HD (high def) vinyl, fancy new thing coming in 2019 or so

[battema]

I'm fairly sure this will be of interested to at least some folks here...

https://pitchfork.com/news/high-defi...next-year/amp/

Not 100% sure if I'm convinced; actually, scratch that: it isn't for me. But can't imagine this won't be at least a curiosity for a few peeps, and I'm sure a handful will swear their music never sounded clearer, better or more perfect (until the next innovation at least).


With all apologies if I'm repeating something already known...did a quick search but didn't find hits.

[Supersonic Scientist]

Short article but intriguing....

So, are bets on as to what album will be the first album to be pressed as an HD Vinyl?

[Sputnik]

scratch that

No pun intended, I'm sure!

[battema]

No pun intended, I'm sure!

Dammit, I wish I had intended that!! Perfect

[battema]

Short article but intriguing....

So, are bets on as to what album will be the first album to be pressed as an HD Vinyl?

I think they should do Nattens Madrigal by Ulver as a first pass

[Halmyre]

Short article but intriguing....

So, are bets on as to what album will be the first album to be pressed as an HD Vinyl?

Earthbound.

[Steve F.]

It reads like they are making an all digital product until the final step, when it is pressed into a analogue biscuit of PVC to be read by a diamond stylus instead of a laser.

Not sure I see the point.....

[battema]

Nor do I.

But I'm willing to put an Andrew Jackson or two on the table right now that someone will pop up swearing that the eventual new HD vinyl version of Dark Side of the Moon is THE definite listening experience.

And somewhere out there, Skullhead just got a massive woody but isn't 100% sure why just yet.

[rcarlberg]

https://www.emusician.com/gear/7-rea...-wont-take-off

Why is everyone trying to make LPs more like CDs... when CDs are still here?

[Top Cat]

I'm not falling for this marketing of new technology to get me to upgrade my listening experience again.
Went through it with various releases over the years of the Genesis library, remasters of the remastered versions, and finally the remastered version in 5.1 including a non 5.1 copy and documentaries.

Several years ago I decided to get back into vinyl again and had to rebuild my long gone collection of favorites. Some were acquired from local records shops, ebay and I finally gave in and bought Genesis' the vinyl Box Set(1983-1992).
Numerous $25-30 purchases for other remastered versions of the great bands, some are great on vinyl and others to me sound better on cd.
A cd mixed, recorded and mastered well to begin with and played on a good cd player(I bought a $200 Onkyo) can sound as good as some vinyl in my opinion, and I'm typically an analog guy.

I love my hybrid audio system of vinyl and cd's, and I see no reason to upgrade once again.


I

[progmatist]

Seems like a variation on the "Digilog" cassettes of the '90s, where the digital process went all the way to the record head of the master tape. It does kind of make sense to me though...I can see how 3D printing ridges rather than cutting grooves would render a more accurate representation of the audio.

Why is everyone trying to make LPs more like CDs... when CDs are still here?

LPs make better Frisbees than CDs.

[Magic Mountain]

So, are bets on as to what album will be the first album to be pressed as an HD Vinyl?

https://www.emusician.com/gear/7-rea...-wont-take-off

From the article: This HD Vinyl would reportedly ofter an additional 30% capacity, 30% more volume and twice the audio fidelity of the average vinyl record of today. Not only that, but the new records will purportedly be significantly easier, faster and less expensive to produce. They will use laser etching and 3D modeled “topographical mapping” to produced records with little to no possibility of distortions.

So to answer the first question, it has to be the topographic mapping of Tales from Topographic Oceans.

[rcarlberg]

I was just in a used record store this afternoon, where I overheard a couple of millennials in the aisle behind me.

Customer #1: “My dad laughs at me for buying vinyl. He says it’s full of ticks and pops, and CDs are way better.”

Customer #2: “Well he’s right, CDs DO sound better.”

Customer #1: “Well, yeah, they do sound better. There’s no noise on them. But for me, y’know, the noise and ticks and pops are just part of the experience of listening to a record, y’know?”

Customer #2: “Oh totally. Records are just cooler. I don’t mind the ticks and pops. It’s like they’re part of the music, y’know? I mean, I still have some CDs — I like both records and CDs — but some music just sounds better on LP. It’s like the ticks and pops BELONG in the music, y’know?”

Customer #1: “Oh yeah, I totally get that.”

So, lesson for anyone looking to “improve” the LP experience: don’t bother.

[Top Cat]

I was just in a used record store this afternoon, where I overheard a couple of millennials in the aisle behind me.

Customer #1: “My dad laughs at me for buying vinyl. He says it’s full of ticks and pops, and CDs are way better.”

Customer #2: “Well he’s right, CDs DO sound better.”

Customer #1: “Well, yeah, they do sound better. There’s no noise on them. But for me, y’know, the noise and ticks and pops are just part of the experience of listening to a record, y’know?”

Customer #2: “Oh totally. Records are just cooler. I don’t mind the ticks and pops. It’s like they’re part of the music, y’know? I mean, I still have some CDs — I like both records and CDs — but some music just sounds better on LP. It’s like the ticks and pops BELONG in the music, y’know?”

Customer #1: “Oh yeah, I totally get that.”

So, lesson for anyone looking to “improve” the LP experience: don’t bother.

I think the biggest downside on listening to my music on vinyl these days is having to get up after 4 or 5 songs and turn it over.
And now many of the new 180g albums come with 2 vinyl records which only have 3 songs per side, and so you have to get up more times.
Cd's have spoiled me that way.

[Jerjo]

30% more volume

This part signifies how fucked this notion is. They're going to make LPs LOUDER? What happens to the dynamic range?

As far as what should be the first release, well being Battema started the thread I suspect I will not be surprised to find it's none other than Lord of Hounds.

[markwoll]

The new HD album will probably come with download codes, so you don't have to unseal the package.
Keeping it digital, and all that.
The packages will make nice wall art.

[moecurlythanu]

I was just in a used record store this afternoon, where I overheard a couple of millennials in the aisle behind me.

Customer #1: “My dad laughs at me for buying vinyl. He says it’s full of ticks and pops, and CDs are way better.”

Customer #2: “Well he’s right, CDs DO sound better.”

Customer #1: “Well, yeah, they do sound better. There’s no noise on them. But for me, y’know, the noise and ticks and pops are just part of the experience of listening to a record, y’know?”

Customer #2: “Oh totally. Records are just cooler. I don’t mind the ticks and pops. It’s like they’re part of the music, y’know? I mean, I still have some CDs — I like both records and CDs — but some music just sounds better on LP. It’s like the ticks and pops BELONG in the music, y’know?”

Customer #1: “Oh yeah, I totally get that.”

So, lesson for anyone looking to “improve” the LP experience: don’t bother.

What a lucky break that you were able to find a couple experts to make your point for you.

[rcarlberg]

The new HD album will probably come with download codes, so you don't have to unseal the package.

GREAT idea. Next step, download codes with a cardboard fold-out poster you can frame and put on the wall. Don’t even bother pressing the PVC since nobody will unwrap it anyway.

[rcarlberg]

What a lucky break that you were able to find a couple experts to make your point for you.

Just trying to understand the logic of paying a premium price for a demonstrably inferior product.

As I understand it, these very things make it “cooler.”

LPs have been improved before. Half-speed mastering was all the rage for a while, Direct Metal Mastering was all the rage for a while, Direct-to-Disc was all the rage for a while. These are all improvements to a very clunky and compromised process.

But what I’m hearing on the street is that consumers don’t want that.

They don’t want LPs that sound like CDs. That line of reasoning leads straight back to the CD, and CDs aren’t “cool.” Part of the coolness of LPs, maybe ALL of the coolness of LPs is their very imperfections.

[moecurlythanu]

^ First bit of advice - don't trust what you hear on the street these days.

[rcarlberg]

It was the first explanation I’ve heard that I could understand. Pose me another.

[Fracktured]

Most people would agree that the one advantage LPs have over CDs is packaging. I’d rather have a Roger Dean painting on LP cover than CD cover. I’ll leave the rest for everyone else to argue over.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[moecurlythanu]

It was the first explanation I’ve heard that I could understand. Pose me another.

I'm pretty sure we've been over this before. CD is definitely a cleaner sound than vinyl. If cleaner = better for you, then CD is going to be your choice. However, CD is often cold, brittle, two dimensional, sterile and lifeless. Vinyl, for all it's faults with pops and tics, has a more lifelike sound and is better at establishing a realistic soundstage. If that matters to you, (and it does for many,) vinyl will be preferred.

[Lopez]

It reads like they are making an all digital product until the final step, when it is pressed into a analogue biscuit of PVC to be read by a diamond stylus instead of a laser.

Or you can spend $15,000 on an ELP turntable (http://diffuser.fm/laser-turntable/) that reads the LPs with a laser. Then the only analogue part would be the disk itself. Wonder how much these HD vinyl disks will cost.

[battema]

I'm pretty sure we've been over this before. CD is definitely a cleaner sound than vinyl. If cleaner = better for you, then CD is going to be your choice. However, CD is often cold, brittle, two dimensional, sterile and lifeless. Vinyl, for all it's faults with pops and tics, has a more lifelike sound and is better at establishing a realistic soundstage. If that matters to you, (and it does for many,) vinyl will be preferred.

In all fairness...the statement that vinyl has a more lifelike sound is highly subjective. I have many vinyl records and CDs...the quality and production value of the source material is the biggest impact on the resulting soundstage. I've heard records that sounded weak and tinny in contrast to the CD version. Hell, I've even heard some cassettes that sounded better than the vinyl (in part because cassettes introduce even MORE of the analog distortion that is perceived as "warmth" by listeners).

I am not at all knocking folks who prefer the sound of vinyl. I own plenty of the format and enjoy it just fine. But arguably, suggesting that distortion objectively adds more "realism" to a soundstage is akin to suggesting tinnitus makes everyday life sound more realistic. The distortion creates a sound that is pleasing to many ears, and no one can argue with that (well, I won't...to each their own). It is highly likely however that this new HD vinyl would remove some of that distortion rather than enhance it somehow, thus bringing the sound closer to the "sterile" sound of a CD, but at prices that will likely eclipse current boutique vinyl pricing.