record player for daughter. what to buy?

In reply to Beer Baron :

Speaking of CDs, I added a nice Denon 5-CD changer from the early 2000's (with fancy MP3 decoding!) to my rig a few years back. CDs can sound great, depending on the quality of the mastering and the media, as you said. Much like the tail end of the 1980's, when vinyl pressings were a race to the bottom quality-wise, same thing happened with CD's in the 90's-00's. I've been rediscovering my old CD collection lately, and some of this stuff really sounds great. 

That said, there's something more substantial to listening to records. Not to sound like a pretentious weiner, but there's something intimate about going into an independent record store or flea market vendor and flipping through the crates/shelves and grabbing stuff that catches your eye, then taking that home and dropping the needle as you examine the artwork and liner notes. The physical aspect of it cannot be denied. 

In reply to Tony Sestito :

Agreed 100%.

I've sort of come to the decision on this regarding if it was originally created to be enjoyed as an album or not. Very little music from this century was recorded with the idea that you'd want that experience. So there isn't much point in getting something broken up into more sides than it was meant for.

E.g. I didn't pick up the re-release of Tori Amos' 'Little Earthquakes' because it wasn't arranged to be broken up into 4 sides. It was meant to be listened to as a CD.

However, there ARE artists who record things with the vinyl album in mind. Daft Punk totally did that with 'Random Access Memories' and I'm incredibly impressed with how it flows as either a straight run, or broken into 4 parts. Apparently Taylor Swift also plans for her music to be albums as well.

I always thought the Optonica tables were really cool because of their distinctive flat plate glass dust covers.

https://reverb.com/item/64246678-rare-optonica-rp-7705-quartz-lock-direct-drive-turntable-w-stanton-trackmaster

Might not be exactly what you're looking for in this instance, however.

lnlogauge said:

Beer Baron, I owe you a beer. 

I went to a records store today, which was a pretty awesome experience on its own. I wanted a record to try out, so that's what I did when I got home today.

Inspired by this thread, I decided to swing by my favorite local record shop to poke around, not expecting to find anything.

Ended up finding a couple albums that I've been hunting for a while now! 'Parallel Lines' by Blondie, 'Dreamboat Annie' by Heart, and also 'Heavy Weather' by the Weather Report.

So I'll count it as good karma.

In reply to Beer Baron :

Also because of CD ripping and a lack of detail! I'm going to be re-recording a lot of my CD rips at 256k MP3s later because all mine were done at 128K, and that difference I CAN hear on some CDs like Ritchie Blackmore's stuff.

I always kinda knew that it led to a quality difference, but younger me never took the time (or had the quality tech) to hear the differences between 64-128-256 bit encoding, let alone the difference between MP3s and FLAC files.

In reply to GIRTHQUAKE :

Bit quality is a big deal. Spotify uses 320kbps for their "high quality" files, and I can very clearly hear where it is compressed. It's immediately obvious to me with the sound of high hats and cymbals*.

With how cheap data storage is now, there isn't much reason to resort to lossy file compression. If you're going to compress and store it on a drive, just use FLAC or ALAC (Apple Lossless Audio Compression). These are lossless, variable-bitrate compression. I.e. they will encode less data when less is happening.

The reason now for flat bitrate, lossy compression is mobile streaming. I can accept the tradeoff of lower quality audio from Spotify when I'm jogging or driving because I am more concerned about my mobile data usage than I am with detail when I've got cheap speakers in a loud environment.

*With good sound reproduction listening to a hat or cymbal - you hear the sound of the stick striking the metal, then the reverberations of that metal as they go in and out of phase very rapidly. When compressed, these detail get muddied together into a homogenous "tschhh" sound. On my really nice hi-fi system, I can often make out the sound the stick itself makes from the strike. Also a similar effect with acoustic guitars and the sound of sliding a finger along the thicker strings.

In reply to Beer Baron :

Speaking of, do you have a preferred software for CD Rips? I had once used FreeRip which was fine (because I couldn't get Exact Audio Copy to work properly for some reason) and I think maxes out at 256k.

GIRTHQUAKE said:

In reply to Beer Baron :

Speaking of, do you have a preferred software for CD Rips? I had once used FreeRip which was fine (because I couldn't get Exact Audio Copy to work properly for some reason) and I think maxes out at 256k.

I don't have strong opinions. Pretty sure I've just used iTunes.

In another tale of cans I would have been more financially responsible if I never would have opened: 

athena AS F2 floorspeakers and center. The perecentage I needed these is the same percent chance I have for my wife allowing me to put these monstrosities in our living room. Since I started this thread, I've purchased 2 pairs of edifier 1280s, two audio technica tables, and now these. 
 

I watch fb marketplace for deals on speakers, I spent 100$ for 900$ worth of speakers. I wanted bookshelf speakers, I got these instead. So now instead of a 2.1 system for music, I'm debating do I want a receiver now for home theater use. 

I bought one of these a while back to be a simple record player for my collection, and use the bluetooth connectivity to transmit audio to my computer through a convoluted but functional way: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B09QGWVCV4/

It's not available anymore, apparently, but we bought one of the plain ones for my grandfather last year so he could listen to his old records as he digs them out of storage.

In reply to lnlogauge :

That's sweet! So give us the full update.

How's your daughter liking the turntable(s)? How are you enjoying yourself? What do your respective collections look like?

In reply to Beer Baron :

Daughter loves her taylor swift records. She has been really good at taking care of everything, so I think this has been a good gift in more ways than one for her. I 3d printed and built shelves to mount her edifier 1280's to the ceiling today. 

I bought a turntable for me, but I haven't used it much. When I started this, I really enjoyed the experience of only listening to music. I figured out that doesn't have to be with a record player though. I enjoy record players, but there's alot of convenience to spotify. I can enjoy it just as much, without spending $$$ on records. I get the appeal, but I don't think that's for me.

I purchased a pretty modern yamaha receiever on FB marketplace today, so was able to hook up my new floor speakers. I am astounded at the difference a good setup makes. There is so much more depth to a song than we realize. So many layers and details. I showed off my new setup to my dad and brother in law tonight. We just sat in the basement, going from song after song they wanted to hear. Afterwards my wife and I did the same, just listening to her favorite songs. No distractions, just music. Having other people enjoy it as well, made the experience even better. All in for my setup, I'm at 160. It's one of my favorite purchases I've ever made.