[ectoplasm]

Alright, so the reasons I've heard over the years that vinyl sounds better are:

a) the high-frequency roll-off starts at 15 kHz; b) the needle vibrates which smooths out the sound and provides warmth; c) the needle melts the vinyl at the molecular level which also smooths out the sound and provides warmth; d) the needle picks up feedback from the room; e) not all vinyl is created equal, you get a lot more quality out of a 5-minute 12" 45 rpm than a 30-minute 12" 33 1/3 rpm; f) clicks and pops and burns are part of the charm; g) the runout groove nagging you to get up is part of what vinyl sounds like; h) vinyl is physical and cool and sometimes extremely rare and barring an ABX test your perception of how good something is will be affected by these supposedly irrelevant meta qualities; i) some things are only available on vinyl, so of course it sounds better; j) depending on the type of music, the mastering won't be targeting mp3 players with earbuds but instead big club systems, so if you have good speakers, it might be easier to find the mastering you want on vinyl.

I don't know how many of these I agree with. Honestly the worst thing about vinyl is that it's heavy.

[mirimir]

> j) depending on the type of music, the mastering won't be targeting mp3 players with earbuds but instead big club systems, so if you have good speakers, it might be easier to find the mastering you want on vinyl.

For me, the worst thing about vinyl was feedback. I love subsonics at concert levels, and it's virtually impossible to isolate turntables well enough. Back in the day, it was my practice to copy vinyl to tape, and then just play tapes. That also protected vinyl against wear and crud.

CDs aren't perfect either. Mixing can be tweaked with software, however. Also, for some genres it's possible to get multi-channel WAV that's readily mixable.

[WalterBright]

> the needle picks up feedback from the room

But that's a bad thing. I learned to isolate the turntable from the speakers when playing disco. Also, had to walk softly else the needle would skip.

[mirimir]

Yes! Also, random noise can trigger asymptotic feedback at high levels. And asymptotic feedback tends to blow out amps and speakers.

[ectoplasm]

The best general purpose solution I've seen is suspending turntables on wide elastic bands. An isolated booth also works.