The analog thread.

[luvdunhill]

My experience is the conversion factors are garbage. My guess this is not why they publish the numbers but instead to indicate how well the cart tracks under low VTF.

[recstar24]

Agreed. I think the only true way to assess how a cart will perform in that regard (outside of listening) is to take an audio rip of it using a test record of sorts at the frequency you are trying to see how it performs, a solid measurement in that regard should be pretty revealing.

[swt61]

I like to run the needle across my amalgam fillings, and depending on the tone that permeates my temperal lobe, I can determine the performance. 

[Grahame]

Meanwhile ...

https://www.sfgate.com/sf-culture/article/down-home-music-record-store-future-19821157.php

 

[Grahame]

Reassuringly expensive ($150) vinyl?

"As Vinyl Grows, High-Priced Audiophile Editions Are More Popular. Are They Worth It?"

https://www.billboard.com/pro/vinyl-audiophile-reissues-expensive-worth-the-money/

Maybe @naamanf should have some demo ones in his store?

Edited Friday at 06:19 PM by Grahame

[Craig Sawyers]

Doesn't let me read that article unless I subscribe. Sigh.

[Grahame]

18 minutes ago, Craig Sawyers said:

Doesn't let me read that article unless I subscribe. Sigh.

US VPN?

Search for quoted title on Google , under "News" ?

https://www.reddit.com/r/userscripts/s/icr8NSZRuJ

https://www.reddit.com/r/YouShouldKnow/s/6gyDtaojO2

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited Saturday at 04:23 PM by Grahame

[mikeymad]

Or if you have not played with the internet archive - wayback feature. 

https://web.archive.org/web/20241220054644/https://www.billboard.com/pro/vinyl-audiophile-reissues-expensive-worth-the-money/

They seem to blur this article - but by selecting the text I could read.

 

https://web.archive.org/

Now - I don't use this for standard reading (nor would I recommend). I use it just for one off articles posted here. The New York Times or other such firewalled articles. I don't feel too bad for 1-2 articles a year that I read, that I am not going to subscribe for. 

[Craig Sawyers]

Thanks guys - got it now. Some of the MoFi stuff looks expensive on first sight.

But vinyl records were always expensive. Back in the early 70's LP records were around (in US-speak) $6. since then retail prices have increased by 17 times. Which means the real value in today's money is $106. And those flimsy records came with pops and crackles from new.

So MoFi's price of $125 for their virgin vinyl, 45rpm ultra high quality pressings is not much more we were paying in 1972 for complete rubbish.

[swt61]

MoFi was on my route when I drove for DHL in the early 90's. It's less than an hour away. Al and I need to take a road trip. It was a fascinating place back then. Today I'm sure it's even more so.

[Knuckledragger]

Speaking of expensive vinyl...  There's a certain Gallic beatsmith named Pascal Arbez.  Since the year 2000 he's recorded under the name Vitalic.  Prior to that he did some original material and remixes as Dima.  For an all too short period of time, he was the best producer on the planet.  His Poney EP is the stuff of legend, but it's actually not my favorite work of his.  He did two remixes, The Hacker - Fadin' Away and Bolz Bolz - Take A Walk that were the most fresh, amazing sounding things when they came out at the dawn the new millennium while still being hugely "retro" and electro.  25 years later, they sound at least as good.

There are not many tracks I'd call "anthems" but both of these absolutely are.  I own both on vinyl and you'll have to pry them from my cold dead hands.  Unfortunately, Vitalic did not keep up the quality of his early works.  His 2005 album "Ok Cowboy" was a decidedly mixed effort, but it does have his single greatest original work:

Even people who don't remotely GAF about electronic music seem to like it.

In late 2004, a well meaning soul put together a collection of Vitalic rarities and remixes ...in 192k mp3.  I had it on my clickwheel iPod for years.  On it are a cancelled remix of Basement Jaxx feat. Siouxsie Sioux(!), a Bjork remix, a Slam feat. Dot Allison (of One Dove fame) remix, a remix of Miss Kitten that's utterly monotonous until the euphoric melodic breakdown (a Vitalic trademark), a remix of Royksopp featuring Karin from The Knife (don't get me started) as well as some genuinely rare originals (PC 100 remains a white whale, 20 years later.)   As the years wore on, I tracked down nearly every song on the bootleg collection confirmed lossless.

Well, in 2020, ol' Pascal must have finally noticed this bootleg mp3s and saw fit to issue most of them as well as a bunch of others on five mighty slabs of vinyl.  I missed it at the time.  2020 was a chaotic year, I vaguely recall.  I just checked used sales and saw "4 copies from $781.25" yeouch.