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matthewb
@matthewb
this is Serious Gourmet Bait to get me to write a long hi-fi thread. maybe these could be sit and talk videos instead if there's any interest. * here's a tldr; on the hi-fi format wars in 2025: - vinyl is still enormously popular and many serious audiophiles optimize their entire system for vinyl playback rather than CD or streaming - despite CDs being largely forgotten by the average consumer, audiophiles still love CDs and often prefer them to streaming - streaming is becoming more and more prevalent, to the extent that it's the default for most showrooms. arguably the most complex and expensive to optimize vs. vinyl and CDs.
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matthewb
@matthewb
* is vinyl "better" or is this an old hipster's tale? like all analog mediums, vinyl has several inherent distortions which were initially seen as flaws and later become trademarks: - surface noise: background hiss, crackle, and pops caused by dust and/or scratches on the record - wow and flutter: pitch modulations caused by slight speed variations in the turntable drive - many others including rumble, crosstalk, tracing distortion, groove wear, etc. in the same way that companies like Kodak and Fujifilm touted how grain-free their film stocks were, turntable manufacturers went to great length to minimize these flaws throughout the history of hi-fi. today's listeners instead see these imperfections as defining features of the format, giving it humanity by virtue of its audible flaws.
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