I'm going the same route with vinyl,just picked up a decent turntable to get going. I've stopped buying CD's as I'm just sick of how poorly mastered modern mainstream music has become on CD. I'm sure other genres are mastered better, but I  still want to listen to music that excites me.

I'm gonna sound like a ******,but,if you own the vinyl,why not open it and enjoy it. Use it as your master to get your digital files and put it away if you must.

I agree with you. I have music that shows very high gain levels that approach 0db,but don't necessarily clip. Still, when I play them on my home system or headphone system, getting anywhere near a listening volume,it just sounds like it's on that ragged edge.

I tend to think the same as you about REMASTERED meaning ruined. All in all,I'm becoming more and more interested in vinyl to get away from ipod mastering. It seems soo much of mainstream music is mastered with the portable mp3 -ipod in mind and not for stereos or systems with ample power amps...

It's all part of the chain starting with your music source, then DAC,amp  and then headphones. Improvements to any of these will give you improved sound quality. Good headphones will always sound better, but don't ignore the rest of the chain. My GRADOS for example benefit greatly from an...

Living near a large city,I have some ability to check out used music stores for older releases.I've stopped buying new releases or re-mastered recordings for the most part,unless I know it's a good master. I do find myself listening to other genres like jazz and prog rock to get away from...

Quote: The CD I have sounds like s@#t ,as well,too bad some good tracks on this.       vertigo    city of blinding lights     They sound just as they look, over compressed,loud and on the verge of distortion.

Quote: I was able to download an album about a month ago,but now can't seem to download anything fram HD Tracks. I think it has to do with the credit cards billing address.

You seem convinced on the fiio e17,are you looking for portable use as well? If not,I'd put the aune  T1 on your list for affordable external DAC/AMP solutions. I have the sr80i's,and they do benefit greatly from an amp.

Gotta be black. Just like that little black dress in a womans MUST HAVE wardrobe or the classic black suit for a mans. Besides, white would just show my dirty fingerprints

Quote: I get the same thing in Canada,have you tried a virtual IP address? I have a small place in Washington state with internet and I can download with no problems when I'm there. Makes me think a VIP could work. 

I tend not to like this album so far. I agree with Anthony about the songs needing some refining,but also disagree with his opinion on the drum tracks as I think they're just too far back in the mix.The combination of warm tubey guitar sounds with very dead sounding drums doesn't do much for...

Quote: Nice! allows you to preview the whole album.

Quote: OMG!  Now that you've posted this ,I can hear  that pedal squeak through the whole track.Now any time I listen to this I'm going to be isolating all the squeeks.   Love the background humm of the amplifiers though.

Quote: Interested too. Does the guitar track only appear on the one channel, like the original releases,or have they introduced some crossfeed?

Quote:

The year of the remaster seems more appropriate, especially if you land an original release CD at some later date. Remasters can be a gamble as far as sound quality goes,some are just horrible compared to the original release.

Quote: I'm in the Vancouver area as well. We just get hosed on data plans.

Quote: That's a Big +1

I tend to find the sound of natural instruments more appealing,perhaps it's the dynamics. .Even electric guitar,but I'm more drawn to a non processed sound, a Les Paul straight into a tube head like a Marshall for example.add a little delay or reverb On heavily compressed recordings  a snare...

One of the only tv programs I'll watch.Great show! I'm tired of reality TV.

This would have been a compilation reference CD released by one of the bigger manufacturers used for demos. would be worth seeing if the album you mentioned is where it came from ,or whether it was a newer recording just for that particular compulation. Big Bands were well before my time,but...

    The Police -Ghost in the machine-One World.     The drum track is what makes it.You tube SQ  gives a good idea of it.

I had a CD at one time with LITTLE BROWN JUG on it, it was a great recording I've long lost. At one point,before college I sold home and car audio and used it often as a reference track,wish I new what the title was.

Quote: +1. The talent and the willingness to experiment in this period is unmatched.