I will have to admit, I have thought about dipping my toes into vinyl, but don’t wanna just pour money into something I may not… enjoy or appreciate as much.
I noticed that @DMS made his set up recommendation video:
This made me a bit curious: what would y’all say to do differently, if anything? Or is there anything else one should keep in mind when looking into dabbling in vinyl?
Budget turntables are really quite good and have become a nice option compared to used when getting into vinyl. I have a higher tier fluance tt but I see no reason why their more budget option wouldn’t be great as well.
His comments on cleaning and maintaining your records is solid advice.It can be pretty pricey to get into mainly due to the cost of albums but I really enjoy having a turntable setup.
Hunting down and trying vintage amps and speakers can be fun and rewarding as well.
Fidelity wise I think there’s more bang for your buck in digital but having an analog setup is its own thing.
It’s just funny to see budget and vinyl together lol, it’s really not something I would suggest to someone on a budget because of the pure cost of the medium and availability. Vinyl can easily become a money pit for a good setup (but a good setup can sound really good), but if you really just enjoy having a more physical way of listening to music then vinyl is hard to beat
I would prob agree
I don’t really see it, in my case at least, as an audiophile hifi type thing but more a social/background music thing.
Even then though it is hard to do while keeping costs low. Records are so damn pricey.
For sure lol, esp with limited releases or higher quality pressings, costs can be crazy for a single album
my set up is currently a uturn, schiit mani, and currently a grado black cartridge I plan on upgrading to ortofon or nagaoka. i am either getting a liquid spark or a 3+ as an amplifier and using 58X, and in the future the sundaras or maybe even a grado SR80
That’s kinda the way I envision it being in my case. I’d kinda see it as a "This is music I just wanna chill to, or enjoy casually while doing something else. I would see it more having a place in a home theater console hooked up to a receiver. Edit: the thought of a tube phono pre-amp has crossed my mind, tbh
Gets people listening to music which is always good. I’ve always enjoyed having a turntable setup 
Chasing rare albums and obscure bands can get embarrassingly costly lol if our friend here strictly goes for reissues and popular albums I think costs can stay reasonable
Edit: I didn’t mean to scare people due to record costs just that they can be costly. Doesn’t have to be though.
Back in the day – before digital was even a twinkle in a Sony engineer’s eye – vinyl LPs were not particularly pricey. Maybe the equivalent of $8 or $10 today. If you lived in a city you went into a record store with thousands of LPs organized alphabetically in sections by genre and came home with two or three at a time. It was a lot like shopping in a paperback bookstore.
Taking care of the records after you bought them was the big issue. There was a variety of cleaning and de-static products, all compact handheld gizmos, including a common one that was literally radioactive. But t don’t recall anything having the slightest effect on the ever-present barrage of snap, crackle and pop. In hindsight the main culprit was probably far too heavily weighted tone arms and haphazardly aligned styli. Only the most rabid hobbyists even knew these were considerations. The rest of us bought a budget Technics or Marantz turn table, used it out of the box and worried about putting the “needle” on the record without breaking the stylus.
The first time I heard a CD being played in the early '80s it was a truly died-and-gone-to-heaven experience. Not only was the fidelity an order of magnitude better than anything I’d ever heard before. But no scratches, clicks, etc. No vinyl nostalgia for this poor boy. It was instant conversion.
It was at least a decade later before I met an enthusiast who tried to demonstrate the superiority of vinyl to me. I got a bit of a sense of the effortless dynamics he was raving about, but it was far from compelling for me. Glad to see vinyl making a come-back. Photography re-taught me to appreciate the goodness that is analogue. Just no urge remains in me to go back to that myself.
Honestly both analog and digital can be great and be garbage lol, really just depends on the quality of the setup, I wish people would get that lol, there doesn’t have to be a vs debate, not sure why some can’t just let them coexist
Yes, but of course let young people who discover the vinyl microcosm wallow in the warm-fuzzy in-group specialness thing. If they err on the side of excess enthusiasm, to me that’s all part of the trip.
At the low end it’s not particularly close, digital is just better, unless there is a better master on the vinyl.
Once you get to stupid money, they are just different, vinyl produces a god like mid range, that nothing I’ve heard from digital compares to, though I will say I’ve never heard a digital setup that cost what the best vinyl setups I’ve heard did, and I will admit post SACD the gap has closed a lot with hires recordings and comparable masters,
But when I say stupid money I mean stupid money.
Would agree, hence my budget and vinyl not going together comment lol
Yes, imo my favorite analog source are easily reel to reel, sound that can be just so damn enjoyable lol, easily the best fit for what I like. I was always a fan of sacd and still am, it’s pretty great if you can actually find what you want in dsd lol
Indeed, lots and lots of money
So objectively, DMS’s budget vinyl set-up compared to spending the same $ on a digital set-up has no redeeming sonic merit? Like his analogue watch that probably loses a second a day?
In photography a skilled large format contact print or a quality daguerreotype will make my hair stand on end. Sad if it takes stupid money to get there in the realm of music reproduction.
Not sure that’s true, Vinyl still has a unique sonic signature, it’s not all about technicalities.
dunno whether to go with nagaoka or ortofon for my cartridge… the red is considered good for the cost but also the nagaoka might be a useful sound
That’s part of why I have thought about dipping my toes into vinyl. It’s not that I’m thinking it’ll be a better experience, just a different one.
What I’d have in my home theater console would be a turn table, HTPC, and a reciever (obviously speakers and a TV as well, but I figured they’re a given). I think I’d probably try to go with jazz, blues, orchestral, and older music (eg. Frank Sinatra, Kenny G, ect.)
Edit: This will be an absolute must.
https://www.amazon.com/Merry-Christmas-Bing-Crosby/dp/B00MP2JIVI/ref=pd_sim_15_1/140-9784316-2357743?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=B00MP2JIVI&pd_rd_r=d254e66c-634f-4de4-88af-6d06192560df&pd_rd_w=A42AN&pd_rd_wg=RtHU3&pf_rd_p=57d72e28-393e-46a7-b26c-485857f51db9&pf_rd_r=GWCZK26MRWGN1ZV1AW07&psc=1&refRID=GWCZK26MRWGN1ZV1AW07
White Christmas by Bing Crosby is the best Christmas song of all time. Fight me.
Just a few other ideas of items to get:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B073LF8C3C/ref=sspa_dk_detail_7?psc=1&pd_rd_i=B073LF8C3C&pd_rd_w=QnuXA&pf_rd_p=48d372c1-f7e1-4b8b-9d02-4bd86f5158c5&pd_rd_wg=lGohA&pf_rd_r=X4J8HCR5BJQ4M2AM6NX4&pd_rd_r=dc96f67e-0e9d-4302-8f95-af8cb862f6dd&spLa=ZW5jcnlwdGVkUXVhbGlmaWVyPUEyVTJOTUtFUjlHTjhQJmVuY3J5cHRlZElkPUEwMjYxMzI4MkYxSzkwSDZPUTVSViZlbmNyeXB0ZWRBZElkPUEwMDk2Nzc2MTFYT0JMOEpZUUNZQyZ3aWRnZXROYW1lPXNwX2RldGFpbCZhY3Rpb249Y2xpY2tSZWRpcmVjdCZkb05vdExvZ0NsaWNrPXRydWU=
https://www.amazon.com/Ultimate-Sinatra-2-LP-Frank/dp/B00U1Z5NAQ/ref=pd_bxgy_3/140-9784316-2357743?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=B00U1Z5NAQ&pd_rd_r=aad70a6d-5725-4fcc-a265-f56e112c17ff&pd_rd_w=JjNWw&pd_rd_wg=bVb6W&pf_rd_p=ce6c479b-ef53-49a6-845b-bbbf35c28dd3&pf_rd_r=EMEWPBZHBSM5XTN32T1K&psc=1&refRID=EMEWPBZHBSM5XTN32T1K
https://www.amazon.com/Platinum-Collection-LOUIS-ARMSTRONG/dp/B071CK343W/ref=pd_sbs_15_2/140-9784316-2357743?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=B071CK343W&pd_rd_r=aad70a6d-5725-4fcc-a265-f56e112c17ff&pd_rd_w=jtFvt&pd_rd_wg=bVb6W&pf_rd_p=703f3758-d945-4136-8df6-a43d19d750d1&pf_rd_r=EMEWPBZHBSM5XTN32T1K&psc=1&refRID=EMEWPBZHBSM5XTN32T1K
https://www.amazon.com/Time-Greatest-Hits-Louis-Armstrong/dp/B00405QDWU/ref=pd_sbs_15_8?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=B00405QDWU&pd_rd_r=261c795d-8f93-4e4c-a566-2fb9d1ac93c2&pd_rd_w=Jujps&pd_rd_wg=XIcpD&pf_rd_p=703f3758-d945-4136-8df6-a43d19d750d1&pf_rd_r=K9KWM1BX6QDWFPWGYTD1&psc=1&refRID=K9KWM1BX6QDWFPWGYTD1