considerable interfaces (if that's what they are called) but it has been delightful ever since. 

I never play CDs anymore and play vinyl on the LP12 much less now.  I would replace the majority of vinyl for digital now if I could afford to, I find the DS that good (with the qualification I made in the earlier post).

What really blows me away though is "studio quality" 24bit downloads and the high bitrate internet radio it gives access to.

I'm not sure how prices of the various players compare, or even their relative quality (the rest of my system is Linn, which I trust so stuck with them) but I would recommend music lovers explore this new and exciting medium for themselves.

Thanks John & Vic I think I'm a bit more with it now. All I've done to date is connect the miniature jack on the PC to the audio set up (valve amp) which just happens to be in the same room so I guess quality is limited by the PC's somewhat basic DAC & audio stages. Certainly on the Gramophone Player Sutherland's Cast Diva is no match for the CD or LP sounding somewhat veiled, lacking in treble and the sense of the Kingsway Hall's acoustic notable in the other formats is hardly noticeable.

What I have found great though is the British Institute of Recorded Sound archive to re-discover some great piano 78s that have never made it CD and here I find the sound generally very good as they do not seem to have emasculated  the originals with excessive noise reduction from the dreaded (to me at least) CEDAR system.