We care because all the drivel has consequences, one of them being that upgrading speakers and "upgrading" wires apparently makes as much (or little) sense to some people . The "problem" with that is : Speakers DO matter, hugely . Wires don't .

No, you don't "pick" anything, you convert the same music to 2 formats . Try it with some Bach organ-music .. Or any decent recording of real instruments for that matter . Some people CAN reliably tell the difference - There IS a difference in some cases and nullsumming proves it .

The operative word here is 'most' - Because some people CAN reliably hear the difference, leading to the conclusion that there IS in fact a difference .

Here is an example of just how harmful and reality-detached the subjectivist drivel can be, from the comments-section of a Danish tabloid . The articles head-line translates to : "The Vinyl that refused to die"    ...

What "arguments" ??   If your purpose is to make voodooists shut up it's really very simple : DBT or it didn't happen ..

well, I still think bandwidth and storage-costs will be an important parameter for making a profit in the recorded music-industry of the future,where there no longer is a monopoly on distributing a physical media for the artists - For a price of course .   Besides, most people couldn't care...

How many albums is 20GB in 24/196 audio ?? Also, you need to take into account that a professional commercial outfit will want close to 100% up-time and disk-storage is in reality at least double . Again, You do the math for a top-10 selling album ....   EDIT : I agree that "high-res"...

I agree 100% .. A decent vinyl-setup doesn't have to cost you a gazillion credits, but the lowest base-point IS more expensive than a digital set-up for comparable "sound" .   Perhaps I should state my own analogue set-up ? I'm the proud long-time (since 1992!?) owner of a Oracle Alexandria...

It is also harmful in the way I wrote . Bandwidth isn't free and I'm pretty certain most people here know there are close to zero free lunch-meals in this World . Somebody is going to pay that extra bill .. Anyone who wants to guess who ??

No it isn't insignificant - Because, as a previous poster stated : The original master IS already "high-res" so you don't really need to do anything but put in on the server . Nonetheless, the costs for storage are 4 times as high, as are the bandwidth-costs . Imagine a top-10 hit that sells...

I'm from Denmark, home of Ortofon. A long-time friend of mine worked for the company for a number of years and,based on what he told me, I can tell you one thing : There is a World of difference between getting a purely digital mass-produced electronic component and a miniaturised in-house...

4x the filesize, and therefore 4x more bandwidth, is hardly "a bit more", is it ? And remember, for the outfits selling this, we are talking upstream bandwidth . Even in the Nordic countries upstream is (a lot) more expensive than downstream bandwidth . So, if a outfit sells it all for the...

I'll quote myself : Also, knowing these types - A 6500USD tonearm sounds at least 65 times better than one costing 100USD ! It HAS TO !!

analogsurvivor, you asked how it was that your wife could hear the difference with the mat, from another room ! Besides the suggested answers from other posters to that question, I have a very unscientific theory about that : She loves you and wants you to feel good .. (no, I have no hard...

Yes it does . But you can buy a tangential tone-arm for only 6500USD that will read the groove at the same angle it was originally cut ..Sounds much better than digital /S   EDIT : And that way, you still get to feel that all your tinkering makes everything sound much better than what those...

Quote analogsurviver: EAC can, don't know about other ripping-software, because EAC was the first I tried and never looked for a replacement ..   Either way, ripping with a mat is just placing more weight on the drive, it has absolutely ZERO influence on the final result . And I...

  I guess we could snitch.. sorry, "report" him for his one-man conspiracy to troll ?   @ Currawong : there is a limit to how many times one can stand to tell people that water is wet without them listening, at all - That's usually the point where you just throw a big bucket of water in...

Like the other guy said, most of that is caused by the increasing availability of downloadable music, but it IS true that vinyl-sales are increasing and you can even buy USB-turntables (!!) ..   I think it's mostly caused by this :  

I don't know about habits and old dogs, but I do remember one thing : While performing all the rituals required to play a LP with good results, one was almost always thinking " Oh boy, this should sound good " - And guess what ? It usually did, even those horrible German pressings of Thin...

Hear hear - I to miss the large covers, they where often works of art in their own right . Now, all we get is lousy pixelated digital thumbnails ... But I have a feeling that is not what you mean, so could you please inform me/us :  Exactly what about vinyl is "superior" to CD, apart from the...

    Well, the 432Hz vs 440Hz  'debate' is pure New-Age voodoo : The concert-pitch debate is another matter, it does make a difference to how music and certain instruments sound, but there are 'scientific' reasons for that, not some mumbo-jumbo about being in synch with the natural...

To the OP : Your question is a very good example of why you should be extremely sceptical about everything 'Audiophiles' say on the internets .   To the rest of you guys : Can't believe you didn't catch the oiled voodoo-snake, it's all about this New-Age nonsense :     Damn You Hitler...

And it's not only live music-performances, even most of the movies are way to loud these days .. Maybe they are trying to prove the existence of 'The Brown Note' ? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brown_note   Seriously, I believe it's largely caused by bass-heads who want to be able to feel the...

OK, you still don't get it : WHEN/IF a Hi-Fi amplifier 'sounds' 'different', it is either 'defective' (by design and/or technically) or operating outside design-specs - or both . At this stage of technological progress, there  is no excuse for Hi-Fi amplifiers having 'a sound signature' and it...

  Not really - But of course I am 'biased', the point here is that I know I am .. And that I expect them to sound exactly the same ... Yes, sometimes different amps do sound different, but you are totally missing the point : They shouldn't ! Amplifiers are NOT supposed to have any...