it's not a question of doing a blind test on random songs to see if the person can tell which songs are played from vinyl or digital.

There used to be entire vinyl ripping groups for certain genres which DJs would play. Maybe there still are. Some people would rip and upload tracks that were promos, and the real release with artwork, sleeve, etc. would arrive maybe a month later or something. Even with those mp3s as 320kbs files, the real vinyl copy would sound better every time. It would be impossible to not notice it.

 

And also in the brain—someone clever said we ingest the equivalent of a credit card's worth of plastic every year.
How much microplastic the body then stores or breaks down is the new question for the future.

Since @Xupito always has such a great sense of humor: What did he die of?
He listened to too many vinyl records and drank mineral water from PET bottles. The microplastics ultimately killed him.

 

I used to mix live between vinyl and early MP3's using traktor in sets and the 128 MP3's sounded so bad. Once lossless became common no one would know which is which when being mixed.

 

"Is making"? I thought it has been back for the last 10-15 years, at least? It has been the only physical media format for the longest time.

The problem with it all is that the pricing is now off the charts, even for used vinyl. What used to cost $35 is now $60-70. New vinyl has always been relatively expensive.

One major problem is also that you have no way of knowing which master or version was used for the vinyl reissue. Buying the latest greatest release might get you a WORSE copy than some previous version, which doesn't make much sense. Even less, if you paid $50 for it.

Actually, people have been saying that CD is coming back. Gen Alpha is already collecting them. Even if the physical collectable object is smaller, it is uncompressed audio, and there's plenty of room for bonus tracks etc.

 

The wax cylinder long prized for it's it lo-fi grit and charm is seeing a huge resurgence in popularity amongst gen-z listeners yearning for a warm fuzzy sound after years of listening to pristine digital formats.

 

That was my point. Ripping with good convertors alone would get it even closer, and then lossless compression. Even further, the files being closer to from the DAW session. But if you ask, and the average joe says they think vinyl sounds better, there is a good chance that's what they remember and what forms their opinion.

 

There's market for vinyl still but early 2000s in club scene for example it was much bigger, you could easily shift >1000 copies of underground electronic music release. It's not as big as it once was obviously, my tracks were just pressed on vinyl last September and they pressed around 300 copies. So it's still there vinyl probably never going away totally. I think people like to collect, most djs play cdjs nowadays, there's still some that play vinyl or mix of both but in minority. I like the format and like that my tracks are on vinyl, something tangible. I like vinyl as a collector piece too. I don't have anything against digital either.

 

Last edited: Feb 9, 2026 at 4:44 PM

Audiophiles spend tens of thousands on cables alone in the hope they can hear noise from Jimi's cheap guitar cable scraping along the floor in the original recording. If they really wanted to hear these details they would first need to digitise the audio and use digital tools to analyse/clean it up. Digital reveals details that analogue hides. Playing records is ritualistic, not better audio quality.

 

if you want to fully 'hear all the details' of a mix or format, listen on LSD. Ive sunk so deep into cassette recordings i could clearly listen to other side playing in reverse, which was inaudible tape wear that was normally buried completely in the very low tape hiss. You could not hear it at all straight.

id not worry about frickin cables personally, LSD is a game changing way to listen to music. It completely opens it up the mix and changes your music perception forever.

Early Kate Bush is so purposefully psychedelic in a non obvious way its pretty mind blowing what they did with pop music. The team has admitted they smoked a lot while making those, i think other things might have been taken sometimes.

 

It's not about the quality. It is about the RITUAL. You don't need drugs to enhance this experience. 'Tis already buffed up. Those who live by it know exactly what i am saying. Those who discover it and love it, found a new religion. The rest can look elsewhere and leave us vinyl junkies be. Nuff said.

 

Every weekend I was listening to new releases in the most famous underground record shops in London for over 10 years. I get the love. I love the culture and ritual as well. But i assure you a lot of great music is made to be listened to on drugs. I certainly don't need drugs at all these days, once switched on, it lives with you forever.

But NOTHING can match the moments me and many others connected with music at concerts, raves, clubs or at home in a very special way. For those moments you exist IN the music's sonic space.

Just saying worrying about cables is kids stuff if you want your mind blown by music

 

The Samadhi Tank is a coffin-like tub filled with warm salt water, invented by John C. Lilly. Those who float in the dark interior lie relaxed and shielded from external stimuli. In the resulting altered state of consciousness, psychedelic and out-of-body experiences are frequently reported (psychedelic therapy). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isolation_tank

There used to be these tanks filled with salt water, called Samadhi tanks (https://www.samadhitank.com). You could lie down in them, and then the lid would close, isolating you from outside noise. This is actually called deprivation therapy and isn't good for the brain, but you can listen to music through headphones. Certainly a unique experience. A single unit costs $13,969. There used to be cities where you could rent a session.

 

Last edited: Feb 9, 2026 at 6:03 PM

I'll die without ever understanding the hype.

 

Mate, i might have said you don't need drugs for the experience but if you want to, nobody's holding you off that. In what seems a lifetime ago, amphetamine, methamphetamine and LSD were my favs for reasons that i will respectfully not discuss. Retrospectively i would lol at how i looked at things involving drug use or better abuse, but i can't laugh at it since it led to my first and -hopefully- last absolute mental and health breakdown. I will only say people with a tendency for self destruction such as yours truly, should steer away from real drugs as they can't use 'em "responsibly", if there is such a thing anyway. The past 30 yrs or so it's been only blunts for me and i 'm quite happy about it as well. Perhaps it's an age gap that separates my life experience to yours, i 'll be turning 60 in about 8 months. But then i might be mistaken, so don't take it for granted.
Cheers.

 

Last edited: Feb 9, 2026 at 10:00 PM

I'm a little surprised. I mean from my perspective the vinyl revival started in 1993 and and from there it just refused to go away.
Whitch is fine for me. I buy some of those tar platters every now and then and enjoy the fascination that archaic format with a 100 year history gives me. Knowing that some scratches in fossil oil move a magnet against a coil resulting in music is more technical wonder to me than the transistor. I don't know why, because clearly the transistors wins in usability and inventive genius.
I guess I like it because it's so simple and yet so effective.

 

So you have to listen side by side and only 'true believers' will hear the difference? I see.

Well we do need to keep vinyls for fending off zombies if the documentary Shaun of The Dead is to be believed.

To me the vinyl, tape, CD and Digital debate is exactly the same as hardcover vs paperback vs eBook - full of opinionated pretentious tosspots telling you you are wrong whilst some business happily sits with their hands in their pockets. Just as I am doing here. Not the pocket thing. I aint putting my hand anywhere near someone elses pocket.

 

Oh, I am not disagreeing with you. LP's sound amazing with a REGA Planar 3 and a Luxman amp, Gale GS401's or better, and even CD's are good for the tangible.
Unfortunately, these days, people seem to care more about what they can acquire immediately rather than the value of having something they can actually hold in their hand.

 

Hell yeah.. In fact just the other day I was looking at acquiring a wax cylinder DJ mix rig.