How do you listen to music?

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  • ThunderballThunderball playing Chemin de Fer in a casino, downing Vespers
    Posts: 808
    j_w_pepper wrote: »
    I don't remember if I had previously posted in this thread before. If I had, it would've been years ago. The way I listen to music has changed some if I had posted here before. If I haven't, well here you go:

    At home, I primarily listen to music on vinyl (if I have it, that is; I'm very slowly rebuilding a record collection, so I don't have much, currently) on my Audio-Technica LP-120XUSB turntable with Edifier R1280DB powered speakers. The turntable has its own built-in preamp, so no need for a separate receiver or amp or whatever. It's also a three-speed table, so I'm looking forward to picking up some jazz 78 records when I can (and whenever I can also get a 78 RPM phono cartridge to properly play them). Considering the fact that music is my #1 favorite thing in the entire world, it's sort of surprising that I'm not really an audiophile. I just want the music to sound the best it can. I don't get deep into the nitty-gritty obsessive details about sound, for the most part. There certainly are more things that I would like to get to improve my setup some, but they're not gonna be real game changers.
    I definitely plan on getting a higher quality phono cartridge (stylus) than the one that came with my turntable. Likely an Ortofon 2M Red. Ditto a new platter mat to replace the Audio-Technica felt one that came stock. I'm thinking probably a nice acrylic mat. We'll see.
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    On the go, on the bus to and from work and the like, I have little choice but Spotify, so that's what I use. And at home, if I don't have the album I want to listen to on vinyl, it's Spotify to the rescue there, too. I wish it were different. I think it will be, someday. Need more records!! 💸

    I still have some 400 vinyl albums in my basement (including Hejira, by the way!) - tell me if you're interested in a list, putting them all on Discogs or eBay would be too much of a frustrating hassle. But progressively since getting my first CD player in 1986 until my Dual 1229 record player's drive motor gave up on me in the 90s, I quit listening to vinyl completely, having replaced all my favourites by CDs over time (also including Hejira ;) ). I am now planning to digitize the interesting part of what's left by using another old turntable (a Technics clone) for extraction. But I don't think I'll ever be eager to get back to flipping a record every 15 to 20 minutes. And given noise, hiss and scratches I truly don't agree that analogue sounds better than digital.

    Sure, I'd be interested in a list. That's a lot of vinyl, though. I don't envy you coming up with that list.
    As far as analog vs. digital, I don't really think that one sounds so much better than the other, rather I prefer the warmer sound of vinyl. I clean my records thoroughly, so there's minimal noise, hiss and really no scratches at all. There's always going to be the occasional pop, but I don't mind. My turntable isn't one that has auto-stop and return, so I have to get up to flip the record over, but I don't mind that, either. My turntable also allows me to digitize my records, but I haven't tried yet, and I kinda doubt I ever will. Beyond the sound of records, I love the physical process of listening to them. The smells, the feels... give me physical media any day.
  • Fire_and_Ice_ReturnsFire_and_Ice_Returns I am trying to get away from this mountan!
    edited May 18 Posts: 23,681
    FiiO CP13 Cassette Player (Blue)
    61RUZuoB15L._AC_SL1500_.jpg

    Just treated myself to a Cassette Walkman, been trying to get this model since its release a few months ago as it is always out of stock.

    It is my first cassette player in decades and I love it, good aluminum build quality. I also found about 10 tapes today so bought a mini haul to get myself going. The only tape I had left prior to today was The Living Daylights audio book which i have not listened to in decades.

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    Listening to cassettes again has been a surreal experience, been testing various sets of headphone with the player.

    Just have to pop out will reply to other posts later.
  • Fire_and_Ice_ReturnsFire_and_Ice_Returns I am trying to get away from this mountan!
    edited May 19 Posts: 23,681
    I don't remember if I had previously posted in this thread before. If I had, it would've been years ago. The way I listen to music has changed some if I had posted here before. If I haven't, well here you go:

    At home, I primarily listen to music on vinyl (if I have it, that is; I'm very slowly rebuilding a record collection, so I don't have much, currently) on my Audio-Technica LP-120XUSB turntable with Edifier R1280DB powered speakers. The turntable has its own built-in preamp, so no need for a separate receiver or amp or whatever. It's also a three-speed table, so I'm looking forward to picking up some jazz 78 records when I can (and whenever I can also get a 78 RPM phono cartridge to properly play them). Considering the fact that music is my #1 favorite thing in the entire world, it's sort of surprising that I'm not really an audiophile. I just want the music to sound the best it can. I don't get deep into the nitty-gritty obsessive details about sound, for the most part. There certainly are more things that I would like to get to improve my setup some, but they're not gonna be real game changers.
    I definitely plan on getting a higher quality phono cartridge (stylus) than the one that came with my turntable. Likely an Ortofon 2M Red. Ditto a new platter mat to replace the Audio-Technica felt one that came stock. I'm thinking probably a nice acrylic mat. We'll see.
    O8waKug.jpeg
    aDiEbaa.jpeg
    08wKUqI.jpeg

    On the go, on the bus to and from work and the like, I have little choice but Spotify, so that's what I use. And at home, if I don't have the album I want to listen to on vinyl, it's Spotify to the rescue there, too. I wish it were different. I think it will be, someday. Need more records!! 💸

    That is a nice clean set up, looks like a good quality record player. I have toyed with the idea of getting a good quality record player though hesitant to rebuild a vinyl collection from scratch again.I had a vast collection of vinyl that i got rid of a few decades ago. As much as i like lossless music analogue really does offer a great music listening experience in its own right, I have enjoyed rediscovering music cassettes the last few days.

    ---

    @Torgiertrap I have started to replace the majority of my music with FLAC and DSD, at last count I have 8000 songs :)) so it will take some time and money. It will all be worth it once finished in a few years lol Some WAV and MP3 downloads I have are good so those I will keep for now.
  • Posts: 17,372
    Start with the most obvious albums and songs, and see how far you want to go, @Fire_and_Ice_Returns! Whenever I've debated if I should have that album or those songs in another format, I more often than not skip many of them, keeping certain collections quite "curated".
  • Fire_and_Ice_ReturnsFire_and_Ice_Returns I am trying to get away from this mountan!
    Posts: 23,681
    Start with the most obvious albums and songs, and see how far you want to go, @Fire_and_Ice_Returns! Whenever I've debated if I should have that album or those songs in another format, I more often than not skip many of them, keeping certain collections quite "curated".

    I go through phases when it comes to music, at the moment I am listening to a lot of Beatles and 60's and 70's Rock so will focus on that genre first. It will likely take me a long time to get the 'My Ultimate Collection' sorted though much of the fun is the process.

    I have been temporally distracted trying to buy music cassette tapes which is a fun trip down memory lane.
  • edited May 23 Posts: 17,372
    I very much go through phases too, which changes a few times each year. I might be all into loungy, funky music like Khruangbin for some months, then heavy punk rock in another. At least it never gets boring that way.

    I see quite a few releases from artists are also available on cassette tapes. The format might be slowly making a comeback. I have a few cassette tapes myself too, and an 80's cassette boombox, but it's been a while since I've used it. It might need a bit of service given that it's probably close to 40 years old.
  • Fire_and_Ice_ReturnsFire_and_Ice_Returns I am trying to get away from this mountan!
    edited May 23 Posts: 23,681
    I very much go through phases too, which changes a few times each year. I might be all into loungy, funky music like Khruangbin for some months, then heavy punk rock in another. At least it never gets boring that way.

    I see quite a few releases from artists are also available on cassette tapes. The format might be slowly making a comeback. I have a few cassette tapes myself too, and an 80's cassette boombox, but it's been a while since I've used it. It might need a bit of service given that it's probably close to 40 years old.

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    https://www.tascam.eu/en/202mkvii

    I have got the tape cassette bug and just bought this beast of a machine.

    It was not cheap though its one of the best tape decks out there.

    I now have 20 cassettes, been lucky and found some great albums.

    The oldest tape i have is 54 years old and sounds great, really surprised me how good the audio quality was.

    I like to have the best of both worlds, analog and digital. Tapes is my way back in to analog, i am not prepared to build another LP collection so tapes is the next best thing and will enjoy recording with them.
  • Posts: 17,372
    That cassette deck looks a bit like one we had at my home when I was young. That was a late 80s/early 90's deck which was part of a set with the vintage CD player I have. Unfortunately I got rid of it years ago…
  • Fire_and_Ice_ReturnsFire_and_Ice_Returns I am trying to get away from this mountan!
    Posts: 23,681
    That cassette deck looks a bit like one we had at my home when I was young. That was a late 80s/early 90's deck which was part of a set with the vintage CD player I have. Unfortunately I got rid of it years ago…

    That era of tape decks was the pinnacle of the technology for sure, if only we could tell our past selves to hold on to tech from that era lol
  • Fire_and_Ice_ReturnsFire_and_Ice_Returns I am trying to get away from this mountan!
    Posts: 23,681
    Just occurred to me i posted the wrong picture mine is a mkviii not mkiii...

    202mkvii.jpg
    This is the one i bought.
  • Fire_and_Ice_ReturnsFire_and_Ice_Returns I am trying to get away from this mountan!
    edited May 24 Posts: 23,681
    Wow my new tape cassette player is amazing, listening to Tubular Bells. There is something truly magical about Analog Tape and Vinyl its hard to explain as the sound is clearly inferior to digital. Those mid ranges on cassette are something special.
  • j_w_pepperj_w_pepper Born on the bayou. I can still hear my old hound dog barkin'.
    Posts: 8,748
    Just occurred to me i posted the wrong picture mine is a mkviii not mkiii...

    202mkvii.jpg
    This is the one i bought.

    Nice...if one wants to actually still record things on tape. I'm still waiting for word from the repair firm if it makes sense to reactivate my Yamaha K-720, and if it doesn't, I guess that's it for me in terms of tape.

    While just browsing around on amazon.de, I stumbled across the Teac W-1200 double cassette deck (the link is too long to insert here), which except for those "wings" or protrusions on each side (this is probably not be the correct term...my English vocabulary does have limits occasionally) with which you can screw the unit to a rack looks exactly the same as your Tascam. Researching a little, I found that apparently Tascam is the "professional" branch of Teac, and actually stands for Teac Audio Systems Corporation Of America... though I'd suppose that technically those two decks are the same if except for what I mentioned they look the same.
  • Fire_and_Ice_ReturnsFire_and_Ice_Returns I am trying to get away from this mountan!
    edited May 25 Posts: 23,681
    j_w_pepper wrote: »
    Just occurred to me i posted the wrong picture mine is a mkviii not mkiii...

    202mkvii.jpg
    This is the one i bought.

    Nice...if one wants to actually still record things on tape. I'm still waiting for word from the repair firm if it makes sense to reactivate my Yamaha K-720, and if it doesn't, I guess that's it for me in terms of tape.

    While just browsing around on amazon.de, I stumbled across the Teac W-1200 double cassette deck (the link is too long to insert here), which except for those "wings" or protrusions on each side (this is probably not be the correct term...my English vocabulary does have limits occasionally) with which you can screw the unit to a rack looks exactly the same as your Tascam. Researching a little, I found that apparently Tascam is the "professional" branch of Teac, and actually stands for Teac Audio Systems Corporation Of America... though I'd suppose that technically those two decks are the same if except for what I mentioned they look the same.

    Teac and Tascam are the same company, I immediately removed the wings/brackets. I also looked at the Teac W-1200 double cassette deck looks a good player.

    I bought some high quality blank cassettes, I have connected my tape deck to my pc and internet radio player. I am looking forward to using Audacity software on pc to make some mix tapes and I will record on tape some of my favorite radio shows.

    It will be interesting to see what 16 bit, 24 bit and DSD files sound like on tape.

    The tape player is incredible very happy I bought it I love the old school mechanics of the player, I turn 50 in a few months so it was an early birthday gift to myself and its taken me back to my childhood.

    40 years ago my tape player was not as good as this one lol

    My next mission is to get some John Barry albums and James Bond scores on tape, I regret throwing away my tape collection, though i am enjoying the journey of rebuilding a collection.

    Your English is very good.
  • edited May 25 Posts: 17,372
    That cassette deck looks a bit like one we had at my home when I was young. That was a late 80s/early 90's deck which was part of a set with the vintage CD player I have. Unfortunately I got rid of it years ago…

    That era of tape decks was the pinnacle of the technology for sure, if only we could tell our past selves to hold on to tech from that era lol

    Haha, yes. My biggest regret re. getting rid of that tape deck, is that it probably given the time of production, and the fact that it was still in working order too, probably was a good tape deck.

    One good thing about your recent purchase of a tape deck, is that you will no doubt find good, cheap tape releases in charity shops!
  • Fire_and_Ice_ReturnsFire_and_Ice_Returns I am trying to get away from this mountan!
    Posts: 23,681
    That cassette deck looks a bit like one we had at my home when I was young. That was a late 80s/early 90's deck which was part of a set with the vintage CD player I have. Unfortunately I got rid of it years ago…

    That era of tape decks was the pinnacle of the technology for sure, if only we could tell our past selves to hold on to tech from that era lol

    Haha, yes. My biggest regret re. getting rid of that tape deck, is that it probably given the time of production, and the fact that it was still in working order too, probably was a good tape deck.

    One good thing about your recent purchase of a tape deck, is that you will no doubt find good, cheap tape releases in charity shops!

    Yeah found 22 tapes so far I did pay £10 each for three of them, charity shops are getting wise. Most of the other tapes I picked up relatively cheap and good deals.
  • Posts: 17,372
    That cassette deck looks a bit like one we had at my home when I was young. That was a late 80s/early 90's deck which was part of a set with the vintage CD player I have. Unfortunately I got rid of it years ago…

    That era of tape decks was the pinnacle of the technology for sure, if only we could tell our past selves to hold on to tech from that era lol

    Haha, yes. My biggest regret re. getting rid of that tape deck, is that it probably given the time of production, and the fact that it was still in working order too, probably was a good tape deck.

    One good thing about your recent purchase of a tape deck, is that you will no doubt find good, cheap tape releases in charity shops!

    Yeah found 22 tapes so far I did pay £10 each for three of them, charity shops are getting wise. Most of the other tapes I picked up relatively cheap and good deals.

    That's not too bad of a price for three tapes, but I've seen cheaper ones in my local "used shops". It very much depends on the artists though. A tape with say, ABBA for example, will have a higher price than a random artist.
  • Fire_and_Ice_ReturnsFire_and_Ice_Returns I am trying to get away from this mountan!
    Posts: 23,681
    That cassette deck looks a bit like one we had at my home when I was young. That was a late 80s/early 90's deck which was part of a set with the vintage CD player I have. Unfortunately I got rid of it years ago…

    That era of tape decks was the pinnacle of the technology for sure, if only we could tell our past selves to hold on to tech from that era lol

    Haha, yes. My biggest regret re. getting rid of that tape deck, is that it probably given the time of production, and the fact that it was still in working order too, probably was a good tape deck.

    One good thing about your recent purchase of a tape deck, is that you will no doubt find good, cheap tape releases in charity shops!

    Yeah found 22 tapes so far I did pay £10 each for three of them, charity shops are getting wise. Most of the other tapes I picked up relatively cheap and good deals.

    That's not too bad of a price for three tapes, but I've seen cheaper ones in my local "used shops". It very much depends on the artists though. A tape with say, ABBA for example, will have a higher price than a random artist.
    The 3 albums were The Beatles Red and Blue albums and Led Zeppelin BBC sessions so worth it, I moved fast when I saw them lol
  • Posts: 17,372
    That cassette deck looks a bit like one we had at my home when I was young. That was a late 80s/early 90's deck which was part of a set with the vintage CD player I have. Unfortunately I got rid of it years ago…

    That era of tape decks was the pinnacle of the technology for sure, if only we could tell our past selves to hold on to tech from that era lol

    Haha, yes. My biggest regret re. getting rid of that tape deck, is that it probably given the time of production, and the fact that it was still in working order too, probably was a good tape deck.

    One good thing about your recent purchase of a tape deck, is that you will no doubt find good, cheap tape releases in charity shops!

    Yeah found 22 tapes so far I did pay £10 each for three of them, charity shops are getting wise. Most of the other tapes I picked up relatively cheap and good deals.

    That's not too bad of a price for three tapes, but I've seen cheaper ones in my local "used shops". It very much depends on the artists though. A tape with say, ABBA for example, will have a higher price than a random artist.
    The 3 albums were The Beatles Red and Blue albums and Led Zeppelin BBC sessions so worth it, I moved fast when I saw them lol

    Good picks!
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