Topic: Album Review: Story of the Year - The Constant

[Simon]

We need an audiophile to tell us! 

[Rik]

audiophiles will tell you that they sound better than CDs any day.

They can obviously live with the wow & flutter, snap, crackle and pop, and the low dynamic range and channel separation.

[Simon]

I have certain tracks which I have had on vinyl, and the CD versions never sound the same.  Of course, some music does sound better, but some CDs just sound flat to me.

[Rik]

Oh, they do. My point is that most vinyl was not well engineered, from eccentric centre holes to warped platters, producing wow and flutter. An LP degrades on every playing, and the higher the crescendos, the worse the 'planing' effect of the stylus. Dynamic range was always limited by the medium, so, for example, Verdi's Requiem was always highly compressed to make it 'fit' the vinyl. Finally, stereo separation, cross-talk, was really very low, again due to the mechanics of the system.

Some music was not hugely affected by the limitation, and some labels, eg Sheffield Labs, took a lot more care with their pressings. Overall, though, CD is technically superior - it just sounds different.

[sam]

Whenever I listen to vinyl I end up wishing that someone in my family had digitised it. I can't be bothered with all that effort too :-)  Benefits of mp3s... no need to do anything just hit play.

[Simon]

Hi bitrate MP3s are fine.  Anything under 192 is s**t. 

[sam]

I'd agree to that. My main reason I like mp3s is just the lack of having todo anything. When I buy CDs first thing I do. In computer digitise. I hardly ever listen to the CD after that, though the other half likes her CD player.

[Simon]

It's one way to preserve your CDs from damage, and, of course, it's very portable.

[sam]

the later wins. At home (not here) I dock my Ipod in the front room, job done.

[Simon]

Don't talk to me about iPods! 

[Rik]

I'm with Sam on that. I can tell the difference between an MP3 and a CD, but for most music it's not intrusive. I drop my iPod in a Bose dock, select a playlist and don't have to spend the evening bobbing up and down at dinner parties.

[Simon]

I agree, it's handy for that.  Which dock do you use, Rik, and will it accept anything other than an iPod?

[Rik]

The portable Bose:

http://www.bose.co.uk/GB/en/home-entertainment/digital-music-solutions/sounddock-systems/sounddock-portable/index.jsp

There is an analogue input for other players. It produces a surprisingly big sound for such a small unit, and has reasonably good bass. It charges the iPod (but not any other device) and can be easily be taken outside or into another room to run from battery.

[Simon]

Thanks.  I wonder how much it would be without the Bose badge? 

[Rik]

A lot less. It is good, but there's no denying it is expensive too. The non-battery version is a fair bit cheaper, btw.